19 minutes ago, sharpest said:

It looks to me like the ecu can't decide where the actuator is so keeps moving it on again.  I would monitor pin 2 yellow wire with either a scope or a graphing meter, I would think you will see a very erratic output from the wiper of the potentiometer. If you look at those captures of mine, from my previous post the first one is the faulty potentiometer of the hot-cold flap actuator. The other capture is the  V71 air flow positioning flap actuator which is working correctly. I checked both these after removing the bracket that holds them in place and then powering them up on the bench.   Both motors worked perfectly it was only the potentiometer of the hot-cold one which was was the problem.

 

Hi CS45, if you are replacing the motor then you should solve it as the potentiometer is built into the motor.

I got mine off Ebay £49.

£49 is certainly a big saving over what I’ll be paying for mine at the dealership, £285. Luckily I have a third party warranty that has repeatedly come in clutch, and will be doing again. 

Hi yes that seems like a lot especially when I priced it up with Skoda for genuine part they wanted £152.40 +vat.

The part I got was the same make and part number as original as well.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393023136866?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

 

My car is a 2015 spaceback sport.

If the ECU or the Climatronic controller is not getting the correct response from the positional pot - ie feedback, it will always end up "hunting" as it tries to resolve the error in position.

On 30/06/2021 at 21:52, rum4mo said:

If the ECU or the Climatronic controller is not getting the correct response from the positional pot - ie feedback, it will always end up "hunting" as it tries to resolve the error in position.

Well, it must be something else that is confusing it. I had the motor replaced today, I thought it was fixed, then this evening the damn thing started doing it again. Guess it needs yet another dealership visit. My assumption is that the motor is doing what it should and it is something else causing it to ‘hunt’. I can draw the conclusion that Climatronic is a money pit. 

Hi, sorry to see your still having problems, trouble is main dealers just throw new parts at these jobs-trial and error rather than test and repair which is how it should be done,  it  wants looking at by someone who knows what they are doing and who understands how the thing actually works rather than working off a flow chart which most of them seem to do nowadays.

If you know anyone with a good scanner such as VCDS the data from all the sensors can be viewed to see what is happening at the time of the fault events. Were there any fault codes stored in the AC ecu ?

23 minutes ago, sharpest said:

Hi, sorry to see your still having problems, trouble is main dealers just throw new parts at these jobs-trial and error rather than test and repair which is how it should be done,  it  wants looking at by someone who knows what they are doing and who understands how the thing actually works rather than working off a flow chart which most of them seem to do nowadays.

If you know anyone with a good scanner such as VCDS the data from all the sensors can be viewed to see what is happening at the time of the fault events. Were there any fault codes stored in the AC ecu ?

Hi, 

these are my Carista faults:

the other ones were just because I replaced the Swing head unit with an RCD330. 
 

I do have an VAG Specialist nearby, but unfortunately I think that may cause issues with the warranty, especially as they have already paid out on issues that the dealer has told them have been fixed. I might ask them anyway. I’m going to take it for a longish drive tomorrow to see if I can get it to replicate the fault codes, as this evening I cleared the codes and they didn’t come back, but obviously something is still wrong, and I would imagine the faults will come back after a while.
 

This will be my 8th trip to the dealership in the 4 months I’ve had the car, so I will tell them to keep it until you’re sure it’s fixed (or even better give me £5000 for it and get the lemon off my hands). 

Well, I’ve just taken it out for another drive after clearing the existing faults and it gave me these. 
Of particular concern to me is 01314 Engine Control Module. As I understand it, this can either mean that the Climatronic unit has a fault preventing it from communicating with the ECU, or the ECU has a fault and the Climatronic is the first to suffer from the approaching torrent of ECU communication issues. 
 

I did manage to take another video and the cogs that are clicking don’t seem to have been changed, so I suppose it’s feasible that one of those is warped and causing unexpected feedback. 
 

As suggested earlier up this thread, I tried going from HI to LO multiple times, but what I noticed is that the system didn’t really seem to be listening. Sometimes it would start to cool down and then stop halfway, other times I would turn it on to HI and it wouldn’t really change at all. It has already had a new flap motor, and a new sensor when it developed a fault causing it to suddenly go onto HI without being asked to and would not turn off. 

Hi, I've just been looking at Carista on the web as I haven't come across it before, can you see detailed data like temperatures of sensors and positioning of the the actuators etc and does it  do adaptation-basic settings etc. ?

I looked on Rosstech wiki with that engine ecu code you have, did you check the engine ecu and look at the data there ?

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/01314

 

3 hours ago, sharpest said:

Hi, I've just been looking at Carista on the web as I haven't come across it before, can you see detailed data like temperatures of sensors and positioning of the the actuators etc and does it  do adaptation-basic settings etc. ?

I looked on Rosstech wiki with that engine ecu code you have, did you check the engine ecu and look at the data there ?

