At the last annual service in February '10, I reported to the dealer the fact that the aircon wasn't working and seemed to have stopped working in early summer '09.

On completion of the service, I was told that they had re-charged the refrigerant but had found that one of the aircon sensors was faulty and would have to be replaced.

This sensor was replaced last week at a cost of £100. However, whilst the aircon now works, it isn't as cold as it was and seems to take a fair time before outputing cold air after being activated.

Any ideas ?

Before and after VAG COm reports attached:-

BEFORE:

Version: Release 805.1

Data version: 20081017

Nick

Friday,21,November,2008,20:36:31:08693

Chassis Type: 6Y - Skoda Fabia I

Scan: 01 02 03 08 09 15 17 19 25 37 44 46 55 56 76

VIN ******************** Mileage: 62130km/38605miles

Address 08: Auto HVAC Labels: 6Q0-820-045.lbl

Part No: 6Y0 820 045

Component: Klimaanlage X0830

3 Faults Found:

01596 - Motor for Outside/Recirculated Air Flap (V154)

30-10 - Open or Short to Plus - Intermittent

01596 - Motor for Outside/Recirculated Air Flap (V154)

29-10 - Short to Ground - Intermittent

01596 - Motor for Outside/Recirculated Air Flap (V154)

28-10 - Short to Plus - Intermittent

AFTER

VCDS Version: Release 908.2

Data version: 20100326

Nick

Monday,24,May,2010,21:18:26:08693

Chassis Type: 6Y - Skoda Fabia I

Scan: 01 02 03 08 09 15 17 19 25 37 44 46 55 56 76

VIN: ******************** Mileage: 73960km/45956miles

Address 08: Auto HVAC Labels: 6Q0-820-045.lbl

Part No: 6Y0 820 045

Component: Klimaanlage X0830

4 Faults Found:

01596 - Motor for Outside/Recirculated Air Flap (V154)

30-10 - Open or Short to Plus - Intermittent

01271 - Positioning Motor for Temperature Flap (V68)

29-10 - Short to Ground - Intermittent

01596 - Motor for Outside/Recirculated Air Flap (V154)

41-10 - Blocked or No Voltage - Intermittent

01596 - Motor for Outside/Recirculated Air Flap (V154)

29-10 - Short to Ground - Intermittent

The aircon seems to have developed an additional fault code (01271) since being fixed

The only other fault code now listed, and this has been present all along (both before and after the aircon fix) is :-

Address 09: Cent. Elect. Labels: 6Qx-937-049-C.lbl

Part No: 6Q1 937 049 C

Component: 00 BN-SG. 1S33

Coding: 17418

Shop #: WSC 25040

1 Fault Found:

01054 - Power Supply Relay; Terminal 30 (J317)

28-00 - Short to Plus

Nick

Edited 24 May, 201016 yr by Clunkclick

Take it back you initially said it wasn't working , and it is not right now with 4 faults who vag commed it you or dealer ?, mine chills quickly

Take it back you initially said it wasn't working , and it is not right now with 4 faults who vag commed it you or dealer ?, mine chills quickly

I keep a running VAG Com record just for such an eventuality. Obviously, did a scan post -fit to see if there were any error codes. - they never disappoint you. Money for old rope.

The chill is definately not as cold or quick as it was.

Presume dealer wouldn't have done a post fit diagnostic check ?

There's was me thinking that car overhaul and maintenance was so difficult that you couldn't possibly keep a VAG car running with a minimum of a 10/13mmm combination spanner and a Sparktiune dwell meter, as I did 30 years ago.

Skoda ought to change the company moto to " Niggilae faultus, tedium ad nauseam"

Nick

Edited 25 May, 201016 yr by Clunkclick

I presume that these fault reports are valid and not phantoms given that an adequate stream of cold air isn't being supplied.

Nevertheless, does anybody know the procedure for clearing them in VAG COM ?

My idea is that the part replacement might have disturbed something electrically leading to the additional temp flap error.

OK. the faults prior to the sensor replacement have been present for a number of years/services so i presume that they are genuine.

However, I understand that persistent faults in this area can occasionally be cured by resetting/cycling the values. Does anybody know the procedure in VAG.Com for doing that ?

Nick

At lunchtime today I booked it in again with the dealer for next week.

As an after thought, I decided to just have a last minute fiddle to see if I could rectify the problem. Hey and what do you know, the problem seems to have gone away.

