Automatic recirculation HVAC fault - doesn't switch on poor air quality

[prise]

As a result of a change to my daily commute I now drive through a toll tunnel and noticed that my 118 TSI wasn't switching the ventilation to recirculation regardless of how bad the air quality was. I dropped the vehicle off at the dealer to have it looked at and on picking up the car was told that the fault was caused by a equipment connection/network fault that they had been unable to diagnose. They told me they were going to need the car back for three days to locate and fix it!

At least they volunteered a courtesy car for the duration. The service rep also said that I was getting a better deal on a courtesy car (free fuel) because my vehicle was less than 12 months and 15000 km old.

What puzzles me is why a dealer with the diagnostics equipment at their disposal would need three days to diagnose and repair a non intermittent HVAC fault unless they have to send test results back to head office for analysis.

The cars due to go back in a weeks time so I'll let you know what they found. It's also a reminder to check that all the little extras work.

[Corey_R]

Cools, at least they've got a courtesy car for you man

Let us know how it goes

[Pepe]

As a result of a change to my daily commute I now drive through a toll tunnel and noticed that my 118 TSI wasn't switching the ventilation to recirculation regardless of how bad the air quality was. I dropped the vehicle off at the dealer to have it looked at and on picking up the car was told that the fault was caused by a equipment connection/network fault that they had been unable to diagnose. They told me they were going to need the car back for three days to locate and fix it!

At least they volunteered a courtesy car for the duration. The service rep also said that I was getting a better deal on a courtesy car (free fuel) because my vehicle was less than 12 months and 15000 km old.

What puzzles me is why a dealer with the diagnostics equipment at their disposal would need thee days to diagnose and repair a non intermittent HVAC fault unless they have to send test results back to head office for analysis.

The cars due to go back in weeks time so I'll let you know what they found. It's also a reminder to check that all the little extras work.

Good job on the courtesy car... better than most would offer I suspect.

And I can add another thing to the list I didn't realise the Golf did... guess I really should properly RTFM.

[Transporter]

What puzzles me is why a dealer with the diagnostics equipment at their disposal would need three days to diagnose and repair a non intermittent HVAC fault unless they have to send test results back to head office for analysis.

Because not everything is monitored by ECU, so it can take longer to diagnose it. Also unless they have several diagnostic units, they can't be working on more than one car at the time.

[galtaforce]

How can you tell?

I didn't realise there was some sort of indication when the auto-recirc switched on. I've never noticed anything on the display when entering a polluted environment. What is supposed to happen?

[passatstef]

i use dto work a dealership. i will tell you a story. when the car comes in to the dealer it is booked in.now since the tech thats is under huge load and the forman says just plug it in and see what you get and a quike look under the dash and have a findall and try some buttoms on the dash and if nothing well it might be a pull out dash job.just a idea what that thay might do. sorry if i scare you mate

[gerhard]

i use dto work a dealership. i will tell you a story. when the car comes in to the dealer it is booked in.now since the tech thats is under huge load and the forman says just plug it in and see what you get and a quike look under the dash and have a findall and try some buttoms on the dash and if nothing well it might be a pull out dash job.just a idea what that thay might do. sorry if i scare you mate

You've scared me.....

[passatstef]

sorry mate if i did. but thay will might do it or not mate.keep me informed of what thay are going to do.i used to work for vw and volvo.by the way nice ride mate and good luck.stef

[PassatB6]

I didn't realise there was some sort of indication when the auto-recirc switched on. I've never noticed anything on the display when entering a polluted environment. What is supposed to happen?

Apparently the system switches automatically to recirc when air quality decreases to a certain level. The light on the recirc button doesn't come on though according to posts on VW vortex.

[MurphyTheElf]

You've scared me.....

Me too..... I think.

[prise]

UPDATE

I dropped the car off today and was called back 4 hours later to say it was they had been able to perform the test this time with advice from head office and the the system appeared to be working correctly. I asked how the system had been tested and was told that the official test procedure involved the use of a small amount of LPG to trip the sensor. I was also told that they had performed the same test on a new vehicle to confirm that it switched to recirculation in the same way. I have no knowledge of the test procedure they used so I don't know if it is able to test the sensitivity of the sensor or whether it only tests for functionality.

