Weak Dual Air Conditioning

[MrT]

My air conditioning seems a lot weaker than it used to be, it used to be so cold that your arms would feel uncomfortable after a while from the cold air blowing on them.

 

I have the full dual system with climate control and the air just does not seem cold enough either out of the front dash vents or the rear roof vents. I can get the outlet temperature to around 12C (poor thermometer) at low fans speeds and 23C outside. With higher fan speeds or higher outside temperature the outlet temperature is around 15C.

 

On the recent very hot days (outside reading 35C) it appeared that there was no cooling effect at all.

 

My garage has done a leak test, weigh and re-charge and pressure tests and they all were OK. The compressor cuts in and out with the Auto/Econ buttons and there air is definitely slightly chilled both front and back.

 

The fans seem to be working at far higher speeds for the same temperature settings as before and they are pumping air through at a very high volume. The noise alone is irritating as it used to slow down when the car cooled.

 

I have checked the unit with VAG-COM and no errors are reported and you can see the loads change in the readings when you turn the compressor on.

 

If you turn the fans down manually, you can hear the usual hissing/slurping noises around the passenger dash/footwell area. This goes on for a bit after stopping the engine.

 

The heating all works if I turn the climate control to a high temperature.

 

The outside temperature gauge appears OK.

 

The sunlight detector appears to increase the fan rate in strong sunshine.

 

So there appears to be nothing wrong, but it just seems to lack its old cooling power and constantly running at high volumes of air /fan speeds.

 

Any ideas?

[Masked Marauder]

Is it cold at first then seems to loose efficency? If so check the de-icing system.

 

I would have the suction side pressure checked anyway as a drop of a few PSI can make all the difference.

[Guest ajaycad]

Was your garage a ford dealer? Seems the general opinion is to take it to a proper aircon specialist, and not ford as they seem, on the whole, unable to sort snags like this. Is there a specialist in your area?

[HJT]

I had exactly those symptoms with my dual aircon. Air cooled but not cold and fan running a lot faster than before. It was a leak in the condensor where the filter screws in. The aircon people who did mine said this was an extremely common fault with these and he had done loads, in fact he had done one the same, the day before doing mine. Cost me