Air con not cooling in my '97 Passat

[mcstu74]

Hopefully this isn't a repeat of any other specific Passat A/C problems (I did have a quick hunt), but over the past 3 weeks, the air con in my Passat has stopped blowing cold air. I mean that the air flow is fine - just not cold, even when 'LO' is selected. The compressor engages ok when 'Auto' is selected, but there's just no cooling effort. The A/C pipes under the bonnet don't get cold either.
I only had the system serviced & re-gassed in July last year, so unless I've got a leak somewhere, is there anything else someone can think of that would be causing this?

Cheers
Stuart

[stuart]

Sounds to me like the gas has escaped, although I belive that the system should shut off if the pressure is too low, from a loss of gas. This is to protect the system.

I would get the system checked out to see if you have a leak.

Stuart

[mcstu74]

Thanks for the swift reply Stuart. I think I will have to get it looked at asap.

Cheers
Stuart

[mcstu74]

Just a quick update to this. I took the car to AVACS in Alton & they discovered the system had lost about 50% charge over 15 months. They had a good look at all the air-con components under the bonnet & couldn't find any leaks (I had dye + refrigerant treatment last time), so they've recharged the system but I need to go back soon to see if I've still got a leak. If I have, it's almost certainly the accumulator behind the dash which is not cheap (£400 for the part & then 4-5hrs labour).

[PeoplesMan]

And thats if your lucky. I had to get a motor of four replaced behind the dash on mine and it involved the entire dashboard being removed and refitted. 16 hours labour

OWWWWWWW

:zx11:

[mcstu74]

Yikes - 16hrs labour!? They must've had one of their hands tied behind their back. The guy I spoke to reckoned he'd done it before in 5hrs. Mind you - getting to the part you're talking about may be harder. I think the accumulator's fairly easy to get to & may not require the whole dash to be removed. I think I've decided to just leave it anyway for the time being seeing as the car's only worth £1200 & I'm about to spend £500 on repairs to other things (lower front n/s arm, front o/s susp. mount, cambelt to name but three of the seven things needing doing)! Then the MOT's this Saturday, followed by insurance renewal on 5th Feb. Yes - I think this air-con thing's gonna take a back seat for a while... At least it's working for the time being :biglaugh: