Summertime air con problem?

[jonny1k1]

Hi guys/girls

Just looking for some heads up to cover the basic a/c settings re: my 'perceived' hot air problem in the Summertime with my B5.5 Highline 1.9T before I go down the 384 Relay and a/c compressor recharge refrig investigation route...

A/c works fine in Winter, car heats up no problem, however in the Summer...all I seem to get is lukewarm/hot air when I turn the a/c setting to cool even when on full blast, most noticeable when the o/s air temp is 18 deg C plus..

Now here's the thing...the digital display on the a/c unit registers the lowest possible temp as 20 deg C....is this the standard on all B5.5 Passats or is it down to a fault or inconsistency in my a/c setup?

Having a black car with leather seats seems to exasperate the problem....it's a proper oven in the Summer make no mistake...


Any ideas on what is the a/c norm for the 5.5 before I delve a little further into the mechanics of same?

Best and thanks

Jonny

[passat 130 tdi]

the aircon on my 2001 pd goes down to 18 deg before it switches to econ from auto at 17 deg

[djmx5]

Same here with my 2005 1.9......18 is the lowest that registers on the CC display

[scotty33]

Worth checking the unit for fault codes, they can be brought up on the display, no need for any leads or scanners..

Climatronic Question

Quite common for the recirc flap motor and maybe one of the other flap motors to fail, so don't be too alarmed if these show up. The pressure switch, is what shuts down the compressor (or disengages it's clutch) There are a list of fail modes for the compressor under channel 19 I think, low pressure indicates a recharge or leak fix and recharge is needed.

[jonny1k1]

Thanks guys...given I'm not a petrolhead maybe in my naievity I expected the a/c unit to pump out cold air @ 6C when it's 23C outside....what is interesting is that the climatronic unit seems to report to within 0.5C of the dash temp display, this evening the dash was reading 17.5C, the a/c unit was showing 17C.....@ Scotty33....Worth checking the unit for fault codes, they can be brought up on the display, no need for any leads or scanners.. Excuse my ignorance, but without a VAG code reader or scart how would I go about this? Cheers in advance

[passat 130 tdi]

Thanks guys...given I'm not a petrolhead maybe in my naievity I expected the a/c unit to pump out cold air @ 6C when it's 23C outside....what is interesting is that the climatronic unit seems to report to within 0.5C of the dash temp display, this evening the dash was reading 17.5C, the a/c unit was showing 17C.....@ Scotty33....Worth checking the unit for fault codes, they can be brought up on the display, no need for any leads or scanners.. Excuse my ignorance, but without a VAG code reader or scart how would I go about this? Cheers in advance

click the link scotty gave you then scroll down to post 4.

[macquatic]

I posted a Climatronic Diagnostic pdf in the thread, 4 posts down.
Link Here

[jammy86]

18deg is just the lowest it will control around, this is done by cycles of hot and cold air to provide an average. it's unusual for a person to be constantly at a lower temperature. The a.c. will pump remove as much heat as it can at all times the system is engaged, this may result in 3deg air at certain ambient temp once "pulled down" but it cannot choose to provide 10deg air in the same ambient, its either on or off. It is most likely that your recirc valve is dead so it is always working against an open system and cannot get the external air cool enough to control around the temperature you request. Normally the air is constantly recirculated in the cabin to chill it, not constantly refreshed.

Set it on lo and not showing econ, this will give you as cold as it can do.

If you can get vagcom you can check if all of the temperature sensors are reading, there are a number of them but they should be fairly reliable.