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Crap A/C issue

vwengineer

Ready to race!
Location
Switzerland
Ok, so yeah maybe there is a problem with the compressor. Even with 140g you should at least see the evaporator temp drop some degrees. Mine had less left and still managed to produce some weak cold, not enough to cool the car but enough to be noticed
 

easy87

l1kez b00st
Location
Texas
Car(s)
GTi
Is there any way short of replacing the thing to verify it is the compressor? Or do I need the vcds for that?
 

vwengineer

Ready to race!
Location
Switzerland
I am pretty sure VCDS will not show faults because the duty cycle of the compressor was 82, it means the climatronic at least tries to run the compressor at full power, so it's probably not in some sort of safe mode. But if you could scan the car that would obviously be the best first step.

As you have the ability to evacuate the system, you can try to replace the solenoid as a second step (not sure how it fails exactly, but if it broke, maybe it is still moving, just not moving the parts it has to and so the system do not see it as a fault). It's easy to do, the only difficulty is that you have to remove the refrigerant first.
 

easy87

l1kez b00st
Location
Texas
Car(s)
GTi
Forgot to mention, just took the readings and the differences were in red. See pic.


Didn't see it come up so here's another link Numbers https://imgur.com/a/tQSXi3C

For reference, it was around 70°
 
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GTI's

Drag Racing Champion
Location
MD
Yes sir! Pulled a vacuum of about 20mmHg. We shut off the vacuum, and let it sit for about 15 min to verify the vacuum held. No leaking noticed there. After that, we turned the car on, a/c full blast and tried to fill. Barely moving. Tried turning the car off as well. It just would not take. We pet it go for a good 15 minutes and didn't even get through half a can.

FWIW pulling vacuum down to 20 is not so good you should be going for 30 and then stop vacuuming and see if it holds, then after 10-15 minutes start vacuuming again and repeat. What you are trying to do is boil off the water in the system and pull a deep vacuum. A micron gauge is a great tool to see how much the pump can actually pull vacuum and see how inaccurate the gauge set is.

The system can be charged from the high side but you need to know what you are doing and you do not do it with engine running and AC on and some other things that need to be done.
 

easy87

l1kez b00st
Location
Texas
Car(s)
GTi
This was done through the low side, just to clarify. But as far as the deep vacuum, we used the best we had. I'm curious now as to why it would not take any more. I figured it probably filled the low side, and since the compressor was not running, could not get it to send to the high.
 

easy87

l1kez b00st
Location
Texas
Car(s)
GTi
So, just ordered the OBDEleven for arrival tomorrow. I plan on running a full scan, but what blocks should I be paying specific attention to? Obviously the compressor and A/C related, but would there be anything on the engine module, like fans? Thanks!
 

GTI's

Drag Racing Champion
Location
MD
So, just ordered the OBDEleven for arrival tomorrow. I plan on running a full scan, but what blocks should I be paying specific attention to? Obviously the compressor and A/C related, but would there be anything on the engine module, like fans? Thanks!

Do a complete scan on car and save it for future reference and post up results between code tags.

Output test for fans will be in engine module, perform with engine off.
 

doc280

Ready to race!
Location
North Carolina
I just saw this thread. As far as the fan not working, it very well could be the brushes have got stuck. If this has happened it will not show a code. I went through this last year and just replaced the whole fan assembly at the cost of somewhere near $90. There are photos on my thread "GTI on the Cheap".
 

easy87

l1kez b00st
Location
Texas
Car(s)
GTi
I just saw this thread. As far as the fan not working, it very well could be the brushes have got stuck. If this has happened it will not show a code. I went through this last year and just replaced the whole fan assembly at the cost of somewhere near $90. There are photos on my thread "GTI on the Cheap".

Holy crap, that is an amazing thread! Good on you for keeping it going! I did notice that when the large fan eventually kicks on, it sounds like a jumbo jet taking off. Hella loud! The little fan never cuts on, so it most likely needs to be replaced. Unless there is some switch/relay that keeps it from turning on if the compressor isnt on.
 

vwengineer

Ready to race!
Location
Switzerland
If one runs at max speed and the other not, it means it's toast. However it's not your problem since you have one running intermittently. Yes, scan the car, full scan, you will see what shows up.
 
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