air con problems

[mike cosker]

hi there chaps.
bit of a new boy but still hoping you can give me some help. i have a december 01 ( 51 ) plate audi a4 avant 130tdi sport. over the last few months i have suspected that my air con not getting as cold as it used to, until last week when it stopped blowing any cold air at all, just outside air. today i took the car to kwikfit and they checked the gass. they found that there was only about half of the gass left in the system. they then proceeded to regass the system. on testing the car after it was found to be exactly the same. they thought that maybe the compressor wasnt coming on. i took the car to a local air con specialist who had a quick look and confirmed that the gass pressure was ok and they also thought that the compressor wasnt working. they also did a diagnostics and found no errors. they then started quoting prices of upto a thousand pounds for a worst case rebuild of the air con system !! help help !!
has any one got any ideas ??
regards
mike

[nickynibbles]

Aircon problems on A4's seem about as common as dead flies at the moment!! Plenty of threads on the subject so do a search to read details. One way to check if your compressor is working is run the car for a while making sure the Econ light is off on the climate control unit. Just below the pollen filter box(found below the windscreen on the passenger side. You may need to remove some plastic covers to see the pollen filter box but this just pulls on/off) are 2 silver pipes which are to do with the aircon system. If your compressor is working ok then 1 of the pipes will be freezing cold & icing up. Next stage would be a vagcom check-up to look for electrical faults.

[miniredcooper]

Hi,
sorry to hear about the troubles with the aircon.
Does the econ light stay on all the time on the dash control panel - even when in auto mode.
Econ cuts out the power to the compressor and brings in outside air. If this is jammed on then it could possibly be the 'thrust sensor' or high pressure switch. If not then not sure. If this is the case should be a straightforward DIY fix if you're handy with a spanner.
Hope Kwik Fit refunded when couldn't reduce the temp at the vents.