Hey guys I've had my octy for a lil while but something's been bugging me. The classic climatronic system. It simply doesn't blow cold air. So my thought is this, replace it with the old school controls. Is it an easy switch out or am I opening more than a bag of worms. I've tried the trick of letting it settle itself but that's about as much use as Donald trump getting his second term. 

It can be done as far as I know, just takes some doing to convert from an auto system to a manual system. The climatronic system is linked to the AC, so you need to physically lower the temp so it says "LO" on the display, this will give the coldest air. Like any AC system it works best with the windows shut. Have a look in the Octavia 1 section of the forum for a link to the owners manual, and have a read on how it works. You may just need a regas of the system.

@UnusualVRS - When was the CC last regassed? If it's due a regas it won't go cold anyway.

It was done on Friday last week and still doesn't seem to work .

16 minutes ago, UnusualVRS said:

It was done on Friday last week and still doesn't seem to work .

 

Did they do a leak test?

Not as far as I'm aware. Was just regassed

2 minutes ago, UnusualVRS said:

Not as far as I'm aware. Was just regassed

Hi VRS, you may not be aware, but by law, anyone regassing with refrigerants MUST determine the reason the gas was lost in the first place (RGas regulations) There is a reasonably good chance that the person / firm that did your recent regas may not be all that skilled (read, often chased on horseback by lots of hollering painted natives) I'd suggest you try taking it to a qualified regasser who should be able to diagnose the system problem correctly. If there is a problem with the gas charge, compressor, expansion valve, evaporator etc. changing the method of control will do absolutely nothing to fix it.   

Have you put the Climatronic through a self-test?

 

Details here:

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~jues/Climatronic_Self_Diagnostics.pdf

 

Edited 9 August, 20178 yr by Ttaskmaster

18 minutes ago, Warrior193 said:

Hi VRS, you may not be aware, but by law, anyone regassing with refrigerants MUST determine the reason the gas was lost in the first place (RGas regulations) There is a reasonably good chance that the person / firm that did your recent regas may not be all that skilled (read, often chased on horseback by lots of hollering painted natives) I'd suggest you try taking it to a qualified regasser who should be able to diagnose the system problem correctly. If there is a problem with the gas charge, compressor, expansion valve, evaporator etc. changing the method of control will do absolutely nothing to fix it.   

 

You would be surprised how many of the fast fit chains do not adhere to correct procedure on this - I have heard of one lot in particular that offer a free refill/refund if it stops working within an advertised time frame. Plus there is no regulation on the top up units you can buy from Halfrauds either, so the whole AC repair and refill training/laws are pretty pointless as they aren't being policed anyway.

 

Back to the OP - I would say there is a leak somewhere then, temp at the vents after 5 minutes should be around 4 deg C if I remember correctly.