The air con system only works in recirculate mode. If the recirculating air function/button is switched OFF then there is no air blowing from the fans on the dashboard (windshield, front or foot well fans.

This has happened gradually over a few weeks. At one point there was intermittent air coming from the fans on the dashboard without the recirculate function. For instance it would still create warm air with AC function on however the fan would blow intermittently. Now the system only blows air while the recirculate function is ON.

So while the air condition system does appear to work and sounds like it is working however no air blows from any of the fans unless the recirculate function/button is ON and this is really not as effective at de-misting the windshield on cold mornings!

Any ideas of what could be wrong?
How to check or confirm the problem?
Including how to avoid a to avoid or reduce the big (expensive!) job of removing much of the dashboard to get to the systems to assess what the problem is?

Model: Fabia Elegance 1.6 TDI CR 103BHP

 

When you say aircon system ? do you mean aircon "itself" OR the heater / blower fan does not work ?

 

They are 2 different things in reality.

 

So if you turn OFF aircon, are you saying the blower does not work at all ?

 

Very strange the recirc function makes it work.................What I think is possibly happening, is the blower / heater fan resistor has or is failing and you can only feel air because the recirc vent is closed thus the slow speed fan is felt, when off or OPEN, the slow speed fan does not feel likes its working as it cannot build any flow due to it being vented outside.

 

Offcourse I could be completely barking up the wrong tree.

 

When RECIRC is on, can you operate the fan at ALL diff speeds ?

 

Aircon will ONLY work when the blower speed is set to 1 or higher, hitting the recirc "may" select speed 1 hence the aircon works.

Is this standard aircon / panel with knobs or climate ?

Edited 14 February, 20224 yr by UrbanPanzer

Thanks 

 

If the air con if OFF there is still some air blowing from the fans. It varies

 

 

I've added a video to describe and show each function with the air con ON and OFF

Ok,

 

So after watching that -

 

Your fan / blower seems to be working fine across ALL speed ranges and you can clearly hear it's got some guts, something is stopping the air reaching the vents with RECIRC off.

 

What I find interesting is the fan power / force is no good without recirc on as you see in the video and as you said............When recirc is selected ALL that does is shut the vent in the windscreen scuttle and stop outside air coming in, it just recircs the air

already in the car, thats why its advisable not to use for prolonged periods etc.

 

So my first port of call would be to take out the interior pollen filter and see if that makes a difference. I cannot be sure but I would suspect on recirc it "may" not filter the air, but it def does when outside air is coming in, so if the filter is blocked, it would reduce the power, its not easy to see if the filter is blocked, but simply removing it tempararily would see if the flow with RECIRC OFF improves or is the same.

 

If you don't know, the filter is located in the passenger footwell under the dash, remove the lower trim and you can see where its housed, slide the clips, remove cover and pull out the filter (Image below)

 

Thank you

 

I've just removed the pollen filter and tried the system as before.

 

That's correct. With the pollen filter OUT the Recirculation function does

NOT filter the air.

 

However,  unfortunately that hasn't changed the air flow in any way. The fans still do not blow when the Recirculation functio  is OFF. This is true for AC ON and AC OFF.

 

There is plenty of noise from the system sounding like it works.  

 

Also, when the Recirculation function is OFF there is plenty of airflow coming through the open pollen filter area, so identity think there's a problem of this pipework being blocked. Does that sound like a reasonable assumption?

... I mean, I don't think the pipe work that feeds the pollen filter is blocked.  Also the pollen filter does not look particularly dirty or full. So have popped it back in. Picture attached above. 

 

Thanks for reading and considering this post. Happy for any other suggestions as I don't know exactly how the system works and what to check next. 

Victor Meldrew time 🙂 (look him up if you don't know the name) - firstly you want to change that cabin filter, looks very dirty to me in that photo.  Recirculate is to stop the air coming in from outside, say when you are following a VAG diesel too closely. 😉

 

To me it sounds like it's your flaps, if you know someone with a scan tool of the level that can test or reset them that might be it, if you lived nearer Northampton we could borrow my neighbour's machine and see if I'm right with my guess.

 

I don't know if leaving the car battery disconnecting for say an hour would get a reset  but as it's quick (apart from the hour), easy and no cost to try I'd give it a go.  

 

For the video it also helps to have the camera held horizontally as it gets more of relevance in the frame (unless the subject is vertical).

 

Edited 16 February, 20224 yr by nta16
second look filter isn't so dirty

Well as mentioned, I think ideally it needs to be plugged into diagnosis, so all the flaps and controls can be checked and operated.

 

It's possible it's the contol panel itself as well.

 

This is not the aircon working or not working, your AC is working, it's the distribution of the airflow thats not functioning correctly, probably down to one of the motors which control the flap on the climatronic system.

 

Has it been like this since you bought it, or is it a recent thing ?

