Air Conditioning Issue! :S

[YMJ]

hey hey,

it was kinda warm here today.. around 27-30 degrees celsius..

and i turn on the AC (put it on 18 C') but no cool air comming out....

what can be the problem there?? and how much to fix??

thanks!

[Matt@JHM]

hey hey,

it was kinda warm here today.. around 27-30 degrees celsius..

and i turn on the AC (put it on 18 C') but no cool air comming out....

what can be the problem there?? and how much to fix??

thanks!

If you have a faulty ambient air temp sensor, and it reads really cold, the AC will actually stop blowing cold air because it thinks it is below freezing outside.

[YMJ]

If you have a faulty ambient air temp sensor, and it reads really cold, the AC will actually stop blowing cold air because it thinks it is below freezing outside.

no it was reading the temp. correctly.. as it displayed 27 C '.. all winter it was working correctly in making the car warm to the desired temprature..

[caall99]

Bump, my AC stopped working as well. I don't know if it is leaking fluid, or if the compressor is busted. Would a simple recharge fix it? and if so, is it a DIY to charge the system?

[gointoscott]

The A/C compressor is probably not engaging. A lot of times it will not engage if it is too low on freon.

If you have vag-com you can check one of the logs and it will tell you if your A/c freon is low. At least I noticed that once when I was playing with it going through the different logs. I dont remember which one though. just start paging through it and you will find it.

I'm pretty sure there is a way to hit some buttons and get into the computer settings through the climate control. And it will display when compressor is on, fans are on and will also let you know if its low on freon. You Can try a search on this forum or audiworld. I dont remember off the top of my head how to do this. But I did this on an older audi I had and I'm pretty sure our S4's have it too

Another thing, did you have Econ on? Thought I'd better just make sure, I doubt you did, but one thing to check.

It could also be a fuse that is blown preventing the compressor to kick in.

So you have a few things you can check. My bet would be it has a slow leak of freon and its too low now for the A/C compressor to kick in.

You can get can's of freon and recharge it yourself, but I'm not sure which connection to hook it up to- well you want to make sure its the low side pressure connection but I'm not sure which one that is

Plus depending on the leak its pointless to fill it if it is just going to leak out again, so may want to take it in somewhere to make sure it will hold a charge. I wouldnt take it to the dealer, but find a shop that is familiar with audi's.

[caall99]

Cool, thank you for the good response. Alot of good information there, some of which i will be able to check after work today. I was told that the freon cannot be charged in a DIY manner because the only port (only accessible port?) is a high pressure port which requires a 100000 dollar machine to charge through. Has anyone actually charged their own freon their S4??

[gointoscott]

You were told the S4 only has a high pressure port??? Wow I have no idea but that sounds really stupid if that is the case. I hope not. Who told you that?

I havnt had problems with mine at all, hopefully I wont. But I've done work on A/C on some of my past cars.

[caall99]

I read it on an A4 forum and assumed that the S4 had an essentially identical system. I read that some sort of DIY could be done but it involves removing the bumper. Has anyone charged their own AC system??

[HIS4]

I read it on an A4 forum and assumed that the S4 had an essentially identical system. I read that some sort of DIY could be done but it involves removing the bumper. Has anyone charged their own AC system??

There is no need to remove the bumper. I did it in less than 10 minutes. However, this only works if you need a partial recharge. If your system is totally drained, you'd probably have to go to the dealer or someplace that can hook up to the high pressure port.

http://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/1716118.phtml

[ThirdStrike]

There is no need to remove the bumper. I did it in less than 10 minutes. However, this only works if you need a partial recharge. If your system is totally drained, you'd probably have to go to the dealer or someplace that can hook up to the high pressure port.

http://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/1716118.phtml

about the empty system;
i talked to a master tech at vw he said you can engage the system after the first can is about half empty.. this will create a vacuum on the system. its not good to do more than once or twice but...
HIS4; thanks for the AW link.. i have to recharge my system from empty. needed to know which side was low side

[caall99]

Hey thank you for that awesome audiworld link! I read it briefly and then the rest was common sense. My AC system was essentially completely drained, didn't even register on the recharge kit gauge. Took all of 5 mins to recharge to full. I used one full 540g bottle and half a 350g bottle, and my car was happy! Frostbite cold AC!!! I hope it holds atleast for the summer. Thanks again!

To OP: you should try the same!

[AudiSportB5S4]

wait wait i have the same issue kinda, how do you know if youre low on the freon haha

[YMJ]

Hey thank you for that awesome audiworld link! I read it briefly and then the rest was common sense. My AC system was essentially completely drained, didn't even register on the recharge kit gauge. Took all of 5 mins to recharge to full. I used one full 540g bottle and half a 350g bottle, and my car was happy! Frostbite cold AC!!! I hope it holds atleast for the summer. Thanks again!

