Climate Control Question

[Guest Cepheus]

I've searched through the posts on the forum and noticed that the general census of opinion is that the Air con doesn't kick in until the external temp is above 5 degrees?

 

Well ...... my external temp yesterday was showing around 10-11 C and the air con was working fine. However, when I pressed the "Windscreen" button to concentrate the airflow to the windscreen, the aircon turned off. It didn't switch over to ECON on the display either, the AUTO just disappeared from the display.

 

From reading the handbook, AUTO should stay on and just divert the air to the screen. Is the system working as it should or is there a fault somewhere?

 

Any help appreciated

[Bigjeeze]

On mine when I do that the windscreen symbol appears on the CC display but the auto one disappears - The Heated window also comes on.

 

Does that help?

[johnb80]

Thats normal operation, if you select airflow / fan speeds etc you have removed it from auto operation. On mine if it's really cold it switches on the heated screen anyway and airflow is directed to the screen in auto mode.

 

Regards - JB

[Guest Cepheus]

On mine when I do that the windscreen symbol appears on the CC display but the auto one disappears - The Heated window also comes on.

 

Does that help?

Is yours the facelift? If so does it have the same CC panel and workings fitted as my MK1? When I push the Windscreen button, the heated screen doesn't come on on mine.

[Bigjeeze]

Hi Yes mine is a MK2 - I have no diea if there is nay difference - my Mk1 does not have CC.

 

 

BJ

[Guest Cepheus]

Anyone with a Mk1 care to comment to compare properly?

 

Many thanks :(

[Steven.Langdale]

Hello

 

I have a MKI, fo you press the windscreen button the air is direcred to the screen and the auto goes off. Thats what it's supposed to do.

 

The windscreen heating does not come on, you have to press the other button for that B)

 

Steven

[Guest Cepheus]

Cheers Steven,

 

Glad I don't have to reach for the cheque book! :lol:

[Guest radioman]

Hi Cepheus

I agree with steven, my mk1 Alhambra does the same as his vehicle.

[Guest Cepheus]

Thanks everyone, much appreciated :P

[Guest Cepheus]

Following on from this, as I was driving the car today, (the external temp was showing 12C) I flicked the CC to Auto and turned the temp down to LO. AUTO stayed on the display until I went below 18C to the LO setting. The display doesn't flash when first switched on, but can't understand why I can't get cold air (ie less than 18C) with AUTO on?!?!?

 

Any Ideas? Never had CC before so not familiar with the workings of it!!

 

Thanks

[dipsomaniac]

when was the system last re-gassed?

[MrT]

It is perfectly normal behaviour that the climate control is no longer automatically controlling the cars internal temperature when set below 18C. Below this, the unit is just running constantly.

 

Why do you want your cars internal temperature below 18C?

 

The climate control is little different to any thermostat, it puts the heating or cooling on to change the internal temperature to the whatever you have set it at.

 

If you are set to Auto and the internal temperature of the air in the car is below the setting of 18C at 12C, you will get hot air to warm it up to 18C. The only time the car will give cold air when the climate control is set to 18C is when the temperature inside the car is above 18C and it needs to cold air to cool it down to 18C.

[Guest arfacobra!!]

Hi All,

Mine seems to work the same as above 1.9 mk2 Wreg.Is it right you cannot have a temp less than 18c without going to Lo and hence air con.In previous cars I could just put the heater down to min and you would just get ambient temp air coming in.Or does Lo setting and econ switched on give me this

thanks

Steve

[johnb80]

Setting the temp to LO should disable the heating, selecting ECON will disable the compressor so you should have ambient temp air entering the cabin.

 

Note, I haven't tried this but your logic is right.

 

Regards - JB

[dipsomaniac]

Am I wrong in thinking that the temperature displayed is the outside temperature and not the inside temperature?

 

When the outside temperature is 12C the inside temperature is going to be considerably warmer inside the car and you should be receiving cold air constantly when the unit is set to lo.

