Air Con advice required

[kozzy]

I have a 2008 s3 8p and the air con doesn't work - I press the air con button and the red light turns on the and I can hear a slight whining when I do so, turn the air con off and the whining stops. I have had it re-gassed and the pressure is apparently good.

I'm guessing either the compressor or the bearing/clutch on the compressor.

Is it possible to replace just the pulley/clutch on these (in situ)?

If not, is it possible to replace the compressor on the driveway with the car on stands? (after I have had air-con garage de-gas it).

Does anyone know the Audi part number for this? Is this an equivalent model: 8FK 351 135-921 (HELLA)?

Cheers,

 

[samisnake]

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/hella/943742

Scroll down and it'll give you all the cross compatible vag part numbers.

What's your engine code? Manual or auto? When I get home I'll upload the workshop manual on how to change it out

 

[S.]

Hi. Does the cabin blower work? If not, maybe the blower got stuck.

 

[kozzy]

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/hella/943742

Scroll down and it'll give you all the cross compatible vag part numbers.

What's your engine code? Manual or auto? When I get home I'll upload the workshop manual on how to change it out

Not sure where to get the engine code, the v5 says it's the 195kw engine and it is a manual facelift. Thanks for that, would be extremely useful!

Hi. Does the cabin blower work? If not, maybe the blower got stuck.

Blower blows (warm) air fairly quickly. I have also put a cheap ebay code reader on the car and come back with no error codes.

 

[samisnake]

hope the attached helps somewhat. does look like you should be able to remove the compressor using axle stands on a driveway.

i would get the car scanned with a proper tool imo, theres a couple sensors that might be part of the issue.
couldnt find a definitive answer as to whether the pulley can be removed in situ. theres like 6 different types of pulley/clutch setups that were fitted to the 8p and each is different. proper minefield this aircon stuff.

 

[kozzy]

That's very helpful, thank you for getting that, appreciated. Seems like it will be tight and a bit of a faf but should be doable at home (other than de/re-gassing).

The code reader I got was actually this one from Amazon is this likely to be no good? Is there an easy way to get a known error to generate so I can test my reader? I was surprised that it picked nothing up after I bought the car a few months ago. Is there a reader that is recommended by the forum users?
You're right about this being a minefield, have found so many compressors, that the sellers claim fit my car, that look different to each other. I am surprised by the lack of guides/videos on this (I come from Subarus where there are a lot of guides for nearly everything it seems).

 

[Daveyonthemove]

You could try unplugging the MAF or a sensor, that should trigger a fault code.
If you have an Android phone, consider getting OBD11. It's an extremely powerful tool allowing you to read and clear faults, run diagnostic tests and code the car. For the price it's extremely good value and works across the VAG range of vehicles.
https://obdeleven.com/en/

 

[dmc_s3_8p]

Hi, I was just wondering if you ever solved this? I have a 2008 S3 (8p). The AC stopped working recently. The blowers work, no error codes with VAGcom. When I press the Econ button, the light goes off and stays off as usual, the fan note changes as it seems to switch on. However, the air doesn't chill below the outside air temp.
Leading up to this, there was a slight whine/howl developing when the AC was on. It was speed dependent which seems to suggest compressor issues but the noise seemed to be coming from the dash rather than the engine bay.

System has not been re-gassed for 10 years (!) so perhaps I should start there?