Ignore above, poxy tablet. 

Anyway , thanks Wino for info. Tested fuses under bonnet for fan, all good. Also has separate air con fuse on battery, that's ok. Checked any air con related fuses in car, ok.

Next tried to get to fan  thermoswitch to bridge wires, cannot access from above, even after removing air in pipework. Going to have to remove  undertray, but as I normally change oil in August mulling over leaving it to then, or bringing oil change foward.

While groveling about did notice the bottom of the condenser is not in the best of conditions, so wondering if it has a small seepage of gas. Tapped the refill valves with screwdriver, got hiss of gas, so still some there, but maybe not enough. 

If I sprayed soapy water on bottom of condenser would this highlight any gas leaks ie bubbles?

Got the complete Skoda service history from new from previous owner, no mention of any condenser change.

If I had half a clue what I was doing, would maybe try the Halfords top up cannisters , just to see if a small amount of gas would make a difference.

 

50 minutes ago, Cheapas said:

Also has separate air con fuse on battery, that's ok

Blade fuse #9, 5 Amp? That's a feed to one of the relay coils inside the fan control module, I seem to remember. 

 

Yeah, access can be a right pain on the thermoswitch, and be careful not to damage the connector latch as you unplug it. If you don't know the knack for VW-group type ones, youtube has various tutorials.

 

I think any leak form the condenser would tend to be all-or-nothing, so you would have lost the lot. Except if it were at the connections where there's an o-ring that can leak gradually, probably only when at high pressure.  That's one good reason for making sure the fan(s) work fully, as the system pressures will be better regulated if the fans are doing everything they should.

2 hours ago, Wino said:

Blade fuse #9, 5 Amp? That's a feed to one of the relay coils inside the fan control module, I seem to remember. 

 

 

Jeez Wino, is there nothing you don't know? !! Need you as my next door neighbor !

Just had a thought. When you do the climatronic diagnosis and it runs through a few things , wonder if it starts the fan? Should have checked. 

Thanks for the thought re the condenser, I'll check the fan before thinking of changing that. 

Keep saying it's got to be something simple.......!

Actually found some info on here where you gave advice on the connectors, chap with a constantly running fan.

Trying to think logically, had it gassed up May last year, and the climatronic unit only started flashing 3 weeks ago. 

Lasted over a year , so maybe just something simple.

Thanks again.

1 minute ago, Cheapas said:

When you do the climatronic diagnosis and it runs through a few things , wonder if it starts the fan?

There's something I don't know.   

Where is Thant anyway?, don't know that either. 

I know you can test the fans using VCDS which will be talking to the HVAC module (Climatronic control unit), so it probably is possible via the Climatronic self-diagnosis stuff. 

Thant is actually meant to be Thanet, as in East Kent. Small typo when registering, didn't get around to correcting it. Moved out of the smoke 14 years ago, now 10 mins walk to the sea, lovely.

Just tried the climatronic test again, guess what, the first thing it tested was the radiator fan ! Working fine it seems. Spent an hour  trying to get my hands down there earlier......

Still flagging up same code 318 and 02. 

On the up side, air con may still not be working, but at least I've learnt a few things about the car today.

Back to the drawing board.

12 minutes ago, Cheapas said:

Thant is actually meant to be Thanet, as in East Kent. Small typo when registering, didn't get around to correcting it.

I've done it for you - my good deed of the day!

Thank you sir, it's an age thing.

Must admit when I read your post thought you'd solved my air con prob !

Oh well , saves me asking my personal IT adviser ( sarky daughter).

9 hours ago, Cheapas said:

Thant is actually meant to be Thanet, as in East Kent. Small typo when registering, didn't get around to correcting it. Moved out of the smoke 14 years ago, now 10 mins walk to the sea, lovely.

Just tried the climatronic test again, guess what, the first thing it tested was the radiator fan ! Working fine it seems. Spent an hour  trying to get my hands down there earlier......

Still flagging up same code 318 and 02. 

On the up side, air con may still not be working, but at least I've learnt a few things about the car today.

Back to the drawing board.

 

Did you observe the fan running at low speed as well as full speed? I feel sure that the test will include both; low, followed by high. High/full speed is very obvious/loud, the other is subtler and could easily be missed unless looking at the fan. Low speed failure is very common, full speed much less so. On your car low speed just uses 60W of 'lectric, full speed 250W. Low speed failure means that either coolant temperature or refrigerant pressure have to be significantly higher before the fan spins up.

Hmmm, thinking about it no I didn't. I had the bonnet open and as soon as I took my fingers off the buttons leapt out of the car . By then the fan was running at full blast, but it's possible it started slower briefly which I missed. It only ran the fan briefly, then moved on to blower fan,  think the whole test takes a minute tops. 

As soon as ' her indoors ' gets back from the shops, I'll drag her down  and get her to start test while I stick my nose next to fan.

Sorry Wino, do I understand by what you said that with air con on the fan runs at the slower speed , therefore if it's not working at that speed the air con wouldn't kick in?

Aircon will still start working* even if the fan doesn't work at low speed, but the refrigerant pressure will rise higher before the high speed action is triggered, and this will cycle on and off very noticeably.

If the low speed is working, that'll just quietly run more or less continuously with A/C on in warm/hot weather, keeping the pressures roughly steady and everything optimised.

