Air Conditioner keeps blowing 30 amp fuse

Faceplant

Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2000
Location
Castle Rock, CO
MY A/C keeps blowing the 30 amp fuse that sits on top of the battery. Here's the skinny:
There was a very odd sound that turned out to be one of the fans that sits in front of the radiator. The whole unit had to be replaced and all was well for a few days. Upon start up one hot day, no cold air. Nada. I checked the fuse and it was blown. I took it back to the place where it was fixed and he found a short. He fixed it, and after a few days, it blew again. He did something (I think he disconnected one of the fans) and it worked for a few hours but again, at startup, the fuse blew again.
When the AC works, it works well so I am guessing it is not the compressor. Since the new fan unit was put in, there are electrical issues. Has anyone encountered this?
Also, FWIW, the dashboard airbag light is now on.
 

Faceplant

Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2000
Location
Castle Rock, CO
Also, my car is a 01 TDI NB. The fan unit that was replaced had one of the two fans coming apart. It was loose and there were some metal shavings indicating a bad bearing in the fan. It did need replacing and after it was replaced, the AC worked but the new fan sound was loud. Still, a fan sound happily purring away, but still different than OEM. I wonder if the wrong fan has been put in and is drawing too much current. Any ideas?
 

Faceplant

Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2000
Location
Castle Rock, CO
If you have read down this far, I thank you. I am also considering the possibility that it is a bad fuse box. Would or could a bad fuse box do these symptoms?
 

Lee_Taylor

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2004
Location
Kent, England
TDI
Audi A3 1.4 COD
When you switch on the a/c do both fans run slowly? The fuse you refer to is I think the high speed fan fuse. There are a lot of articles on here about faulty fans. I suspect you may still have a defective fan. What often happens is one or both of the low speed fans fail. This causes the a/c to overheat and it switches the high speed fan on. This runs constantly which then blows the fuse. Then you have no a/c. It is also possible the fan control module is faulty.

As far as the airbag light goes I would take the car to someone who has access to VCDS/VAG-COM to scan the car for errors.
 

Dimitri16V

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Location
DE
TDI
01 Golf, 04 Golf
the fuse is between the batt and FCM . if the replaced fan is OEM and it spins freely by hand , the FCM is sorting or the fan wiring does. it all depends what kind of electrical job the shop did .
the ABS light came on because they pulled the wrong fuse
 
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