Another AC slow to cool/brakes question!

Hello all, first time poster here. I’ve scoured the archives and have seen many threads concerning air conditioners acting up. I just purchased a 2013 Passat from my sister to be used as a daily driver by myself. I travel for work and my wife is telling me the AC is slow in the morning to get cool, ie it’s blowing warm for about 5 minutes or 5 miles and then seems to work fine the remainder of the day. Does this sound like the RCV valve that I’ve ready so many posts about?

Lastly, do all Passat brakes feel a little funny? Before I left, I was noticing what I thought was them sticking as i was coming to a stop, increased sensitivity at slow speeds, etc. A colleague of mine has a rental Passat right now, and he’s describing the same thing in his, but it’s a 2015!? Thanks in advance.

Passat TDI comes with massive brake rotors so it is very sensitive to grab brakes LOL My head kept hitting the sun visor every time I start driving the Passat for the weekends as I drive the JSW for work daily. Huge day and night differences of brakes between those two.

As for the AC, definitely sounds like RCV issues. My old JSW had that problem, RCV solved that. Sometimes AC wont work during hottest time of the day.

Recently, my Passat had AC issues for s year and trusty local shop found the problem within a hour that the system has unbalanced pressure, they evac it out and refilled the right way and now blows very cold.

VW couldn’t get it fixed for 3 weeks. Utterly embarrassing and that pissed me off for wasting my time.


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Ac could be compressor or rcv. I’ve never noticed a difference in the passat brakes vs other vws. My daily drivers are a ‘14 passat tdi (77k) and ‘13 beetle tdi (84k). I am in and out of all sorts of VWs all the time, all seem the same to me but i’ve never driven anything but a vw.

Yeah this is my first VW, so I don’t have others to compare it to, but they were so odd feeling I had the rotors turned because they felt almost warped? Did fix it, but now I’m hearing it’s just how VWs are?

As for the AC, I’ll scour here for pictures on how to replace the RCV. Hopefully that fixes it. Other than these issues, it’s a great car. My brother-in-law had it serviced by VW religiously since new, almost to a fault, so I’m hoping it lasts for a while. Always something!

I’ll keep this thread alive to see if the valve fixes it.

Passats do like to warp rotors, mine started vibrating in the upper 30ks, turned them around 46k, started again in the mid 60s, replaced at 72k. I am trying to be very easy on them, the car has much less city driving than it had before 50k.

Yeah, it’s weird, as you’re braking under normal pressure, just as the car begins to stop, it feels as if they grab, and you have to release brake pressure to prevent coming to a subtle but awkwardly abrupt stop? It’s not bad, and it takes some time behind the wheel to notice, but it’s a little frustrating. The brakes feel nothing like my wife’s Volvo that’s for sure.

06bluebeetletdi said:

Passats do like to warp rotors, mine started vibrating in the upper 30ks, turned them around 46k, started again in the mid 60s, replaced at 72k. I am trying to be very easy on them, the car has much less city driving than it had before 50k.

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I drove over 700k miles in various VAG cars...original 1993 Audi S4, 1987 4000S, 1983 VW GTI, 2 different Coupe GTs, then 4 different VW CRTDIs (Jetta, JSW, 2 Passats.)

I never had warping issues with any of them. I was never "easy on them". My method? Cruising at 70, to slow down, I'd firmly stab the brakes, to break the momentum, then allow the car to decelerate on its own, w/o any further braking input (when traffic allowed). Then firm braking immediately prior to full stop. I never applied gentle/gradual pressure to the brakes.

Gentle (gradual, slow constant) braking can cause the pads to glaze, because of the heat buildup. Ditto for the risk of warping. I prefer the "full on, full off" method of braking.

I know my method might make some passengers uncomfortable, so when I have passengers, I modify it slightly. HAHAHA!

(Curiously, with my garage of elec/hybrid cars with regenerative brake systems, I have had to reverse my method. Very light pressure on the brake causes the electric motors to brake the vehicle, recharging the battery. The ONLY time the mechanical brake functions is with full, heavy pressure.)

FYI, my pads/rotors in ALL my VAG products always lasted into the 65-70k range, even the 1993 S4 with 300+hp. My 2012 Passat, traded at 40k, had 50% pads remaining. My 2014 bought back by VW at 60k miles, had 40% pads remaining.

Whaddabout the RCV?
I had that problem years ago with my 2009 JSW TDI.