Leon aircon problem

[OxfordChris]

Hi there,

I’m new to this group but by what I’ve seen on the forums so far I think you may be able to help me .

I’m having a bit of trouble with my ’51 Leon Cupra aircon and wondered if anyone might have a suggestion before I take it to a dealer and have £500 extracted from my bank account!

The car has the climate control type aircon. The problem is that when I press the aircon button the compressor doesn’t engage, the snowflake icon appears on the LCD display as you press the button but immediately disappears again.
It was working fine a few months ago, but as we went into winter it started to operate intermittently working one day and not the next.
The fan and all other functions do still operate as you would expect – only problem is the aircon.

What I have tried so far:

• I have had it re-gassed and pressure is holding good, so I’m assuming its not that.
• I’ve had a Skoda dealer check for faults using their computer – they reported “no faults found” (I took it to the skoda garage as I’ve had mixed feedback about my local Seat dealer and only good re the Skoda dealer).
• I’ve looked for broken wires in the engine bay and can’t see anything obvious.
• I’ve taken the fan control unit out and cleaned some contacts, one was very dirty.
• I’ve checked the fuses above the battery and at the side of the dash – none are broken.
• The aircon chap and the Skoda dealer think the compressor is fine and I know that it was replaced when the car was a couple of years old so it should be OK.

Any other suggestions please?

Thanks in advance,

Chris.

 

[andycupra]

how cold is it when you do this?
as it doesnt operate when its below 5 degrees i think. weather not been that cold of late, but thought id check!

if you have the temperature reading check this when you turn it on.

is it still intermitent or wont work ever?

 

[OxfordChris]

Hi Andy,

Well, I think it started failing when it was towards freezing outside, so that's interesting. I thought it might be something like that, but when the aircon wouldn’t come back on when external temperatures started to rise in spring I knew something was up.
No, the aircon wont engage at all now (the snowflake icon won’t stay on and the compressor will not engage).

Chris.

 

[OxfordChris]

Hi all,

I was chatting to another Leon owner at work today, he mentioned his owners manual says the aircon will not operate below 5C ... interestingly that probably the kind of temperatures where mine started to fail.

Also got me thinking, i'm sure I read somewhere that there were several temperature sensors around the car - I was wondering if it was one of these that may have failed and is causing a problem with the aircon (although I would have thought the Skoda garage would have picked that up when they put it on their computer - see above for why Skoda). Does anyone know where the temperature sensors are?

Any other ideas before I put a booking in with the Seat dealer

Chris.

 

[TllEWL]

There's a small stud (usually body-coloured) in the n/s bottom corner of the bumper ... below the foglight grille


Think that's the only one TBH

 

[g60jet]

could be the aircon system has depressurised.

 

[OxfordChris]

No - fine on the pressure and gas (see my first post) but thanks for looking ...

 

[willbatch]

you have an interior sensor nest to the radio, if you look there are a load of little holes in the radio trim there, this has a pipe attached to it that goes to a little fan motor, this draws air throught it, my one of those become unplugged, ive put it back together but it still doesnt work!

 

[andycupra]

do you have a temperature readout somewhere. ie dash or computer? id imagine it would use the same reading as this so you can elimate this as a cause if the temperature reading is ok?

 

[OxfordChris]

do you have a temperature readout somewhere. ie dash or computer? id imagine it would use the same reading as this so you can elimate this as a cause if the temperature reading is ok?

Hi there,

Yes I have an external temperature reading below the rev counter, and it seems about right. I have been wondering if there was another temperature sensor that may be disconnected/broken that may be causing the aircon problem - but possibly not??

Looks like its down to some device or wire breaking that is not detected by the VAG computer I think ... I've no idea how to find this out though

I've been looking for workshop manuals (inc wiring diagrams) on Ebay but thats a complete loss (the people who have responded to my questions say there is no wiring diagrams .... no wiring diagrams in a workshop manual!! well at least they are honest.

Chris.

 

[LeedsLeon]

mine is one of the 2001 LC 20VT and it doesn't operate when the temp on the LCD display on the rev counter is lower than 3degrees. I know others are 5degrees.

I think you may just be discovering this. It took me ages to fathom the thing out! Unless its not working now when its +10 outside!

 

[OxfordChris]

mine is one of the 2001 LC 20VT and it doesn't operate when the temp on the LCD display on the rev counter is lower than 3degrees. I know others are 5degrees.

Sorry - it’s definitely not that, doesn’t operate at all now even on the warmest of spring days (and when the LCD display is showing 10+).
Thanks for looking ...

 

[OxfordChris]

Hi,

In my continuing quest to find what’s stopping my aircon from working I’ve just been looking at the power to the AC compressor. I’ve disconnected the power and put a multimeter across it – it reads 8.95V with the engine on (without pressing AC button), if the AC button is pressed or held down the voltage doesn’t change. Surely this cant be right … I’m assuming that if the magnetic clutch is to engage the voltage would have to rise?

Any comments?

Has anyone tested the voltage at the compressor before, or would you be kind enough to check yours to see what happens?

Chris

 

[dj_hektik]

see http://www.seatcupra.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=341&Itemid=6

 

[OxfordChris]

Hi,

I've just seen this, thanks for posting it (been busy with our new baby for the last few days ).

Well I do get some info if I follow the instructions but to be honest i'm not quite sure if anything I am seeing is a fault code or not (I read the document to the end but I don’t see any of the fault codes that are shown against certain sensors). Is there a document somewhere that supports this one? Where did this information come from originally – a VAG workshop manual?

The only thing that immediately jumps out to me is that the Code 20 (A/C Compressor (A/C Clutch) voltage is showing as 14.5 V and when I read it on the physical compressor with my multimeter it’s only about 8.95v (or at least it was last week). Does this suggest a damaged wire from fan control unit to compressor or a poor earth or something???

Any ideas?