Faulty Climatronic?

Hello everyone!

I own a Passat 3B, manufactured in 1997, with Climatronic, and I've recently noticed the following phenomenon:
When the air conditioner is turned on and the vehicle is stationary, the relay for the air conditioner compressor starts to switch on and off.
I'm assuming that the compressor will be turned on or off as needed.
The clicking sound of the relay was previously only audible when accelerating/braking.
The error (?) occurs sporadically, and I then turn off the air conditioning (ECON mode).
When the air conditioning system is next turned on, everything will be back to normal.

I had the air conditioning system serviced in July.
I have also tried various key combinations for the Climatronic to access the service menu,
function, but apparently not.

Does anyone recognize this behavior and know what's behind it?

Thank you in advance!

Andreas

Hey Andreas,

I also experienced similar issues with my Volvo 850, where it would constantly shift between gears. 'In my case, it was a leaking refrigerant line, which resulted in a lack of refrigerant.'

Maybe this will help you.

Best regards from Bielefeld

Peter

Hi Peter!

Thanks for the tip!
Interestingly, however, I had the tires filled with air only 2 months ago.
Well, then I'll have them checked again for leaks!

Greetings

Andreas

Loose connection in the compressor plug? Just unplug it and listen to see if you still hear the noise. Then you can immediately check with a multimeter while it's running to see if the power is always on and off there. Then you could eliminate the compressor and check the relay (I think it's the one on the top right, number 191 or something).

Hi everyone!

Had my climate control system checked for leaks (at Bosch) – no issues found!
Everything is sealed, sufficient refrigerant and lubricant are available.
No loose connections on the compressor's plug and yet: The system cools down to the set temperature and occasionally the compressor starts to 'tick'...
I also visited VW, and they explained to me that if there is an error, the Climatronic display will blink.
The Climatronic's fault memory is also empty.

Curious! I will probably just let the matter rest as a mere cosmetic issue. If it's annoying, I'll turn off the air conditioning!

Thanks again for your tips!!!

Greetings

Andreas

Hello Andreas,

Has the air conditioning unit's pressure switch also been checked?
Or, its wiring?
When he shuts it off, at least while the error persists, a corresponding message will be stored in the car's climate control system's error memory.
I don't know whether it will be automatically deleted if the error disappears again.
"One should, however, continue to perform the 'poll' of the error memory ('pollen') as long as the error persists."

Hello, Rainer

@ Rainer:

Thanks, that's another tip! I just hope that the problem will then also occur and not again the 'phantom effect' - to the workshop and everything is okay.
I will get it checked out at some point, or preferably, when the 'problem' reappears.

Greetings

Andreas