MY13 Passat V6 Aircon

[booba]

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone has had any aircon problems in B7 Passat. I don't seem to have very efficient air con, it has trouble cooling down on especially a hot day even if i put it on Max setting. Last summer was fine i think. Jumped in the Golf 7R today and the air con was like the artic!

I have toyed with getting it re-gassed or maybe i should take it in to be looked at by VW however i think they will just fob me off in typical vw style.

Any suggestions? it will cost me about $165 to regas so perhaps i should try that.

[Amalgam]

Hi,

We have a MY12 125TDI and the A/C works well even during our recent 38C+ days. It is not as cold as our Subaru, but it is more than adequate, it just takes a little longer and we always have the auto start stop deactivated. I am sure you are aware that you should run the A/C at least once a week even during winter to maintain the seals. Seeing that you live in BrizVagas, I'll guess that is not an issue ;)

[booba]

Yep, AC is always on for brisbane winter:). I am pretty sure there is something wrong somewhere so probably will just get it checked by the stealers.


Hi,

We have a MY12 125TDI and the A/C works well even during our recent 38C+ days. It is not as cold as our Subaru, but it is more than adequate, it just takes a little longer and we always have the auto start stop deactivated. I am sure you are aware that you should run the A/C at least once a week even during winter to maintain the seals. Seeing that you live in BrizVagas, I'll guess that is not an issue ;)

[drjekl]

I bought my 2011 Passat from Brisbane (so I assume the previous owner used the a/C a lot) and it was 36-38 deg on the day I drove home. On a long 8-9 hr drive to Newcastle the a/C was great on auto 22 deg the fan speed was sitting on 2 bars.

But having the car parked and trying to cool the car its hopeless... I had it on the lowest temp setting and high speed for 15-20 minutes on a trip home today and it wasn't all that cold...

My old Mitsubishi magna use to blow out lots of cool air, I was wondering if my a/C needs regarding also!!

[00100100]

Start with the simple things before re-gassing.
- Hose the condenser through the front upper & lower grills :) It gets dusty pretty quickly and full with bugs on long trips. Which in turn reduces its efficiency.
- Check & replace (if needed) the cabin filter.
- Run the system for a while then use a thermometer and measure the air vent outlet temperature. Should be below 16 degrees.

[kleung]

- Run the system for a while then use a thermometer and measure the air vent outlet temperature. Should be below 16 degrees.

If your AC is at operating temperatures with the setpoint set to 'low' and the air coming out of the vents is at 16 degrees, it's not working right. It should be in the single digits - down as low as 3-4C when you're on the move.

[00100100]

If your AC is at operating temperatures with the setpoint set to 'low' and the air coming out of the vents is at 16 degrees, it's not working right. It should be in the single digits - down as low as 3-4C when you're on the move.

May be I should have mentioned when not on the move ;)

You are right though, it is better to do it when the car is moving to get a more consistent result that is less weather dependent.

[Hillbilly]

The VW Aircon is not a patch on either the Commondores I have owned or the Toyotas.

Sad but true

[CaseySP]

I've noticed ours tends to "freeze" on longer drives on hot days - similar to what my old man's XF Falcon Ute would do. After 2-3 hours of driving at open road speeds the a/c seems to stop cooling (LO) and the fans will barely move any air (max setting). Stop for lunch (30-40 mins) and the car will leave a big puddle of water from under the engine and the a/c will be working 100% again. Works fine on shorter (city) driving. Already been to the dealer last summer for an adjustment.

[booba]

that's what i am afraid of, the dreaded "we made an adjustment" which really means they didn't do bugger all


I've noticed ours tends to "freeze" on longer drives on hot days - similar to what my old man's XF Falcon Ute would do. After 2-3 hours of driving at open road speeds the a/c seems to stop cooling (LO) and the fans will barely move any air (max setting). Stop for lunch (30-40 mins) and the car will leave a big puddle of water from under the engine and the a/c will be working 100% again. Works fine on shorter (city) driving. Already been to the dealer last summer for an adjustment.

