Air con not working. Costly repair?

[Gm95]

Hi guys,

First off, sorry if the information for this is already on a different thread. I was really expecting to find it straight away but after a search I couldn't really see anything.

I'm just looking for a bit of advice. I have an '05 A3 2.0 TFSI and with the lovely weather we have been having recently, the climate control has actually been trying to use Air Con. However, no matter what I set it to, the vents just blew warm air. I turned Auto off and just put the fans on full, temp set to 'Lo' and drove all the way home from work with it like it to see if it would start to go cooler at any point but no luck.

When I turned 'Econ' on which I believe is meant to deactivate Air con, the vents started blowing slightly cooler but not cold. I imagine this is just because it is then just taking air from outside and acting as a fan?

My first thought was that I should just get it re-gassed as there's offers on that left, right and centre around me at the moment but I've been told by a friend in the know that around my year of car, vag changed the A/C compressor and they're prone to fail, get stuck, break a part in the pulley so that it free-wheels and sends metal shavings around the loop. Therefore I'd be looking at a full a/c rebuild costing up to a grand to get it working again?

My question is if anyone can confirm this? Has anyone had my experience and solved it with just a simple re-gas? And lastly if the above is the case, is there anyway I can test to check if the compressor has actually seized.

 

[Sam Axon]

Could be your air-con condensor with a hole in, they are prone to it as they are very weak and right at the front of the car in front of the radiator and intercooler. maybe worth getting a pressure test done which will tell you about any leaks or seal failure in the A/C pump. I'd do that first and check the system is up together.

 

[Gm95]

Could be your air-con condensor with a hole in, they are prone to it as they are very weak and right at the front of the car in front of the radiator and intercooler. maybe worth getting a pressure test done which will tell you about any leaks or seal failure in the A/C pump. I'd do that first and check the system is up together.

Great, thanks for the advice. I know next to nothing about a/c so will check that first as suggested

 

[fangio]

Get it re-gassed first. If it still won't work, then it's time to get it looked at.

 

[Nessy]

The last time I looked into this, Halfords Autocentres were offering an air-con recharge for about £50 with a money-back guarantee that it would do the trick.
I took my mums Mercedes in to be re-charged but despite this it still didn’t blow cold air, they refunded me without quibble, ( it later transpired a kaput ECU in the engine bay was the cause of the trouble!) but I can’t fault their service.

 

[Marler1337]

I've got a similar issue to you where the Econ button seemed to make it cool but not freezing.

I went to an Aircon specialist who came out and looked at the car after Audi quoted me £740 for a new compressor. They've recommended it's the compressor but said they'd do the switch again, it's going to cost about £640 including regas etc. He checked under my compressor and it had gone all rusty, connected a gadget to it to check if the compressor was working and the dials weren't moving. Sadly it's not cheap but cheaper then Audi

 

[ch1z64]

Hi guys,

First off, sorry if the information for this is already on a different thread. I was really expecting to find it straight away but after a search I couldn't really see anything.

I'm just looking for a bit of advice. I have an '05 A3 2.0 TFSI and with the lovely weather we have been having recently, the climate control has actually been trying to use Air Con. However, no matter what I set it to, the vents just blew warm air. I turned Auto off and just put the fans on full, temp set to 'Lo' and drove all the way home from work with it like it to see if it would start to go cooler at any point but no luck.

When I turned 'Econ' on which I believe is meant to deactivate Air con, the vents started blowing slightly cooler but not cold. I imagine this is just because it is then just taking air from outside and acting as a fan?

My first thought was that I should just get it re-gassed as there's offers on that left, right and centre around me at the moment but I've been told by a friend in the know that around my year of car, vag changed the A/C compressor and they're prone to fail, get stuck, break a part in the pulley so that it free-wheels and sends metal shavings around the loop. Therefore I'd be looking at a full a/c rebuild costing up to a grand to get it working again?

My question is if anyone can confirm this? Has anyone had my experience and solved it with just a simple re-gas? And lastly if the above is the case, is there anyway I can test to check if the compressor has actually seized.

Have a look at the Q3 Climate control post as there is a bit in it somewhere were it tells you once fitted you go to vcds and do a check to see all is well with it and it could do you know harm to try it and see if it helps in anyway