Having an issue with an elegance.

when the interior fan is turned OFF, the ac clutch engages. We know this because of the almighty racket from the seized ac pump..... :eek: ALSO - when turning the engine off it engages! Why the hell would it do that?

Further to this, the ac fans under the bonnet both run all the time, period. Even when the car is cold. As mentioned above due to ac issue the ac (econ) is never used.

Vag-com only illustrates an issue with the air flap (for recirculating air I guess) no other issues with climatronic.

This all sounds wrong to me - any comments?

I was under the impression that (econ) means economy. When the climate says auto or is blank this means the ac is on.

I'm sure that no cold air comes unless econ is pressed? If I'm wrong, then there is a bigger problem, why is it trying to engage a/c in economy mode!!!

ECON means just the blower fan is operating. Pressing AUTO switches the AC on.

This all sounds wrong to me - any comments?

It is and if it hasn't been suggested already I would be suspicious of a relay stuck in on position permanently.

Any ideas what relay? I put it in auto and no problems. Press econ, the a/c clutch tries to engage and oh dear. Also when turning it off, it engages. And when the fan is turned off.

What a pain.

It's coming in tomorrow - any idea what relay to try/swap out?

Hmmm, I've got an issue too. My a/c radiator fan never cuts in, ever. The climatronic seems to work as it should, gets nice and cold, and doesn't seem to use a/c when on econ mode - so thats all ok. I've tested the fan itself with a 12v feed and its fine... so thinking relay is stuck here too...

So a :bump: for this thread.

Interesting, do they have to run all time? I would have thought that in a complex system it would look at the temp out of the condenser and only put the fans on when it needs it, it might be winter and totally pointless.

Anyhow this motor with everything wrong is coming in for new compressor (presuming the pump gets to me in time) on Tue, but it will be re-gassed later and has a flap valve problem as well, so not sure when I can report back as to the situation.

Greg.

PS I did find something interesting, when I unplugged the ac, the awful noise comes on (when I unplugged the electrical connection on the pump) and when I plug it in, the noise stops if I switch back to econ then back to auto (with temp set high to avoid any air con coming on). Can't quite work it out till I get the pump off and see what is causing the noise. Fans are still on all of the time, econ or auto.

Greg.

Well good fun with it.

I too thought the system might be more intelligent... apparantly not though... I've done so much googling I've lost the will to live.

Think I'll wait til the summer and look at it again!!

when I unplugged the ac, the awful noise comes on (when I unplugged the electrical connection on the pump)

Does this not suggest that when you can hear the noise, the compressor is OFF? I don't know what would be causing the noise, but if that were the case, it sounds as though the climatronic is trying to engage the compressor at the right time (AUTO mode only) and disengage it at the right times (ECON mode and when you stop the engine).

I think the compressor is supposed to run in AUTO mode regardless of the chosen temperature setting, unless the outside temperature is below 5 deg. C.

I believe for reference the 2 fans should spin uo when the AC is ON. Mine certainly do anyway.

Update, and thanks to the replies so far. I replaced the ac compressor and found the shaft to have stripped of splines, allowing the clutch to rattle around. As will said, this actually meant it made a hell of a noise wiht the loose clutch rattling when off, when the clutch was energised the clutch and pulley freewheeled together on the stripped a/c splines, explaining quiet in Econ but no a/c ever (system was well gassed).

Interestingly, with new a/c comp fitted no noise problems BUT the fans have stopped running all the time (guess they were because climatronic was trying to engage the a/c which never engaged due to compressor shaft splines stripped) and when I took the motor for a hard test drive (just fixed the vnt and timing for him) it overheated.

Now the situation is overheating, NO CABIN HEATER.

I did the cambelt and fitted a new water pump thinking it may be that, it was shot but the impella was intact and fixed okay. The inside of the block is clean. Has blue fluid not longlife, but was flushed and has a new thermostat.

When idling/low revs it climbs to 90c and then sits there. It's only pushing it gave the problem but I'm concerned as to why the cabin heater has also failed.

Engine codes clear, only other code of note is "01274 - Air Flow Flap Positioning Motor (V71) " which has always been there, I THOUGHT that was the recirculatory motor under the glovebox but am I wrong?

This motor came in with so many faults at once it's hard to get a handle on what's what. At least it's got a new (old one leaking and loose bearing) water pump, cambelt full kit, working turbo new N75, new silicone piping, de-coke induction and clean manifold, timing set right.

Runs great now, like a 130, but the no cabin heat/overheating is something that must get fixed before giving it back.

More investigations tomorrow, bed now - any ideas please shout up!

Greg.

I have the "01274 Air flow flap positioning motor (V71)" error code too.

Any ideas what it is??

Just a guess, but I'd say it would be a faulty Air flow flap positioning motor.

Replace via taking glovebox out and it's a pig. Just enough room to get to the one screw I'm told. I have 2 to do shortly.

Good luck, get it changed and get your basic settings done and clear your fault codes, shoudl be okay then.

Greg.

thanks greg.

so is this flap the flap that switches between fresh air entering the car and recirculating the air in the car? i was just after clarification as to what it's job is exactly as i'm not experiencing any side effects of it being faulty.

when im behind some dirty diesel burner i switch it to recirc and the smells go away. so that works. and everything else seems to aswell.

what are the usual side effects other than an error code?