Air Conditioning Control Display Module failure?

[Tomo8281]

Evening all.

Recently joined the MK5 Golf ED30 2007 club a few months ago, absolutely loving it, the car is amazing... but..

I've noticed over the past month, the air conditioning compressor is not kicking in. The air i get is just the outside air, with the fans whurring away (heated seats work though). I thought it was low pressure, so I took it into kwikfit for a refill and they said it took it all, but didn't change anything temperature wise. The tech also said he doesn't think the compressor is coming on. Kwikfit gets a bad rep, but the guys near me are sound and didnt charge me at all.

I then took it to a air conditioning specialist. Really nice guys, he took the car for the day and ran some diagnostics. Seems like if he bypasses the Air conditioning control module, everything else works fine (has this piece of kit that plugs straight in). He called up VW and got the part number: 1k0907044bn. Thing is, this costs £350 from VW, I even double checked with my local parts garage. The air conditioning guys didn't charge me for the diagnoistics, so I doubt they are pulling my leg, seemed really helpful. The aircon control module also seems to fully work for me, all the buttons work, all the dials adjust the fans correctly, the heated seats work, etc,  its just apparently not kicking in the rest of the air con system?

Has this happened to anyone else? Is this a weird fault? There is hardly any 1k0907044bn aircon modules on ebay, is it possible its been replaced by something else? Don't really feel splashing out direct from VW prices...

Any help would be really appreciated. And if you have no idea what I'm on about, here is a air conditioning control module:

[Viking]

Link

Previous part number which has been replaced with the one you have listed. 

[skard]

I had this once when I changed from a panel which had an ECON button to one with AC.
The ECU would shut down the compressor.

Long shot, but yours could have been replaced with a wrong type previously? For aesthetic reasons/scratches maybe.

Also, search for 'delphi' and you'll see a thread I put up last week. Basically, if you look down to your AC compressor pulley and the centre bolt is protruding or loose, my thread might be useful.
Symptoms are very similar as in it all seemingly works except no cold air!

[Tomo8281]

Link

Previous part number which has been replaced with the one you have listed. 

Thanks a lot? Any glaring issues I should know about? Why was it replaced? Also does anyone know how easy it is to replace?

I had this once when I changed from a panel which had an ECON button to one with AC.
The ECU would shut down the compressor.

Long shot, but yours could have been replaced with a wrong type previously? For aesthetic reasons/scratches maybe.

Also, search for 'delphi' and you'll see a thread I put up last week. Basically, if you look down to your AC compressor pulley and the centre bolt is protruding or loose, my thread might be useful.
Symptoms are very similar as in it all seemingly works except no cold air!

My control module has an econ button, but I'll take your advice on board. Did you do the fix yourself? Was it easy?

Thanks for the help chaps :)

[paulw123]

could be good time to upgrade to Mk6 

http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,86845.0.html

[Viking]

Link

Previous part number which has been replaced with the one you have listed. 

Thanks a lot? Any glaring issues I should know about? Why was it replaced? Also does anyone know how easy it is to replace?

VW are always updating parts. A change in part number could be down to any small number of changes. In this case the one I linked to was used up until September 2007, so could very easily be the one fitted to your car.

[Tomo8281]

Link

Previous part number which has been replaced with the one you have listed. 

Thanks a lot? Any glaring issues I should know about? Why was it replaced? Also does anyone know how easy it is to replace?

VW are always updating parts. A change in part number could be down to any small number of changes. In this case the one I linked to was used up until September 2007, so could very easily be the one fitted to your car.

Thanks for the help :)!

The thing that gets me, is that the heating works, really well. Heated seats work, and the air con heats the car up to sahara temperatures quite quickly. Just not the cooling bit :(! I think the compressor is fine just because the guy said he got it working fine, by bypassing the aircon control module. Hmm!

Thanks for the help people.

[skard]

I would try borrow a panel with AC not ECON and see if that gets the compressor fired up off the button.