Air con compressor broken

[Liamlewis93]

I've been told by a green flag technician by clutch or my air con compressor has snapped! Getting quoted nearly£1000 by vw but I'm getting mixed messages from other garages! Basically I'm after knowing can I get away with just changing the compressor do I have to change all other parts like the drier also? Because with all parts it's nearly 700 but without its 400

Thanks in advance and any help appreciated

[niall campbell]

can you go to your local scrapyard and source it there ?

[Liamlewis93]

Yeah but I've heard it's a problem with the parts themselves and that it's a common problem so don't want to resource something that's going to break! I want to know is I think it's just the clutch on the aircon knocking and freewheeling but do I need to change the receiver drier

[niall campbell]

don't know about the receiver drier .......................... but the scrappy will put a date on anything you buy, you usually get 48hrs to see if it works or get your money back

[bbrown1664]

Had a similar problem on my sons Mondeo.
To check it on that we did the following.

Locate the compressor, start the engine and turn on the aircon.
See if the clutch engages and starts spinning the compressor.
If not, give the end plate a tap with something (careful you don't get anything caught) and see if it engages then.

On the Mondeo a common problem was worn clutch plates. To fix this Ford did a shim kit which cost £3 and took about 30 mins to change but not a single Air con specialist was willing to do the job. All they wanted to do was replace the compressor.

£3 and an hour later, I had fixed his air con.

[FLAPPERJACK76]

Depending on what's wrong with the old compressor. If it's seized internally then there will be swarf in the system and the whole system will need flushing. You can easily tell when you remove the pipes to the compressor you will see grey and black deposits that will need a flush. If you don't then these deposits of swarf will ruin the next compressor.

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[Rob69]

My FIL has recently got a 2013 Yeti with 2 litre diesel. he asked me to find a rattle in the engine and it turned out to be the drive pulley on his AC compressor, there is ( I think from memory and looking at it with a mirror) three flexible drive plates held in place with small rivets or pins, these had worn loose. They looked like shear pins and since they had worn loose and rusted a bit there was red rust dust in the vicinity. You might find the same on your compressor, try getting a mirror down there and have a look at the pulley face. I'm thinkin yours will likely have the same compressor as his Yeti engine.
They changed his out under warranty so that was the last I saw of it. You might find you can change just the compressor or if lucky you might find a pulley repair kit or pulley off a scrapper and get away with it. If the compressor has not seized internally and you still have gas in the system then I would suggest that it would not be necessary to change the drier.
I changed just the pulley on my passat compressor last year after the rubber dive element sheared, i bought a compressor form the scrappy and just used the pulley, From underneath I dropped the compressor out of the cradle and changed the pulley with the hoses still attached so didn't have to get the system vacuumed or regassed.

[Dieseljuice]

Hi before you do anything you can check air con pressure with vagcom or a recharge will make sure pressure is ok ...just make sure you ask in advance for an air con readout following recharge. Next get a UV torch and at night shine in all round the condenser especially at the lower level round the connection pipes but everywhere you can and compressor too as you are looking for luminescence which indicates a leak. Also check the ac pressure switch for signs of leaking ac too.

Just offering this as I had an ac failure and local kwick.....t garage recharged it and told me it was still not working yet it did not fail recharge and so no cost to me.
Anyhow with vagcom I checked the ac pressure and it was 0 so a leak somewhere or faulty ac pressure switch as compressor will not start unless there is pressure in the system...so it may not be the compressor though many garages cite this as it's an easy money making job.

I replaced the ac pressure switch (cheap on ebay) but still pressure was 0. UV torch purchased and found damaged condenser. New condenser from carpart shop, and these have dryers built in so no need to buy separately. Bit of a job to change but doable if you are a good DIYer and google how to do it....think I've posted how to somewhere.


With VAGCOM a good pressurized ac system shows as follows

11.8 bar Refrigerant pressure 016
Cooling Air-conditioning operation information 017
900 /min Compressor speed 022
6.2 Nm Compressor load 023



So please be in no hurry for new compressor...it will not work if there is a leak and no ac pressure in the system or the ac pressure sensor is bust....so really check them first and only accept compressor may be bust if VAGCOM shows ac pressure ...I have the value somewhere so will post later when I find it. But if it's 0 then compressor will not even try to turn on.


Bit of a hurry yesterday writing this.
Just to clarify the first time I had the ac re-gassed and told it was ok and still ac did not work...well it turned out the ac gassing machine was bust and no printout either to show it passed vacuum test and regas pressure. And the vacuum test only detects big leaks. When re-gassed properly the printout shows it passed vac test and the re-gas pressure and my ac worked for about a week then stopped and checking with vagcom I could see ac gas pressure was about 11 bar but after a week it was 0 bar.

So you need vagcom really to help identify the fault.

Also - a tip if you plan to change the ac pressure switch...feed a cable tie through the clip eye to use it as a hook to release the clip so you can pull off the lead. Also the switch can be changed without need for gas removal or re-gassing if you unscrew quickly once its free to turn as there is a valve (like tyre valve) underneath it to stop gas coming out when you remove the pressure switch. Also do not over tighten and put too much twist pressure on the pipe the pressure switch screws into in case you damage it.

Also - goes without saying but renew all rubber seals if you dismantle anything and strictly speaking it is against the law to vent your ac to atmosphere as it should be recovered by machine though if its a leak like mine was - well its all gone already..but be careful.

[Dieseljuice]

Not sure if you are allowed post to other sites but here's my ac contribution to remove condenser... TDi Golf Match MK6 AC Condenser - MkVI (Mk6) Golf and Jetta - uk-mkivs

I used info from many sites and here is one with some pictures. MK6 Front Bumper Removal

Sorry if such links not allowed.