Aircon playing up - first frozen morning

dave_6

Active Member
Apr 26, 2005
193
0
Essex
Hi,

2001 ibiza cupra

never had a problem with the aircon in the 2 years i've had the car

worked fine yesterday afterwork, I had to heat the windows and left the A.C on for a bit while it was doing it


This morning was the first time this winter that the windscreens been frozen over, was damn cold

anyway, went to start the heaters and yep blowers all worked ok, but normally the A.C starts itself when you turn the blowers on, today it didnt


I pressed the aircon button and the A/C sign comes on for half a second then went straight back off..... did that each time I tried to press the button

I'm hoping its just a fuse but wondered if anyone else had ideas before I started poking around in the cold tonight, and in the dark!



guessing when the gas is used up or there's a leak it still tries to come on with the a/c part, and it would be a big co-incidence if the gas runs out at the same time as the first freeze over here

The heaters warmed up in the usual time


thanks
Dave
 

jezyg

Active Member
Feb 21, 2003
2,323
21
Derby
As said below 2-3 degC aircon compressor will not work to prevent freezing up of the system.
 

Fl@pper

Back older greyer and less oilier but always hope
Jun 19, 2001
12,370
26
Gloucester
usually the frosty symbol on display too when it's in hibernation mode
 

dave_6

Active Member
Apr 26, 2005
193
0
Essex
cheers guys

I had a feeling it may well be to do with that, I checked the temperature on the trip computer at start up as that was one of my ideas and it was 0.5 degrees, then checked again when I got to work and it was 1.5 degrees and A/C wouldn't start, was hoping it would've been a little warmer by then to check the theory


makes sense though and puts my mind at ease knowing there's not something that'll need money spent on it
 

dave_6

Active Member
Apr 26, 2005
193
0
Essex
lol clearly my driveway is magic and has always kept the temperature around the car above 2 degrees until now

must just not have noticed at all previously.... weird
 

merlin051

Oil Burner!
Aug 22, 2006
186
0
North East, Darlington
Yeah, below 4.5(frost icon) the aircon wont turn on immediatly, after you've been driving the car for about 10 mins and it warms up, youll be able to turn it on.

This can be a pain in the @$$ if your external temperature sensor(passenger mirrir) is defective, like on a hot summers day when teh car thinks its -2! and your just left with no choice because the damn thing wont work!

Anyone know if it will turn on if you unplug the sensor?
 
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