Hi team, 

I got a weird issue with the air conditioning which now happened twice in 2 weeks so I think it's a pervasive issue and not something unique. Both times it happened on longer journey 100km+. I have the A/C turned on and working fine, however after approximately 100km of driving it stops working. I mean it still gives cold air out of the ventils, however it's 70-80% weaker than it was. I tried to put the fan to maximum, did not help. Tried to lower the temperature, did not help and soon we had a 30 degrees in the car as the air outlet was very low. Once stopped for 15-20 minutes and restarted the car, it worked fine again. Its very annoying as we plan to to travel to Croatia which will be 700km but without A/C and kids it will be a big problem. Any ideas how to fix? Thank you. 

Edited 17 July, 20214 yr by Ber31inger
Hit the Submit button accidentally

I suspect it's down to the Skoda, aided and abetted by the EU 'we know what's best for you' group think.

 

There's a Skoda (Karoq) article (possibly video) knocking about showing how the air-con system is allegedly intelligent enough to know when we are sufficiently cooled and drops the compressor load / cooling to save fuel.

 

Could be connected - if I get chance later I'll see if it can be found.

Our old Octavia did that a few times...   It was a sticking climatronic flap but a flap reset sorted it.  Not sure how you do that on a superb though...

If auto AC, try to reset flaps. Below video shows which buttons to use:

https://youtu.be/MRa6c9UfyEs

Had something similar on an old Octavia when we went to France, stopped to go to services, realised it was dripping when returning to car, as little wet patch on car park, looked at it and saw condensation had frozen around it.  You could actually see a white frost on the unit.

 

Once it melted it was fine, and worked fine next journey.  I suspect there was some sort of blockage (possibly a sticky flap), but never really found out as it was August and never had very hot weather again before I sold the car.

 

 

3 hours ago, Berisford said:

I suspect it's down to the Skoda, aided and abetted by the EU 'we know what's best for you' group think.

 

There's a Skoda (Karoq) article (possibly video) knocking about showing how the air-con system is allegedly intelligent enough to know when we are sufficiently cooled and drops the compressor load / cooling to save fuel.

 

Could be connected - if I get chance later I'll see if it can be found.

Here's a snippet from the article:

 

 "Even if the AC sign is lit up, this does not mean that the air-conditioning is delivering all it is capable of. Modern systems regulate the operation of the compressor to reflect current conditions. In doing so, they draw on a solar sensor that monitors not only the intensity, but also the direction, of the sun’s rays."

 

https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/innovation-and-technology/technology/10-tips-on-how-to-use-air-conditioning-properly/

 

 

Edited 18 July, 20214 yr by Berisford

That means that they are running all the time (even when switched off) and that the output is variable according to the cooling demand rather than a clutch engaging either full operation or nothing.

 

The OP's evaporator may well have been going through a defrost cycle if the humidity was high, my home reversible aircon does this when heating in winter, I can hear the crash as the ice falls off outside, in summer its the inside unit that pauses but no noise as its just condensate that drips out which could be what the OP suffered.

VCDS would presumably offer a compressor shut-off code if you logged the relevant measuring block at a time when it had shut down  Or tell you that the compressor hasn't been shut down if it hasn't. 

Thank you team, I will definitely try resetting the flaps, however I don't think it's the problem as it again works after 20-30 minutes of break? Can it be really the ice? What can cause that? 

Ice shouldn't form unless the evaporator temperature sensor is misreading. Its presence is designed to prevent any such possibility, I thought?

Edited 18 July, 20214 yr by Wino
Spurious apostrophe

Yeah, just trying to pit together the puzzle and that would explain why it works again fine if I stop for 20 minutes and I can see water under the car

28 minutes ago, Ber31inger said:

Thank you team, I will definitely try resetting the flaps, however I don't think it's the problem as it again works after 20-30 minutes of break? Can it be really the ice? What can cause that? 

 

17 minutes ago, Wino said:

Ice shouldn't form unless the evaporator temperature sensor is misreading. Its presence is designed to prevent any such possibility, I thought?

Well, in high humidity conditions you certainly get condensation, and possibly ice, on the condenser elements. When you stop, the condensation runs off (observed fact, across multiple makes and models), and if it's ice it has to melt fist.

17 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

Well, in high humidity conditions you certainly get condensation

No excrement Sherlock!  (except you mis-wrote condenser when you meant evaporator).

