A4 2001 Climate Control Unit

[bartyboy]

Hey all!

More than a month ago, I discovered the Climate Control Unit on my A4 has stopped working one evening after I filled the car up with petrol. So as soon as I got back home, I phoned the Audi Road Assistant to seek for help. I told them there was a flashing '10' on the display. Then they said it meant the air con needed re-gas. I took my A4 to a local Audi Centre, explained to them what I discovered and asked them to re-gas and reset the Climate Control Unit for me. It was meant to be an hour work, but I was sitting in the waiting room for two solid hours.

The chap from the service team told him he couldn't find any fault on the vehicle but managed to reset the unit, so it seemed to work properly again. A week later, the unit disabled itself and had this flashing '10' again, so I rang the centre and requested to reset the unit again. This time, a different chap at the centre told me the Climate Control Unit was faulty, and it needed to be replaced. The cost for part & labour was £700. It was shocking, I told the chap I needed to think about it first.

Since then, I have been searching on the internet to see if there was an alternative option to fix the problem. My A4 is 8 years old and I really don't want to spend £700 to replace an air con, especially I have already paid £400 to replace the central unit a year ago.

After several nights of browsing on the internet, I found some people selling a Climate Control Unit on ebay, but when I contacted them and gave them my vehicle details, they all said their units will not work on my A4. I am getting very frustrated here. Why is it so difficult to source a second hand replacement? Anyway, called several Audi centres in the region and learned that a brand new Climate Control Unit cost £600 on itself.

My question is, does anyone know where I can find a second hand Climate Control Unit for a 2001 A4 Saloon? The part number that I have got on the back of my unit is 8E0 820 043 5PR, and the one that the Audi Centres say I should use or buy is 8E0 820 043 'AA' 5PR.

Any suggestions or advices are welcome!

Many thanks!

[Benzev]

The AA in the part number being the only difference is only and addition to the part because it has been superseded by an upgraded part! Good luck with your search! With the price of second hand unit you might end up with the same problem down the line though as it most likely won't be the upgraded part!

[bartyboy]

Just a quick update on the problems that I had with the Climate Control unit.

I took my AUDI to another centre for a full check up, apparently this centre explains the reason why the Climate Control unit didn't work properly before is due to the low voltage of the battery. They also found out that the battery was dead and they have replaced a new one for me. So everything is working perfectly again as before, but I still need to write a complaint letter to the other AUDI centre who told me the Climate Control unit was faulty and needed to be replaced at a cost of £600...