AC stopped blowing cold now gurgling wooshing sound from under glovebox

52172

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Location
Buellton, Ca
TDI
2001 Golf TDI GLS
Just got AC working again with new fan control module and compressor and dryer evaporator and fans. Was working great for two weeks and just today stopped blowing cold and new gurgling woosh sound coming from under glovebox and rt side Transmission tunnel under dash? Is this heater core issue or air in ac lines? What could it be? Thanks
 

hollowhead

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2015
Location
cope,sc
TDI
2003 Jetta wagon 5 speed(2)2000 vw beetle tdi automatic
Your evaporator might be freezing up . Do you still have good air flow from the vents when it stops cooling? Check the cabin filter.
 

Nero Morg

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
Location
OR
TDI
2014 A6 TDI, 2001 Jetta TDI, 2014 Passat TDI
If it is freezing up, check that the evap drain isn't plugged.
 

52172

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Location
Buellton, Ca
TDI
2001 Golf TDI GLS
Ok thanks guys. New cabin filter and good flow from most of the vents, but the lateral ones don’t have very good flow and out of the center vents the rt one blows much harder than left. I’ll check evaporator, but it wouldn’t blow cold after not using it all day?
 

Blacktree

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2015
Location
Central FL
TDI
'02 Jetta 5-spd
That gurgling sound is probably water collecting in the drain pan. That will happen if the drain is clogged.
 

52172

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Location
Buellton, Ca
TDI
2001 Golf TDI GLS
Seems drain is on firewall by heat shield in engine compartment? It’s hard to axxess? How have people gotten to it? Thanks
 

BobnOH

not-a-mechanic
Joined
May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
TDI
New Beetle 2003 manual
Well that's quite a thread.

Here is a guess, don't really know the AC system that well-A clogged drain is just one possible cause of the condenser freezing up.
 

Powder Hound

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 25, 1999
Location
Under a Bridge, Crestview, FL, USA
TDI
'00 Golf 4dr White 5sp, '02 Jettachero 5sp, Wife's '03 NB Platinum Gray auto(!)
Condensers don't freeze up. That's the radiator-like device in front of the radiator where hot gas at high pressure comes from the a/c compressor to cool off and become a warm liquid. Hence, it condenses the gas to a liquid.

The evaporator, the part inside the car where the warm liquid boils and absorbs heat from the incoming air, can freeze when it gets really cold and there's available humidity in the air. It gets cold enough to freeze the moisture when there is insufficient refrigerant in the system.

A/C system refrigerant has a pressure dependent boiling point. It is chosen for various qualities, at least one of which will be the variability of the boiling point to cover a range of useful temperatures. In our case, the boiling point will be kept higher than the freezing point of water by making sure the system pressure remains high enough in the evaporator. If not, then the boiling point will be lower than freezing and can freeze up by freezing the moisture in the air that is blowing through the evaporator. You end up with the evap core becoming a block of frost.

If you are having this problem, you'd probably note the lack of air flow, and when you stop the car you would see a small drip of water from the melting frost over a very long time as the frost slowly melts.

But if you are hearing sloshing, then as above, the drain is probably clogged.

Good luck clearing this up.

Cheers,

PH
 
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