airco problem: could it be that I need a charge?

Hello gents,

My A/C stop working recently. Actually it does work but intermittently. The first time I noticed it is earlier this week. I took the car from my office, it was scorching: everything was burning (seats, steering wheel, etc). The outside temperature was about 35+°C. The A/C did not work at all. I tried resetting, nothing worked.

Later it started to work again. Then tonight, it was working at first and stopped working, the temperature outside was 31°C.

I am not sure wether there is a serious problem or not. I am not sure as well that the higher the outside temperature, the more chances of failures. I did not observe it long enough yet to be sure of that, it is just a theory.

I think the Econ was blinking and sometimes the other button, did not notice a regular pattern. I tried all the modes.

Since the pressure varies with the temperature, I was wondering if that could be related to the level of Freon being too low? I will try to go get a charge this week anyway but any advices are welcome!

The problem is we have temperatures over 38°C at that time of the year so I'd rather have it working properly

Thank you for your help!

PS: at the same time, my driver's door lock is probably dead. I had to use the key because no more battery while I got back from holidays and the central locking do not work anymore, it locks unlock right away. I tried to fill it with WD40 but it did not help. This said I found the right threads and will purchase the mechanism for replacement.

Reading some other threads I found out this could also be temperature sensor related. Many times I noticed that I don't have the outside temperature displayed, just an "E". Could it be that when the sensor fails, the A/C stops working?
I did not really notice any A/C problem before but the outside temperature was not very high, so it might have been there but unnoticed.
Cheers,
Emmanuel

Yes the system needs functioning sensors to work. However, getting a recharge is a good place to start.

C

The E indicates a fault with the system. If you hold both the econ and the recirculation buttons down whilst turning the ignition on you should get a code displayed on the gear selector screen.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/catmanv2/11771176395/in/set-72157632035786271
and
https://www.flickr.com/photos/catmanv2/11771427093/in/set-72157632035786271/

will help

Although they refer to the 3200, the system is the same

C

If the fault only occurs when it is hot outside then it is likely to be the refrigerant charge. It will be tripping the low pressure switch when the temp is too high for the condenser to to provide a column of liquid to the expansion valve.

You could try a top up from halfrauds as this will give you a low pressure gauge which would help diagnose the issue.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

CatmanV2 said:

Yes the system needs functioning sensors to work. However, getting a recharge is a good place to start.

C

Click to expand...

This morning, the temperature was displayed correctly but the A/C did not work. I pressed both button and got an AA114 and next time after resetting the HVAC with the appropriate procedure, I had a AA75. Not sure if there is any table explaining what is what.

Zep said:

If the fault only occurs when it is hot outside then it is likely to be the refrigerant charge. It will be tripping the low pressure switch when the temp is too high for the condenser to to provide a column of liquid to the expansion valve.

You could try a top up from halfrauds as this will give you a low pressure gauge which would help diagnose the issue.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Thanks. I guess Halfrauds is in UK so I won't make it but I know where to top up here I also hope it is the low pressure switch that is triggered, I will start by doing this and will see, plus here it is ridiculously cheap, it will cost me 10 to 20 GBP.

CatmanV2 said:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/catmanv2/11771176395/in/set-72157632035786271
and
https://www.flickr.com/photos/catmanv2/11771427093/in/set-72157632035786271/

will help

Although they refer to the 3200, the system is the same

C

Click to expand...

Thanks. I will check if I find this in the 4200 service manual. 75 does not sound too good. I had some kind of vibration since I purchased the car, it could be a fan problem... Not sure. I will try to troubleshoot that but if it is not a charge I am mostly in for a good headache.

...and I still did not resolve my misfire problems since the car works great with the default ECU maps with the MAF unplugged. Ah.... Italians!

I get AA114 yet nothing is thrown up on an SD3 to pinpoint the issue.

The fan is a bit of a pain to replace, but it seems that the connector under the glove box has caused issues for several people (including me)
If your fan is not blowing despite the display saying it should be, try there first.

C

CatmanV2 said:

The fan is a bit of a pain to replace, but it seems that the connector under the glove box has caused issues for several people (including me)
If your fan is not blowing despite the display saying it should be, try there first.

C

Click to expand...

Thanks, I will check that!

I checked out the fan, I found the fan itself but did not see any obvious "fan connector" per se. I found cables coming down but the access is narrow and I am not sure if these are fan related.
There was also one with a brown locking mechanism, I fiddled with the wires but it did not turn on.
Does anyone have a picture of the connector?
Thank you

I'll see if I can get in the footwell later

C

CatmanV2 said:

I'll see if I can get in the footwell later

C

Click to expand...

That would be great! I spent some more time there tonight and I did not find anything. Then I checked this:
http://www.ricambiamerica.com/parts_catalogs.php?M=MA&P=&V=diag&I=3777

And there are too many connectors... Is it the one going behind (that I could not see, the access is very tight...) or is it the one going to the actuator.

I think the fan is the culprit since I have no fan whatsoever. The compressor engages and I can feel cold air when I drive if I put my hand in front of the vents. After some time it disengages. I went for a R134a top-up. I put one can but the pressure was good already... The fan does not turn on and I have the AA75 error code so it seems quite straight forward. Hopefully, it is the connector.

If you think about anything that I need to test, please let me know!

Thank you!

No need to get there Chris, I found it and it is the problem!
I love all of you guys because no a.c. at 33+°C, I was dying!

I will disassemble it now and check on what to do. Probably will just remove the switch. This little piece of plastic gets really hot, maybe that's what happened....

I will post pictures later for everyone to be able to locate it. Cheers

Sounds like it



That's upside down, so the the steel is the bottom of the hinge of the glovebox.

Hope that's helps

C

Thank you Chris.
I just ripped the connector and used a pry to put the metal connectors together. I have pictures of the connector, I will post it when I can. I think mine looks a bit different... I will post the pics tomorrow. Cheers

Here it is:





I am still wondering on how premium brands can use such rubbish connectors... They could just use something like standard auto electrical connectors instead. What is the value added of that?

Not sure that's the same one. I think mine has >1 cable but....

Is it fixed?

C