A4 Air-con not working

[Cove1974]

I have recently bought a 2016 A4 Avant S-Line tdi and I’m having problems with the air-con.
Basically it won’t turn on, the ventilation controls all seem to work fine but the air-con display won’t change from Air Off.

Strangely on a couple of mornings over the last week when it has been frosty the air-con has turned itself on but then turns off after 5 minutes and won’t turn back on.

I have the system set to auto and sync all the time (preferably with the air-con on) the same as my previous 3 Mercedes and they always worked fine.

I suspect the refrigerant gas levels are low but I may just be misunderstanding the controls even after carefully reading the owners manual.
The car had been pretty much unused for nearly 6 months before I bought it. The previous owner had it through a finance deal from Audi and had obviously handed it back at the end of the 4 years so it would seem to have been looked after. This may be the cause of the low refrigerant, the lack of use.

Before I make a warranty claim for it being fixed / refilled I thought I would just check I’m not doing something wrong with the controls. 

[Stevey Y]

Hi you mentioned frosty mornings, the higher end models tend to have a more sophisticated set up I.E  it turns on automatically to clear the screen etc on the hot side, but be advised if its that cold a lot of aircon systems won't work because  the ambient temperature outside is already cold and it does not want the radiator cooling fan running for the cold side of the aircon as this will !Removed! the engines ability to get to running temperature, believe me this year of A6 has a problem getting to running temperature as it is because of the massive radiator.

Steve.

[Batesy70]

Hi. @Cove1974 did you manage to resolve the problem you describe with your air con? I have the same car and the same problem! Air con not available to be selected other than for a couple seconds at engine start up, only then for it to default to OFF and other options on selector greyed out. No cooling. No joy when trying to get KwikFit to recharge the gas, thankfully no charge levied. Hoping to avoid a huge bill at the stealers. Thanks in advance.

[Cove1974]

Hi. Unfortunately you could be in for a big bill. I also went to Kwik Fit to get it regassed but they couldn’t find the port to attach the gas canister. Ended up booking the car in at the local dealer for an air conditioning service for £90 which isn’t that bad. After 2 hours waiting I was given a video report that explained that the condenser had been damaged, probably a stone, and all the gas had leaked out. It was also corroded which didn’t help. A new condenser is £730 from Audi. 2 independent German car garages both quoted £720. I have now gone back to the dealer I bought the car from as it was obviously damaged before I bought the car 3 months ago. They are looking in to it so just waiting now on how they propose to sort it.

[Batesy70]

Thanks for your response. Next stop a local indie to see if they diagnose it as you describe. I hope you’re wrong but knowing my luck…! At least Kwikfit knew where to plug the machine in on this occasion. 😂

[annalonco]

First, you should check your system. whether there are any failures of settings or drivers in it. It helps in most cases.

[Shep]

Mine did this, took it to my brothers garage and he did a vacuum test. System held a vacuum so he just topped the gas back up. Problem solved. 

[Karl PM]

On 6/12/2021 at 4:34 PM, Batesy70 said:

Hi. @Cove1974 did you manage to resolve the problem you describe with your air con? I have the same car and the same problem! Air con not available to be selected other than for a couple seconds at engine start up, only then for it to default to OFF and other options on selector greyed out. No cooling. No joy when trying to get KwikFit to recharge the gas, thankfully no charge levied. Hoping to avoid a huge bill at the stealers. Thanks in advance.

Hi Cove1974, what was the outcome of your A/C fault? I have just got the same fault this evening. TIA

[Magnet]

Hasn’t been back since he last posted. You could try sending him a PM.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Cove1974]

The condenser was shot. The dealer I purchased the car from replaced it under warranty and good will. It worked fine after that. Not got the car anymore, just traded in for an S4 from a main dealer so if anything goes wrong they can fix it for the next 12 months.

[Karl PM]

13 minutes ago, Cove1974 said:

The condenser was shot. The dealer I purchased the car from replaced it under warranty and good will. It worked fine after that. Not got the car anymore, just traded in for an S4 from a main dealer so if anything goes wrong they can fix it for the next 12 months.

Cheers, thanks for getting back to me 👍