Aircon failure

ben

ben

Administrator
Ukraine
Hi folks,

My aircon stopped blowing cold this afternoon. I know this has been covered many times in other threads - but I have an additional question that hasn't been answered.

Would you expect it to suddenly loose its cold-blowing-abilities, or would it be more normal to witness a gradual decrease in efficiency?

I have booked it in for a check on Monday - but the garage seems adamant that it simply needs a refill (at a cost of £130!). This happened with another car of mine last year - and it turned out to be the temperature sensor (which was fixed under warranty). The garage still charged me for the regas though - even though there was not a problem with it.

Ben
 
Aircon can fail either slowly or as a one off event. We had a 944 which suffered a stone going through the condenser which led to a sudden gas escape.

In most systems there is an inspection panel wheer you can tell whether the system still contains gas, just in case its an electrical failure.

You might be better off going to an AC specialist for a diagnosis, assuming its no longer under warranty.

I was lucky with one Audi that stopped going cold and was regassed by the dealer (with dye) and never leaked again but that was probably just lucky.
 
Hi Ben
I agree with you and would also expect a gradual loss of refrigerant through leaking seals etc to result in a slow deterioration in aircon performance.
Stone damage to the condenser core (as Dave experienced) or failure of any of the pressure and temp sensors, the control panel or the air con compressor could all result in instantaneous loss of performance.
Pity you don't live closer to Skipton as a VagCom check would identify any sensor failures and it can also be used to diagnose low refrigerant levels using readings from the system sensors without the need to hook up pressure gauges etc.
Hopefully the fault is minor but if you'r unfortunate enough to need a new air con compressor, contact 4.Ring Audi spares. They have been selling genuine A2 units on e.bay for around £75

Cheers Spike
 
Thanks for the tip Spike. The car is in Newbury Audi today. It's still under warranty - so if it needs new components I should be ok. I'll report later.

Ben
 
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