It may have been due to my fiddling, it may of course be complete conincidence.

First thing that I noticed was that the can cooler in the glove box had been turned to the "open" position so that the orifice was admitting cool air into the glove box. So I turned this back to the "Closed" position. I never use the can cooler - I'm not of that generation, so its always been closed. But, even if it had worked open, and its a rotational control which is very resistant to turning, would this alone deprive the dashboard air vents of sufficient cold air to make them totally ineffective from a cooling point of view ?

Secondly, the lever in the compartment housing the diagnosis socket had been pulled out to the "On" positon, directing warmer air into that area. Until today, I didn't even know that there was a lever there. I pushed that in to the "Off" position. Again, what effect would that have on the air going to the dashboard vents ?

Lastly, I switched the aircon off and on whilst the engine was running.

Now, I'm getting icy cold air per spec. No complaints. And I haven't had the bonnet -up or seriously interfered with any of the components !

Just to check whether the ECU was still reading faults for the aircon, I did another VCDS scan and guess what, the most recent fault has disappeared.

01271 - Positioning Motor for Temperature Flap (V68)

29-10 - Short to Ground - Intermittent

- see below

Hopefully, the weather over the next few days should give ample opportunity to determine whether this is a recurring/intermittment fault or a one-off. spasm.

VCDS Version: Release 908.2

Data version: 20100326

Nick

Wednesday,02,June,2010,21:39:04:08693

Chassis Type: 6Y - Skoda Fabia I

Scan: 01 02 03 08 09 15 17 19 25 37 44 46 55 56 76

VIN: TMBDD46Y02357**** Mileage: 74150km/46074miles

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address 01: Engine Labels: 036-906-034-APE.lbl

Part No: 036 906 034 DF

Component: MARELLI 4MV 5020

Coding: 00071

Shop #: WSC 25021

TMBDD46Y02357**** SKZ7Z0B1485705

No fault code found.

Readiness: 0000 0000

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address 03: ABS Brakes Labels: 6Q0-907-37x-ASR.lbl

Part No: 6Q0 907 379 H

Component: ABS/ASR 5.7 FRONT V20

Coding: 00124

Shop #: WSC 13765

No fault code found.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address 08: Auto HVAC Labels: 6Q0-820-045.lbl

Part No: 6Y0 820 045

Component: Klimaanlage X0830

2 Faults Found:

01596 - Motor for Outside/Recirculated Air Flap (V154)

30-10 - Open or Short to Plus - Intermittent

01596 - Motor for Outside/Recirculated Air Flap (V154)

41-10 - Blocked or No Voltage - Intermittent

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address 09: Cent. Elect. Labels: 6Qx-937-049-C.lbl

Part No: 6Q1 937 049 C

Component: 00 BN-SG. 1S33

Coding: 17418

Shop #: WSC 25040

1 Fault Found:

01054 - Power Supply Relay; Terminal 30 (J317)

28-00 - Short to Plus

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address 15: Airbags Labels: 6Q0-909-605-VW5.lbl

Part No: 1C0 909 601 C

Component: 02 AIRBAG VW51 0004

Coding: 12338

Shop #: WSC 13765

No fault code found.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address 17: Instruments Labels: Redir Fail!

Part No: 6Y2 919 880 B

Component: KOMBIINSTRUMENT VDO V12

Coding: 16442

Shop #: WSC 25021

TMBDD46Y02357**** SKZ7Z0B1485705

No fault code found.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address 19: CAN Gateway Labels: 6N0-909-901-19.lbl

Part No: 6N0 909 901

Component: 33 GATEWAY CAN 1S33

Coding: 00014

Shop #: WSC 13765

No fault code found.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address 44: Steering Assist Labels: 6Q0-423-156.lbl

Part No: 6Q0 423 156 M

Component: LenkhilfeTRW V210

Coding: 00140

Shop #: WSC 13765

No fault code found.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address 46: Central Conv. Labels: 6Q0-959-433.lbl

Part No: 6Q0 959 433 E

Component: 31 Komfortgerát 0001

Coding: 00067

Shop #: WSC 13765

Part No: 6Q2959802

Component: 31 Tõrsteuer.FS TFK 0002

Part No: 6Q2959801

Component: 31 Tõrsteuer.BF TFK 0002

No fault code found.

End ------------------

Nick

Spoke too soon. Aircon not working today. The hottest day so far.