To OP: you should try the same!

hey thanks a lot guys..

caall99: what kind of kit did you use? can you give me some details as well.. i think i need a recharge as well...

can you get it at walmart? the stuff needed??

[caall99]

wait wait i have the same issue kinda, how do you know if youre low on the freon haha

Well, if you don't hear your AC compressor turn on then you either are very low or completely empty of freon. Also when you connect the gauge to the low pressure port (the only one that fits) and it doesn't show a reading or the reading is in the green then you know your low or empty as well.

hey thanks a lot guys..

caall99: what kind of kit did you use? can you give me some details as well.. i think i need a recharge as well...

can you get it at walmart? the stuff needed??

I got mine at Autozone. A simple cannister with the gauge and plug connected. Its pretty much universal. If you are empty, make sure you buy the one with oil additives. Should probably buy that one anyway.

[YMJ]

Well, if you don't hear your AC compressor turn on then you either are very low or completely empty of freon. Also when you connect the gauge to the low pressure port (the only one that fits) and it doesn't show a reading or the reading is in the green then you know your low or empty as well.



I got mine at Autozone. A simple cannister with the gauge and plug connected. Its pretty much universal. If you are empty, make sure you buy the one with oil additives. Should probably buy that one anyway.

hey thank's man.. can you tell me the name of the products? that i'll be needing??

thanks again!

[caall99]

hey thank's man.. can you tell me the name of the products? that i'll be needing??

thanks again!

Just walk into autozone and pick up a bottle of refrigerant (one with the gauge and hose attached) and walk out of the store. Any brand will do. MAKE SURE IT HAS THE GAUGE AND HOSE!! You need just over 700g of refrigerant for a full fill, so check the bottles for their capacity in grams. If you are topping off a system, one bottle will do. Its actually very simple and straightforward. Visit the link posted earlier! It has everything you need to know.

[ThirdStrike]

fyi; you cannot recharge from dead empty. compressor wont kick on to create a vacuum.. just tried it .

[YMJ]

fyi; you cannot recharge from dead empty. compressor wont kick on to create a vacuum.. just tried it .

well i havent tried yet.. but if it ISdead empty.. igotta take it to a shop??

[caall99]

Apparently. Mine was essentially dead empty. didn't register on the gauge, and it barely hissed when i pushed down the pin to release gas.

[gointoscott]

I am assuming its dead empty because you disconnected it to work on the audi? if that is the case and you know it doesnt have any leaks, then if you can try and find someone who has a vacuum pump for a/c you can just use that and the 134A freon you can buy at parts store.

the other thing you could try is hotwiring the a/c compressor to kick on manually, and maybe that would build enough vaccum as you fill it with the bottles, but that might be a little risky running it at first with no lubrication. thats the only concern I would have. Plus I dont know how you would hotwire it, I just remember the guy who helped me on an old rabit I had back in the day as my first car when i was 16., thats what he did with a paper clip or something lol.

But if it just needs refilling I've seen places that charge like 49 bucks plus freon, so I dont think it woudl cost that much. If we can DIY it cant be rocket science for a shop to do it.

[YMJ]

lol true.. ok..as long as i dont have to spend more than 70-80 bucks ..

[CruzS4]

i turned my AC on for the first time recently when it started to get warm, and it was blowing hot air. turned out there was no freon whatsoever, they drained it all while doing turbo surgery and forgot to fill it back up. was an easy, and instantaneous fix, may want to check your level

[CruzS4]

only cost me $17

[YMJ]

only cost me $17

thanks! did you do it urself?

[caall99]

I am assuming its dead empty because you disconnected it to work on the audi? if that is the case and you know it doesnt have any leaks, then if you can try and find someone who has a vacuum pump for a/c you can just use that and the 134A freon you can buy at parts store.

Nothing had to be disconnected to make the universal charge kit work with Audis. All you do is unscrew the cap and pop on the connector that comes with the kit. It appeared dead-empty because when I depressed the pins in the valves slightly, prior to charging, there was essentially no pressure, not even enough to fill a balloon. Granted it took some time for the compressor to suck in the refrigerant, it eventually did and out come ice cold air (like painfully cold).

[YMJ]

Nothing had to be disconnected to make the universal charge kit work with Audis. All you do is unscrew the cap and pop on the connector that comes with the kit. It appeared dead-empty because when I depressed the pins in the valves slightly, prior to charging, there was essentially no pressure, not even enough to fill a balloon. Granted it took some time for the compressor to suck in the refrigerant, it eventually did and out come ice cold air (like painfully cold).

ooo iwant ice cold aaaiirr!

although right now in toronto,its not URRGGNTLY needed... but i would like my AC to work!

[caall99]

ooo iwant ice cold aaaiirr!

although right now in toronto,its not URRGGNTLY needed... but i would like my AC to work!

Then do it, lol?