william

With pod on roof and a folding boat, towing a 300lbs sailing boat with piggyback trailer, 3 children and all the trappings of a 2 week walking/sailing holiday in the Lakes, I got 37 mpg over 350 miles in my W reg 1.9TDI Auto with AC on. I'm impressed with this but I never get over 42 with it empy and a steady 70 mph AC off on a 70 mile motorway run to work. (which is why I take the Focus 1.8 TDCI at 55 mpg).

Had exactly the same problem. New discs and pads cured it.

Pollen filters with or without carbon should not be washed if you want them to retain the filtration efficiency. You are also likely to damage the filter media. The carbon in the filter is not just for the drivers benefit but also to stop corrosive hydrocarbons dissolving in the condensate on the evaporator matrix - leading to A/C leaks and costly repairs!!

On my Auto the throttle is electronic and therefore fairly easy to "reset". - I also think that your not expected to press both the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal at the same time - so safety is the only reason.

I find the responses to this question of misting up very odd and negative - I don't have any problems. The reasons behind misting are several and not just to "poor" design. The basic problem is water vapour condensing on a cold windscreen. This water can come from many sources - A/C drains blocked/Evaporator core/water in footwell/from outside/from people in the car! If you run the system on recirc YOU WILL mist up unless you stop breathing. Turning the A/C on (it will run below 5 deg C on manual systems - it has a thermostat in the evaporator core which stops the core from freezing and that stops liquid refrigerant from returning to the compressor) will remove the water from the air but a soon as it is turned off the water vapour on the core will be evapourated off and go back into the air - hence the mist returns (this is most noticable in the mornings when the car is first started after the run home with the A/C on). (The heater core can never come before the evaporator as the air off the heater can get to 80 deg C which will raise the pressure in the evaporator to above 25 Bar (375 psi) and lead to refrigerant oil migration around the system.) Heat and fresh air are the best way to reduce misting without A/C. Heat raises the ability of the air to hold more water and fresh air removes excess moisture from the car. If you have a water leak this must be resolved before misting problem will be totally removed. Low A/C performance is not always a sign of low gas. At this time of year the output of the system will be lower. The amount of heat that the evaporator can absorb (you can not generate cold, just remove heat) is dependant on temperature differentials, humidity and airflow (remember your O level physics E=mcpT , energy = mass flow rate x specific heat capacity x temperaure difference). So at low ambient temperature the capacity is lower and the outlet temperatures will be about 2-3 deg lower (assuming the heat is off). If you need to fix an A/C system I suggest you go to an A/C service agent not a dealer. They have more experiance/know what they are talking about and will be cheaper.

The problem with all CC systems is that they are trying to cope with all conditions for all people. They take time to adapt and adjust when the controls are constantly being tweaked and this can lead the operator to believe that the system is not working well. A lot of time and testing goes into adjusting the time delays between operator inputs but it will never be as good as the instant response you get from a manual system. With CC systems relax and take it slow. The rear heater is in parallel with the front heater circuit.

I have an under tray fitted but I still get problems when on full lock and the belt is under the greatest load. If you look inside after wet weather you can see the water sitting on the inside of the tray under the PS pump. I'm going to fill in ALL the gaps and check the belt tension.

The aux heater (or independant heater) is made by 2 different companies in Europe - both German - Eberspacher and Webasto (there are versions from Japan but these are not as popular). These heater have been used for many year on trucks/buses/boats etc and come in BOTH diesel and petrol versions. They are also come in air or water heater versions from 2 kW up to 30 kW. I think the earlier models used Webasto heaters and the later versions are Eberspacher. If you try the different web sites you should find a local dealer that know a little more about these heaters than a Ford dealer.

Rapid cycling is not normal. The compressor should run for about 20 seconds before cutting out and this is only after it has been running for a while. It sounds like low gas and now no gas!

The Aux heater uses about 0.6 l/Hr of fuel when running a full heat (5kw)!! Thats about 1 gallon every 7.5 hours running. But the heater is only running for about 20 minutes until the coolant is up to temperature.

auto air con systems for best performance need to be re-gased every 2-3 years. Although this could be done by just topping up as Ivor suggests, most places will do a full evacuate and re-charge as this is easier for them (automatic service tool) and cost the end-user (you) more cash. How often this should be done does depend on age/condition as Dodge points out. Running it all year is not a problem, on CC units the system will stop it working when the ambient is below about 3 deg C and on Manual systems there is a low pressure switch and frost thermostst which will also stop it working at low ambients.

There is a big difference between getting warm air and the engine being warmed up. I can get warm air after only 1-2 miles but it takes 10 miles (10-15 minutes) to get the temp gauge at NORM. Turning the rear blower to min helps the warm up for the driver when the aux heater doesn't cut in. (I thought the temperature read out on the trip computer is for transmission oil not water?)

The humming could be from the climate control unit. The cab internal temperature sensor has a small fan to draw air across it. Check the grill on the climate control panel for noise.

There will be a tolerance on the temperature, I find that my heater will not come on until it is below 4 deg C.

I get about 38 mpg in my 00' 1.9TDI 110 Auto in general driving. On long motorway runs this can get as high as 44 mpg. Speed makes a big difference, I found that about 75 mph gives best fuel consumption. Hard acceleration will drop the mpg, reset the trip computer and watch the mpg change!