Aircon / Warranty

[S_94]

Hi all,

I think there's a problem with my air conditioning. Having really hot weather in the UK at the moment (around 33 degrees today).

The aircon in the car doesn't feel that cold. Hard to explain but it's blowing cool air but it's not really cold. Even after the car has been running for 10-15 minutes the air doesn't get colder.

Just wondering, if I was to take this into VW would this be covered under warranty if there was an issue? Car is just over 12 months old.

Car had a service a couple of weeks back and nothing was picked up so maybe it's in my head a bit and that is the coldest it gets!

[Robint]

I must say I don’t think mine has ever been as cold as other vehicles I have had


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[Aube]

Hi,

If there is a fault with the system, it should be covered by the warranty. Where is gets a little grey is if the condenser or associated pipe work has been damaged, by a stone for example, then that isn’t usually covered.

I’m sure you have the controls set correctly, but I did have one person who switched the fan and the air conditioning button off and the car wasn’t getting cold. Apparently it was his partner who must had done that, he said.

[RUM4MO]

I think that the chiller will not get any commands to start matching demanded air temp with set air temp unless the system knows that the cabin circulating fan is running, so fan OFF mean even with AC switched on, it will not be active.

The most basic test you can do is to stick a thermometer into one of the centre vents and check the delivery temperature at that point, I've forgotten what a "good" target minimum temp with the temp set for Lo. There will also be a "delta" between outside ambient air and minimum delivered air temperature as any chiller does have a limit on its chilling capacity.

Edit:- as far as servicing is concerned, I'd expect that no checking of AC will take place at the year 1 service and they would only check it and maybe charge for that, if the customer asked for that extra work to be done at the time of booking the car in.

At the year 2 service point, you normally get invited to allow them to carry out a service on the AC which will get charged for.

So I would not take anything away from "no comment" during year 1 service - unless they carried out a road test on a hot day and almost passed out!

[SRGTD]

@S_94; the air con in my previous generation Polo GTI isn’t as good as it was in my mk6 Golf GTD. It’s working and It is cold, but in my Golf it used to get icy cold very quickly, so I often used to have to turn the temperature up!

The air con condenser is quite exposed on the Polo so could be prone to sufferI got stone impact damage. If that’s happened on your car then it wouldn’t be a warranty issue. It’d be worth having a look at the condenser for any signs of stone impact damage - you’ll be able to see the condenser through the lower grille as it’s positioned in front of the radiator, low down. If there is an issue that’s due to a mechanical or electrical defect - and not caused by an ‘external influence’ such as impact damage - then that should be covered.

Forum member @shiggy has recently posted that their air con condenser has suffered a split - according to the dealer’s diagnosis. Discussion thread is at the link below;

https://www.uk-polos.net/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=75066

[S_94]

Thanks all appreciate the advice.

@SRGTD - That's interesting, maybe the Polo has a different/cheaper system? Will double check the condenser, hopefully there's no damage.

[monkeyhanger]

Something else to consider here - what speed are you travelling at when reporting barely cool air?

If you're not doing a decent speed, the smount of cooling air passing over the compressor will be low, so it will be warmer when doing its cooling expansion stroke. There's a capacity limit too. This is the hottest day of the year so far, and as previously mentioned, the difference between air temp in and air temp out is down to capacity to the system. The Polo probably has a smaller compressor capacity than a Golf that in turn might have a smaller one than a Passat or A4 etc.

The compressor compresses air, gets rid of the heat generated under compression, then expands that air, cooling it down (temp and pressure of a gas are proportional with a fixed volume. If you're crawling along, the compressor can't get rid of all that compressor heat efficiently.

All that said, the Delta for the aircon system is probably no more than 16C (28C down to 12C, 35C down to 19C).

[S_94]

That could explain it actually. Most of my trips at the moment are barley reaching 40mph. Still can't travel to see family so haven't done motorway driving for 3/4 months.

Checked the condenser and can't see any damage. I'll see how things are on the next sort of long journey (at higher speeds). Nice one.

[monkeyhanger]

Generally in the car when it is red hot outside, i'll have all the windows open below 30mph. It's below that speed there's negligible drag for having all the windows open. Get above 40mph and the wid noise and drag make it a poor choice vs putting the aircon on.

Have you tried using the recirculation button with aircon? This helps. You cool down already cooled air rather than cooling some air and chucking it straight out of the back of the car - it's more economical too.

[S_94]

Have you tried using the recirculation button with aircon? This helps. You cool down already cooled air rather than cooling some air and chucking it straight out of the back of the car - it's more economical too.

Haven't tried that mate. Something I've always just switched off. Will try all these things and hopefully that'll sort it.

[shiggy]

this has been my EXACT issue - my car is in with the dealer to be rectified and i have been told stone damage has penetrated the condensor!!!

car was serviced late decemeber and was driven less than 100miles since say april when the issue presented itself. its now a warranty item and they want £680 to fix!?!

now with high level vw complaints department as i am adamant its a fault of the car...

my front end has now damage to the plastic or even any form of scratch etc...

awaiting a call back from VW

[RUM4MO]

@shiggy, you can't always relate condenser damage to distance travelled in so may many miles, if it is that it could just be down to bad luck on your part, a few yards/metres could be enough while 4K miles/kilometres or much more might end up with no condenser damage.

Edit:- I went into a tyre depot once to get a very slow puncture repaired, after leaving there I had a completely flat tyre within 200 yards, that annoyed me a lot, but I eventually accepted that it could be or was just bad luck.

[shiggy]

@shiggy, you can't always relate condenser damage to distance travelled in so may many miles, if it is that it could just be down to bad luck on your part, a few yards/metres could be enough while 4K miles/kilometres or much more might end up with no condenser damage.

i appreciate that !!!

however, look at where the condensor sits and the amount of plastic which a stone would have to break through before damaging the condensor. these things are somewhat resistant as otherwise any minor stone hit would be ensuring everyone is in to have theirs replaced..

in essence the stone would have to travel up then do a 90' turn and hit the condensor to have no damage to the plastics or trim..

[SRGTD]

@shiggy, you can't always relate condenser damage to distance travelled in so may many miles, if it is that it could just be down to bad luck on your part, a few yards/metres could be enough while 4K miles/kilometres or much more might end up with no condenser damage.

i appreciate that !!!

however, look at where the condensor sits and the amount of plastic which a stone would have to break through before damaging the condensor. these things are somewhat resistant as otherwise any minor stone hit would be ensuring everyone is in to have theirs replaced..

in essence the stone would have to travel up then do a 90' turn and hit the condensor to have no damage to the plastics or trim..

Annoying as it is, stone damage to the air con condenser does happen though - do an internet search on ‘stone damage to vw air con condenser‘. Doesn’t just affect VW’s - other brands of vehicle are also affected.

[shiggy]

never knew stones did damage to cars so thanks for the clarification.