Damn aircon!

[Pandy]

Hi folks.

The aircon on the wife's ED30 doesn't work, nor has it ever worked in our possession. We had it in under warranty a few months back (unfortunately that was at Halfords) and they did a diagnostics and re-gas, but it made no difference at all, and I wasn't prepared to take it back to them monkeys afterwards.

So I now want to get to the bottom of it as it gets stuffy in there, especially not good for my 13 week old boy.

Are there any exercises I can carry out to eliminate various issues?

I will take it to the independent aircon guy down the road and get him to do a pressure and leak test on it first.

I've read that VCDS can be used to see if it's the pressure switch or not?

And finally to check the compressor do I try and turn the central pulley bolt and if it's spins it's sheared off? Which means new compressor and a complete flush to remove any shrapnel?

Anything else I've missed or gotten wrong?

Cheers
Andy

[MrACD]

Hi mate not long had my car and had this issue.  They swapped the high pressure switch and re-gassed and still no luck.

They then changed the compressor and flushed it and re-gassed and works a charm.

Was all done under warranty thankfully so not sure on how much it would have cost 

[beetie]

The pressure switches are cheap enough and don't require the gas to be removed to change them. They have a bike style valve below them.
Start there.

[Pandy]

Cheers fellas.

I'll grab a pressure switch and try that first then, failing that I'll go down the compressor route.

[jimmy-s3]

How did you get on?

[pudding]

Hope it's not the compressor.  Expensive.  The MK5 ones are made of cheese.

Had all my AC overhauled recently and tbh, I'm not that impressed with it.  It never gets icey cold like other cars do.  It works, just not that great.  Been told that's just how it is on MK5s.  Boooooo!

[JaseGti]

My car is in the garage at the mo to get re-gassed then, that didn't work so got the pressure switch changed still not cold enough.
So tomorrow more tests, looks like it's going to be the compressor 

[perksy]

Whenever I've had aircon issues in the past I've always assumed the condenser (large rad at front) to be at fault and so far I've always been correct.  It simple to change, costs about £70 and is a DIY job.  The receiver/drier unit (canister) should also be changed at the same time as it filters all the crud from the system too.  Then a regas and its good to go.

The condenser is such a venerable part of the car it gets peppered.

James

[xjay1337]

The AC condensor is not a DIY job because the gas needs to be drained out correctly and not vented the atmosphere.
The Golf (and associated vehicles) have a known issue with high pressure switches failing and also compressor issues, VCDS will highlight any faults.
If the condensor is damaged then it will reduce cooling efficiency of course.

[perksy]

The AC condensor is not a DIY job because the gas needs to be drained out correctly and not vented the atmosphere.
The Golf (and associated vehicles) have a known issue with high pressure switches failing and also compressor issues, VCDS will highlight any faults.
If the condensor is damaged then it will reduce cooling efficiency of course.

Ah, I see.  Good point for me to remember about the high pressure switch and compressor.  If the condenser does need replacing then all the gas will naturally have leaked out anyway.  No need to worry about draining lol.  They kinda either work (no leak) or they don't (leak).

James

[xjay1337]

The fins can be damaged reducing it's efficiency, without actually puncturing the core.
I would always recommend having the gas discharged by a professional unless you are 100% there is no gas in the system (like me when I hit a deer)