Climate Control

[koala5]

Hello peeps! I wondered if this rings any bells with anyone? I just recently changed from a Mk1 Leon to a 2L TDI Altea with climate control. The climate control on the Leon was excellent and kept cabin temperature stable in all weathers. Im not sure if the climate control on the Altea is just pants or if it has a fault? In the recent hot weather when I start the car from cold and set the climate to 18 degrees it blows ice cold for about 4 to 5 minutes, then it slowly reduces fan speed to a crawl and seems to partially close the vents and the air coming out is not ice cold anymore! At this point I am sure the cabin hasn't yet reached 18 degrees! The cabin then gets hotter and hotter and the climate system never seems to kick back in again no amount of fiddling with the controls will restore the cold air flow even setting both sides to low! this increases fan speed to about 50% but very little cold air comes out of the vents.
The only way to restore cold air for a period is to switch to ECON which I think means "aircon" off for about 30 seconds then back on again. Then the ice cold air is restored for a period.
Now one way I found to stop the aircon from dying is as soon as I start the car and it blows out cold air, to then set the climate to low on both sides, the aircon will then continue to operate indefinitely but you end up freezing to death I have done the reset by pressing and olding the 2 buttons as suggested elsewhere on the forum which didn't help, but I can't find any similar fault mentioned elsewhere. I have recently been made redundant so can't afford to put it in a dealer just for this problem at the moment

Thanks in advance.
Kevin.

 

[CrispDust]

Maybe yourcsystem needs regassing? Mine worked OK but had it done at Kwik fit for about £50 and it has definitely been better. Kwik fit claim not to charge if you don't get an improvement. Maybe the electromagnetic clutch is going on the compressor unit?
Maybe the one of the sensors has packed up? My driver side foot well one went and had to replace cost about £10 off fleabay

 

[kevlaa]

Im sure econ means economical, so to get the cold air constant (aircon) you need to make sure the
econ icon is off, you will use more fuel though.

 

[koala5]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah the Econ button just turns the aircon off but with the aircon on ie no Econ displayed, the cold air stops after 5 minutes or so. Even with a hot cabin. I have given up for now as the cooler weather has arrived. Will try to get diag done b4 next summer.

 

[DACA]

Really you should get it looked as soon as before the seals have time to dry out. AC should be used on a regular basis to stop the seals drying out