1998 Seat Cordoba Vario Air Con & Fan Problems

[ianfromnotts]

Yes yet another thread about air con and cooling fans. I think I have read every one of them now but I still cant work out what is wrong.

After 3 full on days of reading, playing, testing and changing I am on the verge of pulling my hair out with an air-conditioning coolant fan problem that I just can’t get me head round. Some of the swap outs below were clutching as straws but all to no avail.

No progress, no air con and no low speed fan.

Can anyone help - please

***************

1998 Seat Cordoba Vario 1.9 TDI
(Seat Ibiza mk2 ?)

The air con doesn’t work and the low speed radiator fans don’t cut in when the air con is switched on.

The air con has regassed, oil and dye added by a reputable local garage. They reported that that there was no gas in the system when the received the car, no leaks were found but there was an electrical fault that was stopping the air con from working.

The air con was regassed by a well known tyre bay operator about 18 months prior to that and they said they found no faults but I think the fault was there then too.

After both regasses the air from the vents felt colder but nothing like it used to. The internal blower fans work.

I have checked the following:

• Power Connector on top of compressor
o Harness side: no voltage with the car running or not running, air con on or off.
o Compressor side: Resistance is about 3.4 ohm


• Radiator Fans
o The fans work when the harness is jumped
o The fans work when power is applied direct to either of the fan motor terminals

• Air Con Cut Out switch (191919369A)
o Meter shows continuity ie current passing no resistance
o No difference when the harness side terminal is jumped

• Fuses
o All look to be ok
o continuity checked on radio/air con reset fuse

• Air Intake Temperature Sensor (028906081)
o Resistance 1610 ohm at an ambient temperature of about 16C

I have replaced the following

• Air Con high/low pressure sensor (6K0959139)
• Coolant temperature sensor in thermostat housing (357919501A)*
• Radiator Thermo Switch (1H0959481B)
• Fan cooling relay (6K0919506A)

*note: The o ring supplied with this part was too larger diameter and made fitment impossible until a slightly smaller one was obtained from the local plumbers, cost 10p

I can’t find an ambient air temperature sensor! I have looked in the following places
• Below the windscreen - next to the air intake, wiper motor and ecu
• In front of the radiator, there is a mount hole on a bracket but no sensor or obvious wiring
• behind the fog lamps
• Inside the passenger door mirror


Can anyone help me please on
1. where the ambient air sensor is , there is no mention of it that I can find in my Haynes manual.
2. What to check next

:thanks:

 

[ianfromnotts]

after more research it looks like the ambient outside pressure sensor is part no: 1H0959625 possibly located some where near the horn - but I still cant find it :-(

 

[ianfromnotts]

I have searched high and low for an outside temperature sensor or switch, that might stop the air con working and I cant find one anywhere.

ERWIN has a very detailed air con guide for post 1999 models but the info on earlier models is less detailed. It does show the air con parts and mentions an outside air temperature switch but the short code number given E28 and E38 differ across leaflets and "picture doesn't look right either"

VAGPART has some good part diagrams but they tend to show all options and aren't that precise on where the parts are

I have asked 2 main dealers if they can't tell me if the part is fitted either - the vehicle specific info doesn't appear to be in their databases, which would tie up with my experience on ERWIN

I have asked SEAT UK who just refer me back to ERWIN or their dealer base.

There must be some one who knows if this part is fitted and if so where it is

 

[ianfromnotts]

Despite my best, cost effective, efforts I still haven't found a way forward on this.

The air con specialists say i need to see an auto electrician, the auto electricians say I need to see an air con specialist. ! I found some one who looked promising in Lincoln, claimed to fix air con and auto electrical problems but the best he could say was, there is a problem between the fan control unit and the compressor, either a broken wire or a faulty switch but couldn't or wouldn't say more. He said a by pass wire wouldn't work.

He suggested the problem might be a sensor in the air box, I asked a main dealer how much it would be to change the evaporator temperature switch and they came back with a price of over £500 to change the hi/lo pressure sensor/switch and the fan motor unit!! not what I had asked for and an astronomical price for a 15 minute job.

I hate to think what the cost would have been for what I asked about

Looking at the vagpart diagrams they don't show the evaporator tor thermostat for this year , it seem to disappear in 1997. It is on the diagrams but the part isn't listed. I suspect half the problems are that many modern dealers can only work to computer based information and when this is incomplete they are unable or unwilling to provide advice or quote

So in summary the problem may lie with an outside temperature switch, an evaporator temperature switch or a fault in the wiring but no one, todate, has been able to say for sure if the switches are actually fitted, where they are or what it would cost to replace them.

I don't want to risk giving someone an open cheque book to search for the fault - they could spend all day looking, take all the dash out etc and still not find the problem - so where do I go from here?