[kleung]

I've noticed ours tends to "freeze" on longer drives on hot days

In a domestic AC unit, icing up can often be indicative of insufficient refrigerant charge. The system should also be smart enough to automatically reduce compressor output once the evap coils reach a certain temperature, in order to prevent freezing, so the mechanism responsible for this this may not be working.

It might also be worth checking that the cabin air filter is not clogged and restricting airflow.

[Radius]

Hi everyone,

Echo what everyone else has said. From our own experience on a MY10 R36 - we started getting issues where the airconditioner compressor refused to cool on startup (fan would ramp up to blow ambient air only), then would intermittently kick in after 5 to 10 minutes of driving. Eventually it took longer and became unpredictable as to when or if it would kick in. Dealer confirmed no leaks and adequate gas on initial inspection, and reported it working fine (which it was because it wasn't tested on startup but after a 20 minute drive). In the end, it was due to compressor failure or maybe just the electronic pressure valve attached to the compressor.... unfortunately it seems no-one really "rebuilds" the valve (which is way cheaper than a new compressor).... I was told that this is because if the valve fails, there's a reasonable chance that the compressor has secondary damage as well. There have been a number of threads on VWWatercooled of similar problems at least on prev gen passats like mine.... not sure whether B7s are supposed to have this remedied at factory.

Oh yes - forgot to mention - we also were getting faint "grinding" / worn bearing type noises when the air conditioner compressor was running - however only noticed it when it became absent with the new compressor. We'd probably been having issues with the AC system for around a year before we brought it in.... but because it crept in so gradually we got used to the problems until the system really packed it in.

We now have a perfectly functioning air conditioner system that kicks in immediately. On recent 35+ degree weather parked outside with AC set to 21.5deg the cabin is nice and comfortable within 3 minutes or so.
The other note re: overcooling. As reported by other threads, we have also noticed that the AC climatronic system is "over-enthusiastic" on sunny days. This is apparently due to sun directly hitting the sun sensor on the centre dashboard (at least on ours!).

Sorry if this info is non-technical but hope it helps- I'm not technically minded! Good luck getting your AC sorted - hopefully your issue will be simpler (and cheaper) to fix than ours!

[booba]

Hi everyone,

Echo what everyone else has said. From our own experience on a MY10 R36 - we started getting issues where the airconditioner compressor refused to cool on startup (fan would ramp up to blow ambient air only), then would intermittently kick in after 5 to 10 minutes of driving. Eventually it took longer and became unpredictable as to when or if it would kick in. Dealer confirmed no leaks and adequate gas on initial inspection, and reported it working fine (which it was because it wasn't tested on startup but after a 20 minute drive). In the end, it was due to compressor failure or maybe just the electronic pressure valve attached to the compressor.... unfortunately it seems no-one really "rebuilds" the valve (which is way cheaper than a new compressor).... I was told that this is because if the valve fails, there's a reasonable chance that the compressor has secondary damage as well. There have been a number of threads on VWWatercooled of similar problems at least on prev gen passats like mine.... not sure whether B7s are supposed to have this remedied at factory.

Oh yes - forgot to mention - we also were getting faint "grinding" / worn bearing type noises when the air conditioner compressor was running - however only noticed it when it became absent with the new compressor. We'd probably been having issues with the AC system for around a year before we brought it in.... but because it crept in so gradually we got used to the problems until the system really packed it in.

We now have a perfectly functioning air conditioner system that kicks in immediately. On recent 35+ degree weather parked outside with AC set to 21.5deg the cabin is nice and comfortable within 3 minutes or so.
The other note re: overcooling. As reported by other threads, we have also noticed that the AC climatronic system is "over-enthusiastic" on sunny days. This is apparently due to sun directly hitting the sun sensor on the centre dashboard (at least on ours!).

Sorry if this info is non-technical but hope it helps- I'm not technically minded! Good luck getting your AC sorted - hopefully your issue will be simpler (and cheaper) to fix than ours!

thanks mate for the input, thankfully mine still has about 20 months of warranty.