Been noticing that my 65plate octy 2ltr tdi (113000 miles on clock) has become quite rattly at idle and is getting worse, turning on the air con would improve the sound but it's started to appear whether ac is on or off now and is much worse when the engine is cold

 

Recently took my car to the stealers to do the cambelt and waterpump + aux belt and tensioner (they forgot to put a new tensioner on though) ask them to investigate the noise but they didn't and said its probably the AC condenser and quoted me a ball park figure of £1k to replace it!!! 

 

My question is if it is the condenser then surely its just a simple job of replacing the clutch? £1k for an ac condenser WTF! surely it can be done cheaper

 

And if not ac then what other items should I be testing? 

 

Cheers A

 

 

I know the gas is quiet pricey - depends on when the car was built. 

 

Is there a skoda specelist or a vag specialist near you at all? I'd get a 2nd opinion

There is no actual AC clutch, it's just a shear plate in case the compressor seizes. The compressor runs all the time, but at a greatly reduced pressure when AC is off. 

It's a tilt plate design with pressure solenoid and valve. Best to have an AC specialist take a look.

Just noticed I wrote condenser what I meant was compressor but can see most will assume I'm referring to the compressor

 

Will be looking for a specialist to give me a 2nd opinion but just seems crazy to have to replace the whole compressor

On 28/09/2019 at 12:52, Cain79 said:

Been noticing that my 65plate octy 2ltr tdi (113000 miles on clock) has become quite rattly at idle and is getting worse, turning on the air con would improve the sound but it's started to appear whether ac is on or off now and is much worse when the engine is cold

 

Recently took my car to the stealers to do the cambelt and waterpump + aux belt and tensioner (they forgot to put a new tensioner on though) ask them to investigate the noise but they didn't and said its probably the AC condenser and quoted me a ball park figure of £1k to replace it!!! 

 

My question is if it is the condenser then surely its just a simple job of replacing the clutch? £1k for an ac condenser WTF! surely it can be done cheaper

 

And if not ac then what other items should I be testing? 

 

Cheers A

 

 

Hi there, I know it’s an old post, I’m having the exact same issue, same rattle/noise, before it used to fade when turning the ac button on, now it’s continuous and worse  when the engine is cold, even when I drive starting on low revs it gets worse. Been told there could be a faulty ac pulley with clutch and might need to replace the whole compressor. 
how did you sort it out please.

Any advice would be greatly helpful.

 

looking forward to hearing from you 

Stupid question, but has the gas been recharged recently?  This needs recharging every 2-3 years.  Low gas pressure will drop out the compressor.

2 hours ago, varaderoguy said:

Stupid question, but has the gas been recharged recently?  This needs recharging every 2-3 years.  Low gas pressure will drop out the compressor.

No. Mine's never been recharged since I got it at 6 months old.

You might want to do this first then....this will probably fix your problem

On 07/01/2025 at 01:48, Malikawan said:

Hi there, I know it’s an old post, I’m having the exact same issue, same rattle/noise, before it used to fade when turning the ac button on, now it’s continuous and worse  when the engine is cold, even when I drive starting on low revs it gets worse. Been told there could be a faulty ac pulley with clutch and might need to replace the whole compressor. 
how did you sort it out please.

Any advice would be greatly helpful.

 

looking forward to hearing from you 

Replaced the compressor and the rattle disappeared, it was getting really bad and rattling at all times, it was the ac clutch pulley, can't remember how much it was to replace but it wasn't as much as I was initially quoted (think in the region of £500) but that was a few years ago! So likely to be a fair bit higher now unfortunately. Hope you get it sorted

1 hour ago, Cain79 said:

Replaced the compressor and the rattle disappeared, it was getting really bad and rattling at all times, it was the ac clutch pulley, can't remember how much it was to replace but it wasn't as much as I was initially quoted (think in the region of £500) but that was a few years ago! So likely to be a fair bit higher now unfortunately. Hope you get it sorted

Thank you so much, mine started only when AC off, later it’s started all the times. Ordered a second hand compressor hopefully I will fix the issue.