The customer service rep had no explanation for why the system doesn't go to recirculation when driving behind badly smoking exhausts (burnt oil and petrol smell) so given they diagnosed a different fault first time round and then concluded on the second visit that it was working correctly I have concluded that they were not familiar with the system and the test procedure.

Is the air quality sensor only useful if I drive through a gas leak!

[Maverick]

I dropped the car off today and was called back 4 hours later to say it was they had been able to perform the test this time with advice from head office and the the system appeared to be working correctly. I asked how the system had been tested and was told that the official test procedure involved the use of a small amount of LPG to trip the sensor. I was also told that they had performed the same test on a new vehicle to confirm that it switched to recirculation in the same way. I have no knowledge of the test procedure they used so I don't know if it is able to test the sensitivity of the sensor or whether it only tests for functionality

The customer service rep had no explanation for why the system doesn't go to recirculation when driving behind badly smoking exhausts (burnt oil and petrol smell) so given they diagnosed a different fault first time round and then concluded on the second visit that it was working correctly I have concluded that they were not familiar with the system and the test procedure.

You can conclude whatever you want but they told you the Volkswagen method of testing the sensor for operation which they performed so I'm not sure what else you want them to do short of fly the sensor to the manufacturer for testing the same way.

Is the air quality sensor only useful if I drive through a gas leak!

No but it's not some magic sensor that works like you expect it to. A basic portable hand held gas detector starts at around $1500 and they can easily reach $6000+. The sensor in the Golf sells through the dealers for under $150.

Information on how the sensor operates is here - Climatronic Air Quality Sensor Operation and Location

[hooba]

The sensor in the Golf sells through the dealers for under $150.

$150!! Another bloody VWA parts rip off!!

I can get an LPG sensor for less than $1.



Come on Mav, give us at least one smiley!

[logger]

Here I'll give you some hooba


I find the auto recirc system to be gimmick and do not use it much. It is too slow to react and by the time it has switched I have copped a lungful. So I tend to select the manual recirc in the same maner as I would wind a window up before entering a tunnel or pulling in behind a dirty truck.

Prise, Bummer they cannot fix your system to your satisfaction. What makes you say the Auto recirc is not working? Mine just shows a Car Icon with the recirc arrow in it with "A" beside it. But there is no way to tell if the system has set itself to fresh or recirc onced in this setting. So could it just be that, because it is reactive and not predictive, you are also copping a lungful before it switches, leading you to believe it is malfunctioning.

I just hooked mine up to VCDS, looked at the recirc and air quality status. Started the car with AC in Recirc Auto and it indicated "recirc mode due to air quality" almost instantly and I could see the recirc valve close in VCDS. But then I turned the car off and did the same thing a couple of minutes later. Again in Recirc Auto. This time it did not sense bad air and indicated fresh. After two or three minutes with the engine running in the garage and well on the way to gassing myself it still had not switched. So I gave it away as it was getting way unsafe. Dunno if this was effected by logic related to start cycle and temp. Who knows but it would have readily let me gas myself before going to recirc. Gimmick I reckon.

[mfl]

Prise, Bummer they cannot fix your system to your satisfaction. What makes you say the Auto recirc is not working? Mine just shows a Car Icon with the recirc arrow in it with "A" beside it. But there is no way to tell if the system has set itself to fresh or recirc onced in this setting. So could it just be that, because it is reactive and not predictive, you are also copping a lungful before it switches, leading you to believe it is malfunctioning.

Gimmick I reckon.

Prise, I understand where your coming from, I also like things to work in cars they way should, the smells have only started coming into my car in the last month and before then it seemd to be working fairly well, now I just hit the manual recirculation button. pity there is no indication as to what the system is doing.

As my car is in for other warranty repairs on Thursday (again), I am getting them to check the system out, see what they say