A/C performance poor

[drbass]

... now just need to work out how to get to Melbourne since my wife has come down rather sick in Brisbane and can't travel... and I need to be back by next Monday for work..

Sorry to hear, hope she gets better soon.

23 - 24 seems to be a good climate control setting (when I use it), even in the wagon, for me as well. One thing I don't like is too much of a temp differential, i.e. stinking hot out, freezing cold inside.

Seeya,
Michael

[passatpout]

funny you should mention brisbane....left home at 7 this morning and already needed air con. Will be 35 today and it gets nice and muggy here so hopefully the air con will cope, particularly in peak hour traffic.

My AC worked well in and around Ipswich today, where the car was showing 43 degrees outside, and the thermometer at "home" was showing 42 in the shade when we left. After putting it to "Lo" to cool the car down, it happily kept it comfortable when set to 20.

[passatpout]

Sorry to hear, hope she gets better soon.


Seeya,
Michael

Cheers, she's on the mend, but rather than being on our way south today, staying at Port Macquarie, looks like we'll leave on Thursday and aim straight for Newcastle or Sydney. Otherwise, she might fly back to Melbourne with the bub and I'll drive the car back over the weekend.

[ope126]

So what temps are you guys running?

In some previous Jap cars I've owned and current (Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla, Mitsubishi Lancer) the air cons have been icy cold.
I can not say that they Passat is "Icy Cold" even on Lo.

What are your thoughts...

Ok, so I have had the car down at VW and they have re-gased the A/C System, now cool as ice!!!

[PassatB6]

Got my aircon checked today. It was taking some time to cool the car down and on really hot days didn't seem to quite get there. Service dept said the gas was low and re-gassed for free!. Seems quite a bit better. Waiting for a really hot day to test it out.

Also the guy at the service dept emphasised that Climate Control is not meant to blast cold air immediately but bring the temp down gradually while simple aircon systems will just blast cold air from go.

[Rocket36]

LOL at service advisors. I swear they must take some sort of BS course.

The difference between climate controlled ac and just ac is that the climate control regulates a temperature that you set and the fan speed to get to the temp as quickly as possible and then to maintain it - it is still ac. AC on it's own doesn't regulate the temperature at all, it just pumps out air based on the settings you set.

[PassatB6]

LOL at service advisors. I swear they must take some sort of BS course.

As I was getting a free regas I was happy to believe anything he told me.

[gregozedobe]

Also the guy at the service dept emphasised that Climate Control is not meant to blast cold air immediately but bring the temp down gradually while simple aircon systems will just blast cold air from go.

LOL at service advisors. I swear they must take some sort of BS course.

The difference between climate controlled ac and just ac is that the climate control regulates a temperature that you set and the fan speed to get to the temp as quickly as possible and then to maintain it - it is still ac. AC on it's own doesn't regulate the temperature at all, it just pumps out air based on the settings you set.

I agree with Rocket36, utter BS !! The only "gradual" thing about it is that the controller takes a couple of seconds to figure out what it needs to do to get to the nominated temperature, once it has worked that out it should be running at max until it gets down to the temperature you've requested. That's why you sometimes get the fan motor roaring its head off soon after you start the engine.

Considering some of the stories I read on here I sometimes wonder how often the service "desk jockey" is deliberately trying to do a snow job on an ignorant VW owner, or whether they are just clueless .

Given that the real explanation for many stuff-ups is simple incompetence or rushing to do a job to a price or time; rather than deliberately thought out deception; I suppose I should expect lack of ability/knowledge to be the culprit more often than the alternative.

[PassatB6]

His explanation is not really an issue to me as the vehicle was fixed without cost to me even though its out of warranty. As I suggested he can say it works by magic as far as I'm concerned as long as its fixed for free. If it subsequently fails to cool properly they will still be required to fix the problem regardless of the explanation. They weren't trying to avoid their obligations any way.