Does my car have aircon????

[aki508]

Just been changing the radiator on my car and there is a smaller radiator on the front with two rigid ppes going into it! Is it the aircon radiator?

The thing is is i dont have an a/c button in my car. I have the climatronic pack with auto/econ and a big arow with the heat and fan controls!!

Because of this i dont know what radiator to order!!

My car is a 2002 Seat ibiza tdi sport with manual gearbox! Any help would be gratefull

cheers

 

[IbizaTDI08]

yes mate the climatronic is air con, but instead of just blowing constant cold air when you turn the air con button on, the climatronic actually attempts to maintain a constant temp within the cabin, which you set on the dial,

when the word ECO is showing, it means the air con is turned off, but when its not showing the air con is on, hope this makes sense

 

[aki508]

oh wow i never new that! so basically the aircon is always on its just controlled by the climatronic?

I just got confuse cos there was no actual air con button!

 

[Tom.]

Your car has climate control, which is basically a glorified version of aircon.

As stated already, its just a slightly more complex, more clever version.

Hence, you have an AC radiator.

 

[Muttley]

"Aircon" is sloppy, US-derived, automotive shorthand for air cooling. If you have Climatronic you have air cooling.

"aircon" puts an extra heat exchanger into the cabin air supply system, one that cools the air (it works just like a refrigerator).

Basic "aircon" just has another button on the heating controls labelled a/c to turn on the cooler. Climate control adds sensors in the car to switch the cooling on and off, or add heating, so as to maintain a set temperature.

 

[funkmonkey66]

Just a quick question that is related to this, can you retro-fit climate control to a car with just basic A/C, you see the climate control units on eBay all the time and I've thought about replacing my heater controls with C/C if it's fairly straight forward. Are the C/C sensors part of the unit or they elsewhere on the cabin???

 

[Muttley]

Nothing is impossible, however I wouldn't want to do it.

There are temperature sensors in the footwell, dashboard (with its own little fan) and air inlet and a sunlight sensor on the scuttle under the windscreen.

All the air flaps (recirculation/outside air, footwell, cabin, windscreen and temperature control) are motorised and I don't know if the motors are a retrofit or you have to put in new valves.

The blower speed control is also electronic, again don't know if it can be retrofitted.

None of this is present on a non-climate-control car. Don't even know if the wiring harness has the connections in it.