Does Climatronic have aux heat?

oh i will have to check this out in vcds as the only thing i did was see in the blocks and turn the econ button on and off but the temperature was always set to 26oC
doing this shows the compressor was off and then on
not sure if the temperature selector affects the compressor state with the econ turned off (ac on)

TheGrove said:

As was pointed out earlier - just because the light is lit doesn't mean the A/C is running. It just means the system will engage the A/C if it needs it. And the A/C unit is not either on or off but is a variable system that varies the load as well. The impact on mileage is almost negligible. And believe me you want the A/C for the defrost! I turned mine off a couple weeks ago and within seconds the windows fogged up so I almost couldn't see even with the fan on high.

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I thought the A/C compressor only kicks in at temps 3C or higher.

Hypermile said:

I thought the A/C compressor only kicks in at temps 3C or higher.

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Could be, I can't remember the exact value.

We've been rather pleased (given all the discussion about the diesel cold-bloodedness) at how well our Climatronic has performed. Warmup is about on par with our other car, which has always been good ( '04 SAAB 9-5, also with their version of Climatronic). The worst we've experienced was twice we got a blow-cold condition (out of nowhere, car was long since warmed up), and once a blow-hot.* In all those cases, simply turning the Climatronic to off and then on again seemed to reset it. I plan on mentioning this as the next service to get it on the record, but it's one of those things that's going to be very difficult to address if nothing's wrong at the time.

*These are my terms for the HVAC suddenly putting out cold, unheated air, or very hot air.

...hmmm...there now have been a few mentions of Climatronic going into "blow-hot" mode, being unresponsive to input. Maybe we need to start a thread about it?

VeeDubTDI said:

I have noticed that the aux heat will run up until a coolant temp of about 166F (based on energy consumption as well as idle speed) as long as there is a significant demand for warm air (cabin temp is below setpoint). Remember that the HVAC controller will command a fast engine idle any time the aux heater is enabled.

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So speaking in general the electric auxiliary heater will shut off once coolant temperature reaches 166 degrees F or thereabouts? That would translate to the temp gauge needle being close to the normal mark - and yes, I know the gauge is only an approximation of actual coolant temperature.