 

It's more a theory than anything, but I suspect if the pressures are regularly higher due to low speed function failure, there will tend to be more leakage at o-ring seals, and so more frequent regassing needed.

 

* if there are no other things stopping it like low refrigerant, mechanical failure etc.  You really need to know what the fault codes mean.

Edited 11 June, 20214 yr by Wino

Thanks , as soon as she returns I'll jump on it. The car that is. 

Had another thought re the compressor. On our 06 Megane the compressor has a clutch , which you can visibly see working . As the Fabia doesn't have one ( clutch,)   although it's turning when engine running , how would I know that it's actually compressing and not just turning?

15 minutes ago, Cheapas said:

Thanks , as soon as she returns I'll jump on it. The car that is. 

Had another thought re the compressor. On our 06 Megane the compressor has a clutch , which you can visibly see working . As the Fabia doesn't have one ( clutch,)   although it's turning when engine running , how would I know that it's actually compressing and not just turning?

 

Since the compressor has a shear joint to the pulley the only way to tell easily is to remove the belt and turn the pulley by hand.

Sorry, just seen your edit. The fault code (318) was the same as last year, and a Google around says it's a generic code across VAG  for low pressure . The 02 on the right maybe means 2 faults. 

After gassing up in May 20 the climatronic reset itself and codes disappeared.

I read a thread on here where MRGF had the same fault codes , not sure if he resolved the prob.

Mulling over for £20 can buy the trigger with guage from Halfords for the refill cannisters, then hopefully with a bit of You Tubing work out if it's low on gas. 

As I said it got me thru last summer /autumn, so maybe if it needs a slight top up every year the cannister is way to go.

Descicons, descicons.......

7 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

 

Since the compressor has a shear joint to the pulley the only way to tell easily is to remove the belt and turn the pulley by hand.

Thanks Sepulchrave,, that's a useful tip. Presumably you mean if it's broken the pulley would have no resistance , be easy to turn by hand?

My understanding is that if the shear coupling has broken you'll see most of the pulley rotating whenever engine is running, but the bit in the middle won't be. The bit inside the pink circle here:

 

Awkward to see but careful application of phone camera on video may help.  This shot is from below, with undertray off.

Thanks Wino, was just about to dig some spanners out to take aux belt off. 

The compressor is easily visible on my car, so when and if the Mrs  ever gets back from the shops, I'll go and check it and the fan.

By the way, found a link on here you left to a You Tube video of a chap fixing a customers  2005 Polo's air con. Broken wire in the end.

Watched it all the way through, very interesting especially his perseverance and knowledge.

Just need him to move near me......

12 minutes ago, Cheapas said:

Thanks Wino, was just about to dig some spanners out to take aux belt off. 

The compressor is easily visible on my car, so when and if the Mrs  ever gets back from the shops, I'll go and check it and the fan.

 

You don't need to get all the tools out, the tensioner is spring loaded and taking the belt off and putting it back on is a doddle. 

BTW, ATS have/had a deal on Groupon, £35.99 for a vac out and refill with R134A - I used that last year for my wife's 2015 Polo, but failed to follow that up with going over the car with a fridge gas sniffer while the charge load was "normal" - so again this summer, I've found the standing gas pressure is basically zero, time to repeat that and see if it is an evaporator problem or a condenser problem!

Thanks everyone. 

So did the climatronic test with wife operating buttons , me by bonnet. Fan went full blast straight off, no slow speed demonstrated, during test.

With the engine running , compressor is turning , complete with middle part.

5 hours ago, rum4mo said:

BTW, ATS have/had a deal on Groupon, £35.99 for a vac out and refill with R134A - I used that last year for my wife's 2015 Polo, but failed to follow that up with going over the car with a fridge gas sniffer while the charge load was "normal" - so again this summer, I've found the standing gas pressure is basically zero, time to repeat that and see if it is an evaporator problem or a condenser problem!

Unfortunately they're not doing that in my part of the world.

Still thinking of buying the top up trigger with guage, just to see if it indicates how much gas is there.

I'd think that may well indicate that the low-speed resistor has failed in the fan. I can't see why the self-test wouldn't include the low speed function.

Thanks Wino. 

Just looked on EuroCarParts . Stupid question, is it the radiator fan switch I'm looking for? 

Listed at £ 14 ish so worth a punt.

Nope, sorry. There's a resistor within the motor housing of the fan. They don't last well.  

There is a repair possible where you wire in a (big) external resistor, or there's new replacement fan. Depends how you get on with wires/soldering.

Need more confirmation first though, by bridging thermoswitch loom connector wires.

Ok, thanks, bridging time it is. 

Ok, update time.

Finally got around to doing bridging test Wino suggested. Using a test light, with ignition on the high speed fan worked. Testing the low speed side, my test light lit up and there was an audible click but no fan working. Noticed the wires leading into the plug were just wrapped in electrical tape, and got excited when I noticed brown wire insulation was stripped/ chafed back. However presume thats the live one , and it still works the high speed. 

Had an idea that if I kept the high speed side of the fan  running , the air con may kick in . Made a bridging wire, car and fan running, unfortunately no luck. 

Not plugged it back in yet and car still on axle stands just in case more suggestions coming from you knowledgeable people.