Warm air con

[ALTEA DUDE]

My aircon is only blowing out warm air. According to a VW dealer they need regassed every 18 months. Anyone else had theirs done? And what did you pay?

Doesnt seem to have lasted very well, I never had to regas any of my other cars the whole time I owned them...

Will need to keep it off ECON mode more often as it seems to die very quickly if not used.

 

[aceman]

Mines 2 years old now and the aircon is working fine. You can regas it yourself if you want just google it and you can get a kit for around 30 quid just make sure you use the right gas !

 

[Fl@pper]

regassing is a regular requirement but knowing the heater flap motors on the prev generations just make sure it goes from hot to cold ok anyway as per normal

 

[aceman]

regassing is a regular requirement but knowing the heater flap motors on the prev generations just make sure it goes from hot to cold ok anyway as per normal

Flapper is right I had forgotton about that, the flap valve can get stuck and is quite a common fault amongst most VAG cars. My Ibiza would regulary log faults about the flap being intermittant but never stuck totally so it never became an issue so get that checked first before going down the regaasing route.

 

[dlm2310]

My aircon is only blowing out warm air. According to a VW dealer they need regassed every 18 months. Anyone else had theirs done? And what did you pay?

Doesnt seem to have lasted very well, I never had to regas any of my other cars the whole time I owned them...

Will need to keep it off ECON mode more often as it seems to die very quickly if not used.

Correct me if I'm wrong but ECON turns the air con off

 

[cadman2k]

Air Con

I always understood

ECON = Economy Mode.
Air Con remains on but not as severe as Normal.
Does not require as much power to run therefore saving fuel=More Economy.

Is this correct.?

 

[Tell]

mmmm thought that Econ was off myself.... I'm back to full now the hot weather has / had returned and run on full as you do in the winter to keep things ticking over, seals and stuff, for a period.

The gas is changed every two years, I had an original sticker on the windscreen [now removed which said date for next change], the dealer offered a deal to do the brake fluid at the same time, two year period as well. I'd have to look at my invoices to see what it costed.

 

[PhilOfCas]

someone please explain, are we all being conned ?, i've never had my home fridge 're-gassed', it a similar system surely ?, why do car aircon units have to be re-gassed though house ones don't ??

 

[dlm2310]

Correct me if I'm wrong but ECON turns the air con off

According to the manual ECON is definetely to turn off the air con.

As for regassing, My dealer recommends every 2 years and it costs about £90, to me I think this is a con and should be part of say a 20k or 40k service anyway. I also think the brake fluid change should be in the price that is quoted because it's a bit naughty to ask for another £50 in my opinion.

Back to the regas, I don't have it on all the time so surely 2 years won't be the same for everyone so I would be tempted to run it until it runs out then get it regassed. Unless anyone knows of any other reason then I'd leave it.

Just remembered, think an air con service also includes changing some kind of filters.

 

[ALTEA DUDE]

Car booked in for aircon service.... at Skoda! So hateful is the only SEAT stealer in Edinburgh.

Apparantly it involves a full check including running some sort of dye through the system to check for leaks, replacement of a filter and regassing of the system. If its still not working after this then will have to get it looked at under warranty.

Will let you know how it goes once it done on Monday and also how things go with Skoda. They are already light years ahead of the SEAT stealer here in terms of helpfulness, knowledge and even giving me a courtesy car for the day. And all for a very reasonable £70. SEAT stealer was quoting £100! Hello?? They are all VAG cars using 99.9% the same parts!

 

[aceman]

someone please explain, are we all being conned ?, i've never had my home fridge 're-gassed', it a similar system surely ?, why do car aircon units have to be re-gassed though house ones don't ??

Automotive refrigeration systems (aircon) are subjet to alot harsher conditions than your average domestic fridge. Think about it your car is subject to extreme temperatures (down to around -10 and upto +30 degrees), the vibrations on all the pipework not made any better by the state of the raods nowadays and air pollutants which can clog up filters and attack pipes etc. Your fridge sat in your kitchen however has a cushy life with a relatively constant ambient temperature doesn't move for 99% of its working life and contrary to popular belief they too occasionaly require regassing usually after being moved and mis-handled like when moving house.

So I don't think we are being conned it is just something else that goes wrong on a car, some cars are better than others in all areas and I don't think VAG cars are any worse than other manufacturers in this case.

 

[Fl@pper]

plus your fridge doesnt use as large a system it just sits at the back 'chillin'

lot simpler

 

[PhilOfCas]

Thanks for the replies, fair enough comments, yes the house fridge just sits there not moving, nice and stable, and the car ones are turn on/off repeatedly, temp up and down etc, though a house fridge is on constantly, 24/7 for years and years, a car one is on only a fraction of the time, i think we need a refridgerator engineer to step in !!.

I wonder if Klawit is any good with fridges

I might google it (sad b*stard i hear you muttering !! )

 

[PhilOfCas]

Thanks for the replies, fair enough comments, yes the house fridge just sits there not moving, nice and stable, and the car ones are turn on/off repeatedly, temp up and down etc, though a house fridge is on constantly, 24/7 for years and years, a car one is on only a fraction of the time, i think we need a refridgerator engineer to step in !!.

I wonder if Klawit is any good with fridges

I might google it (sad b*stard i hear you muttering !! )

sorry, had to do it, googled and found:

"Domestic" fridges, deep freezers, pub bottle coolers etc have their refrigeration system joints brazed/silver soldered together from new. In theory there are few leakage paths for the gas to escape.

Car air con, supermarket multiplexed systems etc generally have more joints, a proportion of which are mechanical. There are also, usually on car air con, "rubber" flexible hoses between the compressor and the body of the car to allow for engine movement. These hoses can leak through their "skin".

from Sept. 05, Honest John's 'back room' forumn.

I'll shut up now !

I just thought it was yet another 'rip off', never mind

 

[loadswine]

Interesting stuff! Right who's going to be first to post up a "how to" on regassing the system?

 

[goble]

probably a leaking condensor or leaking compressor if its a sanden compressor then i'd say yes it was leaking

 

[goble]

if your going to get it regassed before they fix it get them to put in uv dye to find the leak better

 

[ALTEA DUDE]

How irritating. According to Skoda, the aircon compressor and gas levels are all fine so its a prob with the climate control unit. This is the 2nd time the climate control has needed looked at as it used to blow out hot air every time I accelerated.

Never again with climate control. Old fashioned heater controls and an AC button far better!!!

 

[Tell]

Mines been fine but there have been reports of them misbehaving on here. I love mine in fact since it's all automated. I find that on econ it can get hotter than aircon. The split mode, left / right doesn't really work on a very hot day, so best not to try that one. The three second hold on the aircon button locks left and right together as all us old timers know.....

 

[ALTEA DUDE]

SEAT have had the car all day and cant trace the problem, they want it back for another 3 days!

Definately the last time I get climate control on any car.