As I said, the evap sensor is put there so that the evaporator doesn't get too cold* and thus no ice should form.

 

Maybe through design oversight, or sensor inaccuracy, it doesn't work as intended in all conditions.

 

*That sensor is one form of feedback for control of the solenoid valve that governs compressor activity level.

 

Edited 18 July, 20214 yr by Wino

Bit off topic but always remember advice given the first time we went to Florida with Freddy Laker, so you’ll know how long ago that was.

Any way, after arrival and in transfer coach we were given the usual welcome speel and does and donts and the one thing they made a big deal of was not to do the “ Brits” thing and turn the air conditioner in the rooms right down as the evaporator freezes up so you don’t get air flow/ cool air and also you’ll end up with puddles in your rooms.

18 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

When you stop, the condensation runs off (observed fact..

It'll run off all the time the evaporator is cooling the airflow sufficiently, but only usually observable after coming to a standstill.

The sensor will indeed stop the evaporator from freezing in high humidity and it shuts down the refrigeration to do so which would give the problem that the OP is suffering although it should only be transient, it happened one time to me when driving off Eurotunnel into France with very different weather conditions to those I had left at Folkestone, within 10 minutes on the rocade the whole car was steamed up & I could not see to drive, the AC was on and putting it on full defrost did not help, the steam would have come from myself during the 35 minute crossing possibly having got in with a wet coat.

 

VCDS logs the previous compressor shut down codes so you can do the scan another day at your leisure.

 

Re the American A/C units, they were badly installed with no external drains for the condensate, I had a similar thing at Isla los Rocos in Venezuela, my bathroom was flooded and the flood had come into the bedroom and soaked my backpack, other stuff was floating around, there was no leak in the bathroom, it had come through the roof but it had not been raining, it was the condensate drain from the external AC unit dripping onto a leaky flat roof.

16 hours ago, Ber31inger said:

it still gives cold air out of the ventils, however it's 70-80% weaker than it was

That would be consistent with freeze-up though, as all of the cabin air goes through the evaporator all the time, I think. 'Illegal' ice presence would explain that flow weakening.

 

 

3 minutes ago, J.R. said:

The sensor will indeed stop the evaporator from freezing in high humidity and it shuts down the refrigeration to do so

Would make more sense if it worked proactively, and I'm sure I've read that it does? Will try to find a reference. Perhaps it can't act quickly enough in changing conditions (driving as well as atmospheric).

I know when I have been monitoring with VCDS I could not force the evaporator temp to get to zero, for the same reason you cannot select cooling on AC when the temp approaches zero.

 

There is a compressor cut off code in VCDS  for a defrost cycle.

Nice info, especially the last sentence, I was unaware of that.

The OP's system should return to normal service if that's what's happening though, without too much delay, en-route? I sense that he's saying it latches into non-working state unless he stops for a fair while?

 

Assuming it isn't out of warranty, really needs taking to Skoda for diagnostics!

 

 

Edited 18 July, 20214 yr by Wino

Are your cooling fans cutting in when you turn on the A/C?

17 hours ago, Patent said:

Are your cooling fans cutting in when you turn on the A/C?

 

Yes, I can hear that it starts...I can also hear the fan, it goes on maximum, you cannot hear that it would slow down or anything like that, but of course you feel that the temperature in the car starts to increase and slowly the air flow slows down :-( just can`t understand where that air goes if the fans are on maximum and you can hear it`s running

Edited 19 July, 20214 yr by Ber31inger

18 hours ago, Wino said:

Nice info, especially the last sentence, I was unaware of that.

The OP's system should return to normal service if that's what's happening though, without too much delay, en-route? I sense that he's saying it latches into non-working state unless he stops for a fair while?

 

Assuming it isn't out of warranty, really needs taking to Skoda for diagnostics!

 

 

 

That is correct Wino...I just asked Skoda for a diagnostic, and will bring in the car on Friday...let`s see

Just a quick update...resetting the flaps did the job, at least I thought so. Did couple of times a 120km trip and it went without a problem. However we just went for a summer holiday to Croatia and after 600kms it just dropped again. Was a disaster to spend the last 45 minutes in the car with 30 degrees inside. Resetting the flaps did not help. Need to bring the car back to the service. 

If you are still in Croatia i do know a few guys that might be able to help you out!