Check your radiator/condenser fan operation NOW

No one has posted any sources for parts.

Others have noted the same thing about hammering the tabs over and back.

The only issue with this is that many of the fans have internal resistors with ceramic houses. When we tried this method, the ceramic insulators for the resistors were severely damaged.

That is why hammering the tabs is not recommended.

Update: My local Advance store is having trouble getting me a replacement. The warehouse has more stores wanting them than they can get (18 stores with 13 available). He is trying to pull some strings since it is a warranty issue.

Replaced big fan two days ago. Dealership charged approx $265 for fan. Advanced auto was $300. Changed out fan with a friend its not that hard.
But I am still not getting ac and trying to figure problem out.

KansasTDI said:

Dealership charged approx $265 for fan.

Click to expand...

You could have done a bit better...

http://www.idparts.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1056

Yuri

Did not have time to shop. Needed the ac fixed fast. My plan failed. You live and learn.

Thanks for posting this, I just went and checked mine and they Passed.

Does anyone have a schematic of "Just" the AC control circuit on a pdf and the fcm and the cooling fan circuit. I haven't read the whole thread sorry if its already been posted.

not sure if this has been mentioned but for anyone who is going to go for the fan repair, if you dont have access to a grinder, a hammer and chisel will also work. 1 good whack on the tabs aan mine straigetened enuf to get the back off. i also would be able to re-bend them to put the back back on but mu brush holder was melted. gonna have to locate another fan

Some fans have ceramic resistor housings in them.
Beating on these will fracture the ceramic resistor housing - at least in my experience.

jdross440 said:

Update: My local Advance store is having trouble getting me a replacement. The warehouse has more stores wanting them than they can get (18 stores with 13 available). He is trying to pull some strings since it is a warranty issue.

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Store couldn't get me one. They said even Dorman is out at the factory and they can't get a date from them on when some will be available. I have done some research and a company called Genera specializing in making these. Their part number is TYC 920990 and cost about $125.00. Their website is www.genera.com and they can tell you who in your area is a dealer or distributor. I may be lucky as Little Rock has a distributor about 7 miles from where I work.

Did the repair on my large fan over the weekend. The brush holders were a little melted but I was able to break the brushes free and clean up the holders and commutator. Works fine but I'm sure I'll have to replace at some point. Nice to know that idparts has them for such a reasonable price.

well i figured it out! it was a broken wire under the battery. it was for the t4-3 connector. the fuse on the battery was good. had no voltage at the t4 connector. it broke where they splice the wires together from the factory. soldered in a new peice of wire and bang the a/c worked again. i also discovered the fans dont work on slow speed. so i will have to replace them. thanks everyone for the help!

I have an MK5 (06 Jetta) with the manual climate control. Does anyone know if the same check will work for my model? I turned the key on and hit the AC button but nothing happened. Neither fan turned. Then I started the engine with the AC button off and no fans turned (expected) but after hitting the AC button only the main fan turned. Does this mean that my secondary fan is bad? Do these fans have a history of going bad? Any ideas as to what makes them go bad? I don't want to just replace the fan and not root cause the issue and fry a second fan.
Thank you for the help, Frank

if anyone knows of a source for the Splined clutch disc that engages the pulley, washers and nut kit for a good price, give me a PM and also post it up. Both my fans work when the A/C is turned on. This is for a 2002 jetta.

jdross440 said:

Store couldn't get me one. They said even Dorman is out at the factory and they can't get a date from them on when some will be available. I have done some research and a company called Genera specializing in making these. Their part number is TYC 920990 and cost about $125.00. Their website is www.genera.com and they can tell you who in your area is a dealer or distributor. I may be lucky as Little Rock has a distributor about 7 miles from where I work.

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Picked up TYC fan assembly yesterday (cost 135). Installed it last night. Works great. Before installing I hooked up the old unit (passenger side fan) to battery and then the new unit. The new one puts out more air. Also the new one is made out of heavier plastic (including shroud), weighs more and is a much better molding). It also has a rubber divider strip down the center that the Advance unit didn't have. I will take the Advance unit back for a refund on my way home.

