Air Con

[stu_b]

Hiya folks
this is something that has long bothered me (well my wife moreso, I just put the window down !!)
my Air Con fan engages ie when I turn the fan on and hit the ac button it works
but, the air doesn't get icy cold
my immediate guess is, bc its a 2012 model its probably run out of refrigerant ??
or is there some other possible things I should consider / look into before going down that path

any help, advice and suggestions greatly appreciated

Tks
Stu

[PJD]

Has it worked since having the vehicle?

[stu_b]

it's been like that since I've owned it (approx 6months)

[Doc]

If the temperature is getting down but not low enough, it suggests the refrigerant is low or something in the system is not up to the task.
An automotive AC specialist will test and regas for you as necessary.

[stu_b]

sweet thanks Doc
It was my suggestion too but I some of you lads might know of something that could be worth checking in advance of getting it looked at, you know, like troubleshoot this or that first

[Doc]

If the temperature is getting down, the compressor is working. After that it's a job for an AC specialist.
The system is simple but due to the pressures and the gas used it's not a user serviceable system.

[ibace]

After having read your concerns...now I'm starting to wonder...my system does get cold [ish...] but seemingly not as cold as my other car - tho the worst of it is [for me] to be able to get adequate cooling relief...it's necessary to have the fan on the highest speed...and BOY!! That means,, very loud!

I'm guessing that as mine is a Maxi Van too...it may well be beyond the capacity of the A/C system to cope with such a large area to cool?? Will definitely be keeping a close oye on the system...

[stu_b]

thanks again @ Doc - yeah the gas is probably a specialist job (and a job with specialist tools) and one I wouldn't attempt to tackle
so I guess I realise my limitations and will take it to a specialist
as for getting cool... it gets cool but not icy cold as you would expect from A/C
so I hope it'll just be a case of regassing which wouldn't surprise me as she's a 2012 so coming on 14yo
can one tell by listening to check if the compressor is working or is there any tell tale signs ?
TIA

@ ibace - yeah the area in the back of a maxi is rather large to cool down, but I don't get icy cold air coming from the vents for this to happen, I did purchase a cargo barrier and I'm at 2 minds to instal (I would loose valuable access for my slide out tray (being planned) so that is a quandary for me, if I was to install I would consider lining the barrier with some clear pvc which would reduce the amount of A/C cold air going to the rear and keep it all in the cabin.......

[NZDubNurd]

You can see what the refrigerant pressure sensor reads in VCDS when the whole system is sitting at ambient temp - there are tables to compare it to the temp and tell you if it's about right, before you fire it up. You can fit AC gauges to check the high and low sides and see if it's functioning as intended.

If you have a compress with no clutch (usually on the fancier systems: Climatic and climatronic) the compressor control valv van stick, but it normally feels like no cooling, rather than not enough.

Having said all that, the system is pretty marginal, even when fully functional. My Touran has a fully rebuilt AC system and it barely copes in the New Zealand summer. My wifes is the same. Compared to our previous BMW E39 - it would cool the car down in mere minutes then drop the fan speed right back to super quiet. The Tourans need the fan speed up around 1/2 to 3/4 to keep the interior at reasonable temps on a hot sunny day, around 30C.

[PJD]

Just put a thermometer at a vent with the aircon on coldest setting. If the temperature gets to about 5 degrees C then it should be working okay.

If not then, due to the refrigerant, it is a specialist job to diagnose the reason why but should not be an outrageously expensive fix, unless the evaporator (which is in the dash) is at fault.

If the compressor is working, a top up might get the aircon working for a while but there is normally a reason why it has lost gas in the first place.