Air Con woes - blowing felt/foam

[mattross]

My GL A/C has decided to not blow cold air, and there is black felt/black foam bits coming out of the internal vents. Not sure if i have "blown a seal" and am sucking in air from the engine bay??? Not fun now Brisbane has finally hot days....
Other Observations:
* The compressor kicks on, the revs go down, but the air never gets cold...compressor seems to be running more than usual
* A/C was working perfect a week ago
* There is gas in the system (tested with probe/nail)
* Only one A/C pipe running at the back of the engine bay gets cold, the rest get hot
* The car did feel like it was running hot, but the days have been much warmer lately
* the fan stays on for a while after i switch it off, nearly all the time now.
* Recycle button light not working
* Fuse was very hot

Anyone have any ideas, diagrams, etc, i'd love to try and solve this on myself and learn some more about the car..

[camhaz]

The foam is simply the strips of foam around the flaps that close the vents deteriorating and falling apart, and being blown out through the vents. A very common problem.

As to your aircon woes, you might want to get a Bentley manual off Amazon. The best $60 you'll ever spend.

Rob.

[MISS VDUB]

Same problem with my MK 2, needless to say i dont have a working heater or air con.

[Glynn.]

spent 1k on my aircon a year ago new compressor regass etc
stil doesnt work..............
same problem as you bud

[Ironman]

Where in Brisbane are you? I used to work for RACQ and know alot of GREAT workshops all over town. If you go into the city pop into Toowong Milton Body Repairs and speak to Chris or Anthony (Brothers). They have a Mechanical dept set up there and if they can't fix it they know the people who do. Its a family shop, the Brothers are very knowledgeable, Just tell them Speedy sent ya and you'll be fine.

[mattross]

Guys, i may have solved this (not 100% sure)
When was the last time you changed your cabin filter?????
My Windscreen water deflectors rubber failed and water/leaves/dirt had been getting in for a while. This caused the felt to rot and come off. This blocked the flap valve which controls the fresh/recycle and A/C (my recycle switch in the cabin also failed) and shorted the system somewhere. As far as i can see this flap is controlled by the vacuum system, so check the vacuum system out. This solenoid is attached inside the engine bay to the wall, hidden under plastic strip at the top, and on my car doesn't work. Also nearly every vacuum hose close ways frayed and off.


The rubbers failing also did not create a seal which meant air was being sucked in from the engine, including the rubber strip on the underside of the bonnet.
I also had some other cooling system problems which compounded the problem or was caused by this.

Strangely enough the vacuum system isn’t working that great either, the locks go down slow and sluggish, the cruise control works very slowly and will drop off randomly.


Now I am pulling the dash apart to get all the leaves/felt and gunk out of the system