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/01314

 

Hi, 

unfortunately that is a bit further than the Carista can go. It can read codes from the modules and show some live data, but I’m not sure it can do detailed stuff like Climatronic data. (Btw, I found a way to view live data on the Climatronic display following this terribly blurry video for a SEAT Ibiza, I’m not entirely sure what each bit of data actually means though). The Carista is more of a consumer grade item, but even so it’s been a godsend in these last few months because I’m not convinced the dealership has really done a huge amount of diagnostic work, as you say they seem to just do things and hope for the best. For example, the fault codes were still stored after I picked it up the first time, which suggests they haven’t really checked to see if their fix has worked, and I wouldn’t know this without the Carista. I sometimes wonder if garages treat customers differently if they know they have a diagnostic scanner. 
It does do basic changes; I’ve enable the needle sweep, single lock, teardrop wiper and things of that nature using it. It’s capabilities do seem to keep growing as well, and I’d definitely recommend it. 
 

I’ve had a look into that rosstech page, and it seems as though it can occur on any module when it can’t communicate correctly with the ECM. At this point it sounds as though the entire Climatronic unit is faulty. That would certainly make sense to me as it is controlling the motor which is still going haywire, presumably because it’s doing what the Climatronic computer is telling it to, and also that could be why the unit is failing to communicate with the ECM. I’m guessing here though. Really it’s up to the dealer to figure it out. If they can’t do it this time I will be taking it to a VAG Specialist. The irony is that near enough all of the issues I’ve had with this car are Climatronic related, but I’d be perfectly happy with manual AC. Still, the Elegance seemed like much better value than the SE. 
 

Im just hoping that the other issues that have suddenly popped up today are just coincidences, namely a front bulb not working, despite replacement, which the car is not warning me about, and fault codes for evaporative emissions flow. I’ve heard that this is a common issue and usually, if there is no engine warning light on, which there isn’t, its often as simple as a loose fuel cap or a bit of a pressure change in the fuel tank. 
 

Also, thanks for all your help. I wish the dealerships were as knowledgeable as you. 

Hi, I don't think your front bulb has anything to do with your problems elsewhere but what I would do is remove the Climatronic control panel-just 2 screws after unclipping the plastic panel underneath it and two clips above it, unplug the wiring from the back of it and give the plugs and connections a spray with with contact cleaner-switch cleaner etc but don't use WD40 as people often suggest  as it acts as an insulator rather than a contact enhancer.   I retired four years ago after 49 years repairing vehicles the last 34 self employed and I have seen a lot of intermittent problems caused with poor connections, their is so little current flowing through these circuits that it takes very little to upset them.

There is a workshop manual disc on Ebay which I bought, it is quite comprehensive but some of the info is for LHD only and there is no mention of steering and suspension on it but it is quite useful with good wiring diagrams etc.

 

1 hour ago, sharpest said:

Hi, I don't think your front bulb has anything to do with your problems elsewhere but what I would do is remove the Climatronic control panel-just 2 screws after unclipping the plastic panel underneath it and two clips above it, unplug the wiring from the back of it and give the plugs and connections a spray with with contact cleaner-switch cleaner etc but don't use WD40 as people often suggest  as it acts as an insulator rather than a contact enhancer.   I retired four years ago after 49 years repairing vehicles the last 34 self employed and I have seen a lot of intermittent problems caused with poor connections, their is so little current flowing through these circuits that it takes very little to upset them.

There is a workshop manual disc on Ebay which I bought, it is quite comprehensive but some of the info is for LHD only and there is no mention of steering and suspension on it but it is quite useful with good wiring diagrams etc.

 

Poor connections would certainly correlate with the ECM fault code. I will suggest that when I take it in *again* next Monday seeing as the warranty should be paying for it. 
 

As for my EVAP code, I cleared it and it’s not come back. Just a glitch I assume. 

On 10/03/2018 at 13:54, Chilled said:

Further to this, I carried out diagnostics using Carista which showed error codes: 00710, 01271, 01272 and 01274. Online search didn't help too much apart from telling me that they were for  the ventilation motors, so I thought I'd get the tools out. So far, after a few hundred miles, it has been fine. Summarised, this is what I did:

1) remove the climatronic unit and dismantle it, clean the  dust off the internal temperature sensor fan, duct and surrounding areas thoroughly,

2) remove the glove box, passenger footwell air duct and top centre vents, then take out the motor carrier for the 2 left hand vent motors.

3) dismantle and check the motors, re-soldered the joints on the PCB,

4) reassemble everything, reset the error codes using Carista and all works perfectly! I'm not sure which bit solved the problem, but I'd hazard a guess that the dust around the temperature sensor and its fan could have confused it. This part of the job is easily done in 15 mins, so well worth trying. To do the whole lot is a couple of hours.

 

Couple of things I found it helpful to do was to take the top centre vent out (10 second job) which meant I could see the defrost motor and centre vent flap to check operation. Secondly, if you put the passenger seat right back and stick your head into the footwell and look up (can get uncomfortable :)), you can see the motor that controls the heat mix, and also the re-circulation vents etc.

 

Quite rewarding and not a difficult job. Just to note that when you take the glove box out, you have to unplug the airbag on off swith and an airbag error will display on the dash until you plug it back in and restart the vehicle.

 

Hope this helps someone.

 

How do I remove the climatronic controls I tried prising underneath to no avail and no screws are present. I got the radio out easily before but can't get this climatronic out

12 hours ago, SpacebackTrev said:

How do I remove the climatronic controls I tried prising underneath to no avail and no screws are present. I got the radio out easily before but can't get this climatronic out