 

I agree that when set to a particular temperature in auto mode the cc should maintain that temperature inside the car.

[johnb80]

When set to low it will call for aircon within the aircon parameters allowed i.e. ambient temp and evaporator temp. If the compressor isn't running you will get air at whatever the temperature is outside.

 

The display is showing the outside air temp.

 

Regards - JB

[MrT]

Mine shows three temperatures, the outside temperature, and the selected temperatures for the front and the back. The only one which is measured and displayed is the outside temperature and that is supposedly only accurate when you are moving.

 

In fact the internal temperatures are measured as is the temperature of the air coming out of the vents, along with the intake temperature of the air, the compressor load, the coolant temperature, the cars speed and various other states in the air conditioning system. These are all calculated to provide the required internal temperature in the car. If you connect your car to Vag-com you can see all these readings.

[Guest Cepheus]

So, If like yesterday, it was 12C outside (according to the display) but I was considerably hotter than this after doing karate training for 2 hours and wanted a good cold blast of air to cool me down while in the car, would setting the CC to LO give me ice cold air from the air con even when AUTO disappeared from the display? If not, then how can I get ice cold air out of the damn thing when I want it, not when the system decides it wants to give it me?!?!?!? :lol:

 

If I set it to LO, then the AUTO display goes out. If I then press AUTO, the fan speed goes to 4 and the internal temperature sets to 22C for both front and back. I can then turn it down to 18C with AUTO still displayed, but going to LO turns AUTO off once more.

 

I've not had CC before but had air con and I was always able to get ice cold air simply by turning the air con on and setting it to the coldest setting.

 

I'm presuming the gassing is OK at the moment as the display doesn't flash and I had cold air out of it a couple of weeks ago.

 

Am I correct that switching to ECON simply turns the compressor off and therefore removes any posibility of getting ice cold air out?

[johnb80]

You are correct on the ECON.

 

Remember that CC works differently to aircon. The fact that you set 18 deg doesn't mean the air exiting from the vents will be set to 18 deg. I've just measured mine, 17 deg ambient outside, interior at about 24 deg. Set the CC to 21 deg (I leave it there winter and summer), air temp at the vents 4 deg C. The CC will put cold air into the cabin to bring the temp down, it also uses heat and cool at the same time to de-humidify and various other tricks. I'm pretty sure on mine, if I set the temp to LO the AUTO mode stays on.

 

Regards - JB

[dipsomaniac]

when cc switched to "LO" permanent cooling is switched on.

[dipsomaniac]

should have added that automatic temperature control is disabled. if it doesn't give cold air when set to "LO" i would get system serviced.

[Guest Cepheus]

ahhhh .. ok with it now ....

 

LO = ice cold air all the time

LO & ECON = ambient cold air all the time

 

so by the sounds of it it's working as it should, which is nice to know

 

Thanks everyone :D

[Dally]

I'm going to confuse you guys.

 

I've just had a 3 year service last week and told them that last summer the a/c wasn't putting out cold air like it used to.

 

They said gas was low but no leaks found - they have re-gassed it but said that you will not be able to feel the effects until you get a good hot sunny day because even in the LO setting, the sun load sensor on the dash may not allow full cooling if it does not register high sunlight etc.

 

This concurs with previous info from a vw dealership who said that the system is set to cycle the compressor least that it needs to. It will only cycle at maximum when the ambient temperature hits predetermined levels.

 

This has been borne out in my experience with both my galaxies - the cooling effect is much greater on warmer and sunnier days.

[johnb80]

I'm not convinced that the reasoning is right when in LO. It doesn't matter what the sunlight sensor says, LO is LO! Obviously on a warmer day the compressor is going to spend more time pumping to get the evaporator temp down to it's limit (-6 degC I beleive) and hence you feel cold air for longer when it's warm.

 

Regards - JB