Your final test is the corect one for your car (Climatic) or a Climatronic. Both fans should be running. You can try to fix your small fan. It is probably the brush holder.
There is no high quality fix for this; the fans get sticky brushes.
Of course it could be something else - bearing, winding.

I would fix or replace it, even if the new one or the repaired one was prone to the same failures as the old one. Unless you just run with the AC off.

fv81587 said:

I have an MK5 (06 Jetta) with the manual climate control. Does anyone know if the same check will work for my model? I turned the key on and hit the AC button but nothing happened. Neither fan turned. Then I started the engine with the AC button off and no fans turned (expected) but after hitting the AC button only the main fan turned. Does this mean that my secondary fan is bad? Do these fans have a history of going bad? Any ideas as to what makes them go bad? I don't want to just replace the fan and not root cause the issue and fry a second fan.
Thank you for the help, Frank

Click to expand...

toadz1 said:

if anyone knows of a source for the Splined clutch disc that engages the pulley, washers and nut kit for a good price, give me a PM and also post it up. Both my fans work when the A/C is turned on. This is for a 2002 jetta.

Click to expand...

As opposed to the spline with internal skip, or the keyed hub?

as shown on page 26 here:
http://www.worldaire.com/pdf/2005WorldaireClutchCatalogSept1.pdf

Which one do you need?

I have never purchased one. I may have one. Just tell me which style you need. Use the CH20? designator from the referenced page above.

Replaced my drivers side fan today on my 2004. I could tell a difference as soon as I started the car in park. Great Post.

I'd just like to say thanks for this thread. I just replaced compressor/TXV/dryer using the thread from vwvortex and was getting nice cold air again but it was cycling with only coolish air (better when I took it for a test drive). I came on here to see if this was normal and ran into this thread. Did the test and only the small fan is running. Not sure if it's fast or slow but that's a matter for further diagnosis. I'm wondering if that's what caused the AC fail in the first place. This is definitely a piece of info to pass on to VW owning friends, especially if they're having AC issues.

Come to think of it, my wife's been saying her beetle AC doesn't seem as good as it was...

FWIW, I bought the harbor freight manifold gauges and they're OK. Definitely not for a pro but I only expect to use them once (then again, I only expected to use my wheel bearing extractor once and I think I'm coming up to the third time soon). They also have a $12 compressor powered vacuum generator. Probably not quite as good as the electric one but I ran it for a bit over an hour just to pull what I could.

One question is what is the actual high pressure limit? I added 24 oz (with a little bit of wastage due to a loose hp hose) and tried to add about 4oz from a new can but think I added 6oz instead. I think the recommended is 26oz+-1.7 oz so I may be a little over. Hard to tell if it's really affecting things until I get the fans fixed.

DanG144 said:

I did not replace the compressor control valve, that compressor was too far gone, and had to be replaced.

Criteria to be a candidate for this repair:

1. clutch was good, and worked during operation.
2. The only problem exhibited during operation was too little differential pressure across the compressor.
3. Compressor turned smoothly by hand with no catches or clicking.
4. No vibration during operation.
5. No abnormal noise during operation.
6. system is tight and is still holding pressure.
7. system oil is clear and amber, showing no signs of overheating or contamination.

Click to expand...

I believe I have a compressor that matches all of these criteria here in TN if anyone wants it.

I would expect the normal operation system high pressure to be less than the turn on point for the fast speed fans. This is shown in post #1 links to be 230 psig .

I have never seen a normally operating system reach that number. This is 230 psig. I would not be too surprised to reach this number in Death Valley in August. But I have not seen it at 100 F ambient temperature.

Warning: system high pressure should have little to do with the amount of refrigerant. From 20% of recommended mass of refrigerant to 130% (or so) of the recommended mass of refrigerant the high pressure should not change. Pressure will only start going up as you reach an almost liquid full condition on your high pressure side. This is dangerous territory. I check for having too much refrigerant on low cabin speed fan setting and 2000 rpm engine speed, as this is where more of your refrigerant should be in the liquid condition. It should be almost identical with the pressure you see with the cabin fan on full speed - not more than 30 psig higher or so.

The proper amount of refrigerant can only be truly set by weight.

If that compressor could work its way toward me, I would probably end up getting it to someone that could use it. I sometimes mix and match parts to get a compressor that works to donate to good cause.

