Air Con Problem?

[AdyP]

Hi All, first post here so be gentle with me!!

We moved to the french Alps last year and I brought my trusty RHD 1999 Audi A4 Avant with me. Trouble is it gets jolly cold during the winter and the aircon shuts itself down, as designed, when the temp drops below 0 ish to protect the compressor i think. When this happens the windows steam up instantly and are a bugger to keep clear! They get very wet very quickly.

I've had this in the past in the uk when the rear washer line had come detatched in the passenger footwell soaking the carpet. But this time I can't find any obvious wet patches anywhere. It's almost as if the air being pumped in is inherrently damp and as soon as the compressor shuts down that's it - steamville!!

I confess to knowing nothing about aircon systems so don't know where to start. Could there be a drain blocked on the system causing this? I don't even know where to start looking under the bonnet.

Any help greatly appreciated as it was a major PITA last winter.

Cheers

Ade

[hepburn]

hi there buddy, try looking in the chamber at the back of the engine below the windscreen {where the battery and brake servo is situated} if it is damp or wet, the drain pipes will be blocked with gunge. a quick and common solution is to remove the rubber bungs to allow the water to run out. there is one under the battery, and one under the brake fluid resevior {tricky}. the water sits in this chamber causing mist problems as the pollen filter is situated in there, and can also cause electronic problems if the water runs in and soaks the controllers. hope this helps, thats what i have done before.

[AdyP]

Thanks for the reply and I'll have a good look around that area tomorrow, though I think it's ok. What water there is will be well frozen as it's -6 degrees here at the moment!

So far this winter I've not had a repeat of the steaming up issues. I've been much more careful about not getting snow in the car and have treated myself to some well chunky rubber mats (Halfords Advanced) which are great for collecting the water/melted snow which you can then tip out.

Cheers

Ade

[sbt]

hi mate i had this problem i replaced my pollen filter as the old one was rotten i have not had the car steam up since