So, looks like an intermittment fault - always the worst kind.

B"gger !

Any body had experience of leaf debris clagging-up the air conduits and preventing the valves operating correctly. Car is 7 years old and i could definately hear something swooshing around the other day.

Nick

Edited 4 June, 201016 yr by Clunkclick

I think, over the last few days I've narrowed down the fault to either a faulty rotary dashboard temperature control or a sticking/broken temperature flap or motor. My money is on the flap and that its sticking rather than broken.

Judging by posts on the internet this seems to be a widespread fault for some time across the Skoda fabia/octavia and Vw Polo/Golf ranges.

God knows why the dealers changed the evap sensor - none of my earlier VCDS scans showed a evap sensor fault code. I just wondering if it got replaced because its an easy and cheap fix as opposed to doing it right by removing the dashboard and replacing the temperature flap/motor.

At the moment the aircon will not output the full range of temperature at any one time. The maxima are never right - that's despite doing a re-calibration of the heating/aircon module parameters using VCDS.

Somedays, it will ouput slightly cool air at the full chill setting of the rotary knob (<18C) and full heat (i.e. > 20c) from the 20c setting upwards. On other days it offers fully chilled air at the full chill setting and slightly warm air at the >20c.

Very occasionally, it performs correctly and will deliver the full range of temperature.

Needless to say, on the hotest days, when the plastics in the dashboard expand, the flap always seems to get stuck in the position that delivers only the hotest air.

Is there a plastic lubricant that could be sprayed into the cabin air intake that would elimiante/reduce the incident of sticking flaps.

Is my diagnosis reasonably sound or could there be another cause ?

Nick

Edited 16 June, 201016 yr by Clunkclick

Classic flap motor symptoms mate. Only lower dash has to come out.

Classic flap motor symptoms mate. Only lower dash has to come out.

2 x hours labour + parts ?

Is it known what initially causes this ? Does the motor itself just fail or is it provoked by a sticking flap ?

I've got VCDS reports going back into the warranty period (6 years) which consistenty show the temperature flap problems.

My local dealer must have seen this on the annual service diagnostic for the last 7 years and at least one other dealer has seen a diagnostic report.

Incompetent ?

I feel a goodwill claim coming on.

Nick

Edited 22 June, 201016 yr by Clunkclick

I would say you have a very good case for it to be done FOC. Motors usually just fail on their own. Fairly light weight efforts, more like a servo motor really.

Damn I hope my AC dont get like that, It's used constantly, eek :S !

Damn I hope my AC dont get like that, It's used constantly, eek :S !

Best thing for it constant use

I think its just bad design/installation of the motor flap rather than the motor.

When ever the outside temperature gets over 20c the cold air output is only slightly chilled initially. It takes about 20 minutes of running at a setting of full cold before the output air becomes really chilled. In this circumstance, the coldest setting on the temperature control initially produces air no cooler than the outside slipstream when motoring. My theory on this is that the flap gets jammed cause the components in the dashboard heat-up and expand and is only freed-up once the passageways have been cooled by the airflow - hence the delay in achieving fully chilled air.

However, at temperatures below 20C, it more often than not works fine, emitiing an ice cold breeze straight away - just exactly when you don't need ice cold air. Brilliant.

I will pursue the cost issue with Skoda as I feel the dealer should have done the repair when the car was still under warranty, even though the problem didn't manifest itself in full till now, the diagnostic scans should have shown a consistent problem. But I'm not holding my breath.

I might consider doing it myself, should I, god forbid, be blessed with a surplus of freetime during the working week as appears to be in imminent prospect at the moment. But in order to do so, I'll need some decent schematics and servicing procedures. The Haynes Fabia manual doesn't cover this topic. I have to say that there is a woeful lack of schematics in the Haynes Fabia manual, which is pants IMHO compared with the Haynes manuals of 30 years ago. This means that if I was to consider doing the job, I would have to acquire another source of schematics.

Luckily, i have recently acquired a copy of Elsawin, I can see from the schematic diagrams that it shouldn't involve too much to get to the temperature flap motor i.e. removal of blower and the front part of the centre console. I don't think the glove box needs to be removed ? But the actual flap mechanism and actuating shaft looks an absolute swine to do, making do-it-yourself a bit more problematic.

Any way, first shot will be at Skoda Customer Service including a bundle of VCDS scan reports dating back to 2005 (Warranty expired 2006). Hoo-hah.

Nick