Great post. Went and checked out If my fans were working, only the little fan on left side was working and big one on the right was not. What now? Btw how much dies it cost to have the big one replaced? Just a rough idea, thanks

You should be able to do this yourself in less than an hour... someone who does this regularly should be able to do it in far less... You'll need the correct Torx bit, and disconnecting the wires may prove a challenge if you haven't been down there before, but... Try http://www.autopartsway.ca/ for the pricing on a replacement fan... (If you have a New Beetle, then things get a bit more expensive...) Or else, just drop in on Brandon...

Yuri

I originally posted this as a new thread cause I didn't want to add unneccessary posts to this fine thread.

The issue I'm having is I'm not getting voltage at the compressor, here's the story: I got lazy and decided to take my car to a local shop that only works on AC. This shop rebuilds compressors, builds hoses, does installation and will also install AC on classic vehicles. Since they’ve been around a while I gave them a shot.

The compressor was replaced and the system recharged however the clutch would not engage. A mechanic from a shop a few bays down offered advice to the AC shop owner that the Fan Control Module probably needs replacing (how did he know this?). So I went to the dealer and bought one for $100, after installing it the AC still didn’t work..it figures. So I logged on, searched and found this thread

Here's what I've done so far:

New compressor, charged, w/new J293 - OK
All my fuses look good - OK
My fans do not come on when the AC switch is on - BAD
My fans work in slow and fast speeds when I jump the T4 terminals - OK
I have zero volts at the compressor unplugged - BAD
I have 12v on T14/8, T14/9, T14/4 - OK
On T14/3 I have 0.6v at idle, 14v at 2500rpm and voltage does not pulsate – BAD, BAD and BAD

BTW, I bought a Fluke 8021b Multimeter many years ago that I used only to check voltage, I’m not aware of all of its features or how to operate them or even if it can measure Duty Cycles; so I ordered an owners manual from ebay, it should be here around July 8th

Now that I’m going over my notes and Dans troubleshooting guide, I noticed I've neglected to check compressor voltage under load, but since there's no voltage coming in what's the use. My next step was to unravel the compressor wire loom to see if there are any breaks and to see where it leads. The wires from the compressor leads to a four prong connector above the starter, I check it and found wires 1 & 2 have 11v, wires 3 & 4 have zero volts. I traced two wires back to the alternator, unplugged the two prong connector, they both test at 12v.

I started cutting the loom apart at the base of the battery but stopped as I felt there may have been something I missed or a cleaner way of locating where the compressor wires go. I checked the Bently but couldn't locate the correct wiring diagram. I remember reading something about another solenoid somewhere?

Any advise on what the next step should be?

Joe,
Have you checked your clutch coil resistance? The coil could be bad. (This does not seem too likely - but maybe.)

Have you checked that your ambient temperature sensor (in the windshield wiper plenum) is intact? If this is open circuited (mice chewed wires etc.) then you will get your symptoms.

Lastly, check the output of your high pressure sensor. It can also cause these symptoms.

Dan, I haven't check any of those items, I'll start with the ambient temp sensor. Thanks.

thanks for this tip. Checked mine today and they appear fine. One sounds a bit noisy, but I'll keep an eye on it. A/C blows cold

thanks again!

JoeV said:

Dan, I haven't check any of those items, I'll start with the ambient temp sensor. Thanks.

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Please post back your results as I think I have the same symptoms

Thx

So I pulled off the windshield wiper cowl and found the Ambient Temperature Sensor, it was on the drivers side. I also discovered that the sensor wiring was all chewed up! Apparently a mouse found its way in and helped itself to the surrounding insulation and the wiring. This must have happened sometime during the winter when we lived on a ranch in Warner Springs.

After re-wiring the sensor I fired up the engine, turned on the AC and looked under the hood. To my delight both fans were running! I looked under the vehicle and the compressor clutch was engaged! Unfortunately cold air was not being piped into the cab, no biggie I figure I’ll take it back to the AC shop and have him finish the job. Thanks Dan!

You are welcome. Glad you found it.

Dadgum mice.

Are you saying your cabin fan is not blowing? or that it is blowing warm air?