A/C Problem

[First VW]

Hi Guys, I own a 2009 R36 and had problems with my AC. The AC takes forever (around 10mins or more) to get cool during first start of the day and depending on the temperature it does the same again after parking there for couple of hours. Do you have the same problem?

[ope126]

Hi Guys, I own a 2009 R36 and had problems with my AC. The AC takes forever (around 10mins or more) to get cool during first start of the day and depending on the temperature it does the same again after parking there for couple of hours. Do you have the same problem?

Obvious response; take it too the dealer!

It will never be icy cold when you straight into the car, however 10mins is a long time for it to cool down.
In my previous Passat, I had the dealer to up the refrigarant is it is always low from the factory.
That made a difference to mine.

What Temp do you have it on?
I maintain 23 degrees with no issues in cold or hot weather.

Keep us up to date.

[First VW]

I actually did bring it back to the dealer and they said there is nothing wrong with the system. I had it on around 20 and once it cools down there is no problem. The AC seems to flush all the hot air out of the system before it does anything and during a hot day its really annoying as you can imagine it takes 10 mins or more to start cooling down. Another thing that I notice is after getting cool, if I switch the fan speed down to 2 bars, then it will turn hot again after awhile. NOT NORMAL!!!

[revivor]

i have the same issue..one trick that works now is manually turn AC on, off then on again. Somehow it switches the compressor on immediately. Give it a try. I'm still waiting for my coming up 15k service to get them to fix it.

[ian]

You can buy the unit from the UK for less than $400 plus postage .

GENUINE VW GOLF MK5 AIR CON COMPRESSOR - 1K0 820 803 S (eBay item 400157185634 end time 20-Feb-11 23:47:50 AEDST) : Vehicle Parts Accessories

[ope126]

Not sure what year your R36 is but on mt 125TDI I have the updated climatronic.
Here is a link that you might like; YouTube - Episode 56: Climatronic (auto climate control) explained

Whether it is the old or new climatronic system, it is probably best to keep on AUTO at your desired setting.

[R34]

just had my cars 15,000km service
The AC on these cars is a joke.
Apparently mine works as intended with no error codes.
Set at 23 degrees on Auto it struggles on hot day then on cool sunny days it tries to freeze us to death at cyclone wind speeds and only works better with a piece of cardboard draped over the dash sensor.
It was recommended by the dealer that on those occasions I adjust the fan speeds manually....??????Hello? what is the point of climate control then?

Funny how my Audi was set at 23 degrees on day one and left alone rain hail or shine
Even my 1997 R33 GTR Skyline keeps things just right when set at 23 degrees yet a new VW cant

[First VW]

I took my car in a couple of times and they reckon there is nothing wrong with the AC and they commented that EURO cars "ARE" like that because of the climate.

I did a couple of tests on the car AC by setting the tempt to 21 and manual adjust the fan speed so the AUTO light is OFF and switched the AC on and off a few times to "force" the compressor to run. For some reason it seems to cool down a bit faster than normal but I am still testing a few more scenarios. I am definitely going back to the dealer to get it checked again.

The service at the dealer is shockingly bad, I basically get no after sales service, its as if they are not interested anymore after selling a car.

[revivor]

I'm going in for my 15,000k service soon. Wonder if they will fix it or say the same thing as above.

R34; may I ask how much was your 15k service?

[Lams]

I have heard different things, but seems like the AC is still not as reliable as they should be. According to Maverick's post, cars after June '07 had different compressors which should have taken care of this: Volkswagen Golf, GTI, Passat, Jetta and Eos Air Conditioner Compressor Failure | my-gti.com

My '06 Caddy and Eos both have new aircon systems. The symptoms were different, my caddy would take at least 10 min to get cool, and sometimes not at all (which was great timing when we were going through central QLD on a 35C thunderstorm day), while the Eos's compressor could not disengage and it was stalling the car.

Both were fixed under warranty (the eos was 1 month out at that stage) and both cars did not record any fault codes. But these aircon faults are very common and the dealer should not be doubting you at all... good luck