 

 

Edited 15 February, 20224 yr by UrbanPanzer

Looking at my previous post it was more Victor Meldrew than I meant it to be, also looking the photo again the filter doesn't look so dirty but it needs replacing with those gaps.

 

For the issue I think the same as before, a deeper/higher level scan tool is needed to test or reset the Climate's brain and/or flaps - or I'd try disconnecting the battery for an hour as it's free and easy to try, check your Driver's Handbook but you only loose the time of day clock.

 

The system has two flaps in it operated by motors.  One flap is in the foot well and is open for recirc mode but closed for fresh air mose.  The other flap is in the plenum chamber scutlle area below and in front of the windcreen (bonnet side where the wiper spindles are). This second flap is closed for recirc and open for fresh air mode. 

 

Hence from your description the flap in the plenum / scuttle is either jammed or the motor is kaput.

 

I'd start by getting access to the plenum / scuttle area by removing the trim around the wiper spindles and seeing whether the flap there canbefreed off and whether it moves when recirc is engaged

Subject to the weather a look-see and clean and lubricate is a very good idea - I'd still try the battery disconnect first and if it worked leave any 'clean and lubricate' until better weather.  I'm not sure of access but a small brush and (perhaps adapted) vacuum cleaner nozzle and/or long cleaning buds then GT-85 to lubricate.

 

20 hours ago, UrbanPanzer said:

Well as mentioned, I think ideally it needs to be plugged into diagnosis, so all the flaps and controls can be checked and operated.

 

It's possible it's the contol panel itself as well.

 

This is not the aircon working or not working, your AC is working, it's the distribution of the airflow thats not functioning correctly, probably down to one of the motors which control the flap on the climatronic system.

 

Has it been like this since you bought it, or is it a recent thing ?

 

 

It happened shortly after I bought it. even then it happened gradually, sometimes it worked fine other times the air flow stopped. It was different each time I started the vehicle for about 3-4 weeks then it stopped working

4 hours ago, nta16 said:

Subject to the weather a look-see and clean and lubricate is a very good idea - I'd still try the battery disconnect first and if it worked leave any 'clean and lubricate' until better weather.  I'm not sure of access but a small brush and (perhaps adapted) vacuum cleaner nozzle and/or long cleaning buds then GT-85 to lubricate.

 

I'll try the battery disconnection the first chance I get and let you know. Thanks for your time to read and consider what it might be. 

If you are also able to give the battery a low, slow as long as possible recharge (off the car if possible) at the same time, overnight preferably that might also help given the use the battery might get before winter is out.

 

Let us know how you get on, if it was a total waste of time just say so it all goes towards learning (and the yes no count).

 

Pretty certain disconnecting and charging the battery will make diddly squat difference and is a red herring...   Just check the scuttle panel flap isn't stuck and if it is free it'll be the motor. 

There cannot possibly be that many herrings in the sea of any colour!

Edited 16 February, 20224 yr by J.R.

9 minutes ago, J.R. said:

There cannot possibly be that many herrings in the sea of any colour!

 

I knew I'd have a use for this image, someday.

 

 

All meant in good humour, of course.

Edited 16 February, 20224 yr by AnnoyingPentium
Made it make sense.

1 hour ago, skomaz said:

Pretty certain disconnecting and charging the battery will make diddly squat difference and is a red herring...   Just check the scuttle panel flap isn't stuck and if it is free it'll be the motor. 

You could very easily be right and may I be the first to tell you so if that's the case. 😊

 

And even IF it did sort it it might only be temporary until the mechanism or computer program seizes or jams itself up again but unless you can poke a stick at either from the shelter of the car's interior I'd be looking for the quickest thing to try for now given the weather.

 

But are you certain you are right, are you sure, are you dead on balls accurate.

 

"Dead on balls accurate?" "It's an industry term."

 

But a quote misses out the lovely Marisa Tomei.

 

 

Edited 16 February, 20224 yr by nta16

On 16/02/2022 at 23:15, nta16 said:

You could very easily be right and may I be the first to tell you so if that's the case. 😊

 

And even IF it did sort it it might only be temporary until the mechanism or computer program seizes or jams itself up again but unless you can poke a stick at either from the shelter of the car's interior I'd be looking for the quickest thing to try for now given the weather.

 

But are you certain you are right, are you sure, are you dead on balls accurate.

 

 

These days the vast majority of memory used is non-volatile memory that doesn't lose it's information when the power goes off - hence disconnecting the battery makes bugger all difference.

54 minutes ago, skomaz said:

 

These days the vast majority of memory used is non-volatile memory that doesn't lose it's information when the power goes off - hence disconnecting the battery makes bugger all difference.

Yeah I missed a bit out, I think my memory is getting as bad as my eyes - but there is an explanation, I was almost MENSA standards until last year. 🤣 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-60431986