Climatronic - just how does it work?

[abucksdiver]

Hi,
I've been searching, but not yet found the answer, so hope someone can help!

Had my Passat (2002 - 2.0 S estate) for about 6 weeks now, and the heater part of the Climatronic system seems to work fine.

However, having now had a couple of warmish days, I'm now not sure I understand how the Climatronic unit is supposed to work...

What do the AUTO and ECON buttons do?

AUTO seems to put the selected temperature up to 22 degrees, and ECON doesn't seem to do anything!

I've tried using the "cooler" button to bring the temp to "LO", and, on a couple of occasions, I've had an "Icey blast" for about 30 seconds, and then the air seems to "warm up" to about the same temp as the external air temp. The rest of the time, I just get "external ambient" air...

Is this indicating a possible fault (ie. the system needs re-gassing) or is this how its supposed to work?

Thanks
Andrew

[cazyp]

Auto = set the temp and the climate will automatically keep your cabin at that temperature by either heating or cooling using aircon or external air and openning/shutting the external air intake.

Econ = set the temp you like and it will TRY and do the above without using the aircon - so less fuel is used . It wont be able to cool the cabin to lower than the external air temperature though.

HTH.

[abucksdiver]

Thanks...

I've noticed that if its on AUTO, and I drop the temp to "LO", the AUTO switches off... is this correct? Is 18 deg the lowest that AUTO can work to?

[snapdragon]

Thanks...

I've noticed that if its on AUTO, and I drop the temp to "LO", the AUTO switches off... is this correct? Is 18 deg the lowest that AUTO can work to?

Yes, because LO will try to make the cabin as cool as possible, so AUTO would be a contradiction.

[abucksdiver]

Yes, because LO will try to make the cabin as cool as possible, so AUTO would be a contradiction.

Hmmm... maybe I need to pay more attention to the Climatronic settings... if I set it to low, but econ is on, then external ambient will be the lowest it can get too...

I'll do some more experiments with ECON and AUTO...

Thanks guys

[MalcQV]

Hmmm... maybe I need to pay more attention to the Climatronic settings... if I set it to low, but econ is on, then external ambient will be the lowest it can get too...

I'll do some more experiments with ECON and AUTO...

Thanks guys

Yes that is correct. ECON simply means the compressor on the A/C is not used, it will do it's level best to cool to the set temp using external ambient only. It will of course heat the cabin up just as well as AUTO would.