R36 Air Con & Vent Question

[prn31]

I thought I would update this. Had it diagnosed by a VW air con tech. At idle the compressor is not able to maintain pressure. When you rev the engine to about 2000 rpm or above the compressor has sufficient power to pressure and will then start to cool. He showed me the dials, it has a high and low side dial and when I rev it, one of them starts to rise and the air starts to chill and then when I stop revving it very slowly falls back down to a baseline of 200 and the air warms up again. Dunno the units. Basically, the compressor is not dead, but dying, or at least weak. So unfortunately it is a full compressor replacement.

The labour and parts on the compressor itself are apparently only about $700ish, but since you should also do a dryer filter or something as well when replacing compressor, the price goes up to about $1600 as that is apparently very labour intensive.

Sad result for me.

Sorry to hear that Jakey. You would think that an air conditioning compressor would last more than 5 years, but apparently not when it comes to VW Passats and Golfs...

I know that there was a definite problem with the (Valeo?) compressors in early B6 Passats (2006-07) but I thought this was remedied in the Sanden type compressors that are fitted to the later Passats like ours.

Obviously not...

[slipshot]

My R36 did the same and an air con tech showed me how the gauges did not move when they should have done at idle and revving - although mine was past the stage of working at all. He thought there were three different models of compressor I could have and he would check it out. Said top whack was $1400 but not sure if that was for everything or just the compressor itself.

Took it to my local specialist who had a look and sorted it out. Because he's a friend, charged me cost for the compressor which was $829 trade price so all up about $1100 for fitting, discharging the gas and then recharging which he had to have someone else do. Model compressor that came off mine was a Sanden I think, and he said he had an R36 in the previous week for the same issue and has seen many Passat's and Golf's in with the same problem...

[Jakeys]

Sorry to hear that Jakey. You would think that an air conditioning compressor would last more than 5 years, but apparently not when it comes to VW Passats and Golfs...

I know that there was a definite problem with the (Valeo?) compressors in early B6 Passats (2006-07) but I thought this was remedied in the Sanden type compressors that are fitted to the later Passats like ours.

Obviously not...

Once this is fixed my 12 month maintenance cost will be almost $5000 unfortunately. I'm not having a good time maintenance wise with this car. It's lucky it's so amazing when it works. I may sell it if I have another year like this, get something else similar instead.

[OilBurna]

Good luck dude hope not too expensive to get sorted I think mine is also on the way out although mine is 7 years seems to take 5 mins or so to cool down and also only once the car is moving might have to try it out at idle on the next hot day

Weirdly wife's a class 12 years old never had a regass still blows ice cold

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jakeys]

My R36 did the same and an air con tech showed me how the gauges did not move when they should have done at idle and revving - although mine was past the stage of working at all. He thought there were three different models of compressor I could have and he would check it out. Said top whack was $1400 but not sure if that was for everything or just the compressor itself.

Took it to my local specialist who had a look and sorted it out. Because he's a friend, charged me cost for the compressor which was $829 trade price so all up about $1100 for fitting, discharging the gas and then recharging which he had to have someone else do. Model compressor that came off mine was a Sanden I think, and he said he had an R36 in the previous week for the same issue and has seen many Passat's and Golf's in with the same problem...

Yep mine was very similar. He showed my gauge did not move at idle, it did move when I revved it however as soon as I stopped revving 2000+ the gauge slowly dropped back to where it was when it was idling. So mine is not dead, just weak and dying.

I was told based on a slightly older TDI Passat (So prices are approximate pending exact models) compressor is typically $6-700 part, however you should also be doing a couple of ancillary parts as well, only one I remember was a dryer filter or something which add more dollars. Labour and regas cost on the compressor is not heaps however do to everything else requires front off so the price rises to about $1600 in total with retail on parts and full labour costs. Judging by your $1400 quote I would say you got all the work done too.

Luckily I've got an air con tech mate too I met through EuroSA who has been extremely helpful, he's up for doing the work as a cash job so looking at more like $1000 the lot for me too. Glad to hear your prices are roughly in line with mine.

[revivor]

Mine is slightly <6yrs old. Air is cold but not on a hot day after encountering >35deg last week.

So my 1st A/C service next Monday. Well lasted 5 yrs+ for me and still happy with it.

[damo_t]

Hi All,

Reading up on this thread, and sadly I think my MY10.5 is exhibiting the same behaviour. Any recommendations for a VW air-con specialist in the Sydney area? I called Dean of VW mobile servicing, and unfortunately due to the air-con portion of the work, he can't help.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise, the old interweb will be first port of call.

Cheers,
Damo.

[Radius]

Hi Everyone,

Really grateful for the fantastic info on this forum. We have an MY10 R36 which is unfortunately showing the same signs... no cold air for first 5 to 10 minutes on the first start up of the day, then works quite well while driving..... AC kicks in quicker (but still not immediate) the second time round ie. after re-starting the car on the return trip.
I'm assuming this is classic compressor failure?
I had the car checked at our VW dealer who ran the fault codes and said it was fine.... which it clearly is not.
Was wondering if anyone has recommendations for someone in Melbourne? It'll be the first time I'm taking the car out of VW network. A friend recommended Audvolks for mechanical work but not sure if they can do AC work?

Thanks everyone for your advice!

[damo_t]

Update.

I had my compressor and condenser replaced with a full de-gas, flushing of the lines and then re-gas. Total cost ~$2K. It's a full days job which required the front bumper to be removed.
I have to cop the bill shock on the chin, as the VW repairer was very diligent and gave me a lot of confidence in his work and provided constant updates and communication.

He showed me pictures of the metallic shards that had come off the compressor that would still be in the lines if I did not do the flush. Scary to think they would be floating in there.

It now blows out of the vents at 2.5-3 degrees celsius within seconds. A very noticeable difference in behaviour. The positive is that it is just in time for the mini heat wave in Sydney!