Air conditioning condenser failure

[gforce1108]

My Passat has been trouble free for almost 28k miles. One warranty claim when new for a missing sun visor clip until this week...

On Wednesday, I drove into work using the AC (humid morning). I got in the car in the afternoon in the mid 90s and had hot air blowing at me. The only thing I did out of the ordinary was to move my car from one parking spot to another in the middle of the day.

Dropped it off this morning and they reported finding a leak in the condenser. Of course they first suspected outside damage but noticed it was on a seam. With lowering springs and the OE front spoiler, I get nowhere near curbs to hit anything!

Parts on order - looking like Tuesday. I've only read of one other AC failure on a NMS Passat and that was a bad compressor.

 

[jrm]

not sure if this is a related cause, but iv noticed that the car doesn't dump the water out like other cars- meaning we parked ours on a hot day in the garage and left it for 3 days, garage floor was dry until we fired it up on Monday and backed out- only then did the water dump out, id say a good quart or so dumped out as we backed out of the garage. So- all that water was sitting in the system for 3 days.

 

[dbias]

not sure if this is a related cause, but iv noticed that the car doesn't dump the water out like other cars- meaning we parked ours on a hot day in the garage and left it for 3 days, garage floor was dry until we fired it up on Monday and backed out- only then did the water dump out, id say a good quart or so dumped out as we backed out of the garage. So- all that water was sitting in the system for 3 days.

I've noticed this too. Ran ac all day yesterday and parked in driveway and little to no water on pavement. Backed out this morning and saw about a six inch wide ten foot long stretch of water on driveway. I figured it had been caught on the bellypan and sloshed off as I backed up.

 

[TurboDieselPoint]

The evaporator is the heat exchanger which resides inside the car and removes heat and humidity from the air. It is the element from which water drips.

The condenser, which failed on the OP's car, sits in front of the radiator. I'm not sure how an evaporator which retains water could be related to the failure of the condenser.

 

[gforce1108]

The evaporator is the heat exchanger which resides inside the car and removes heat and humidity from the air. It is the element from which water drips.

The condenser, which failed on the OP's car, sits in front of the radiator. I'm not sure how an evaporator which retains water could be related to the failure of the condenser.

Correct - should be no connection. I'm hoping it was just a defect and not something that failed and caused it to crack. Odd that I've been running it for over 2 years and 28k miles and it suddenly broke while sitting in a parking lot...

 

[ss2nv]

We just had to have our AC replaced last week at 40k miles. It started acting funny a few weeks before. The evap fan would speed up and slow down on its own (we have the climatronic crap) and it was not cooling quite like it should have. They ended up having to change the compressor, condenser, dryer, accumulator and some control valve that is related to the system as well.

I'm guessing when the compressor started failing, it sent stuff into the system, taking out the other parts. Looking at the invoice, it would have been $962 in parts and another $568 in labor. Good thing I payed for the extended warranty...

 

[gforce1108]

We just had to have our AC replaced last week at 40k miles. It started acting funny a few weeks before. The evap fan would speed up and slow down on its own (we have the climatronic crap) and it was not cooling quite like it should have. They ended up having to change the compressor, condenser, dryer, accumulator and some control valve that is related to the system as well.

I'm guessing when the compressor started failing, it sent stuff into the system, taking out the other parts. Looking at the invoice, it would have been $962 in parts and another $568 in labor. Good thing I payed for the extended warranty...

No climatronic for me and no odd behavior ahead of time. I should find out more tomorrow once the part arrives. I will update as it progresses. Really hoping it's a simple repair.

 

[tadawson]

But ironically, climatronic changes nothing on that part of the system, since it only controls temp (blend doors) and fan speed. The compressor/evap/condenser works the same . . .

- Tim

 

[jrm]

The evaporator is the heat exchanger which resides inside the car and removes heat and humidity from the air. It is the element from which water drips.

The condenser, which failed on the OP's car, sits in front of the radiator. I'm not sure how an evaporator which retains water could be related to the failure of the condenser.

your correct I had them backwards, or just working on my dodge Cummins this week with a evaporator failure

 

[gforce1108]

Dealer has the new condensor, but not some washer to install (seal maybe?). Should be ready tomorrow - well at least the 'washer' will be delivered. Not happy that they haven't had a loaner available since I dropped it off on Friday.

 

[gforce1108]

Picked it up last night - AC works like it should. One driving light doesn't work - gotta see what they left unplugged.

 

[gforce1108]

Found my driving light glued to the housing... Brought the assembly back into the service department. Of course they say they found my light broken and glued it in place for me. Yeah sure.... at least they gave me a new HID bulb but it's not exactly the same color.

They also admitted that they faked performing the 10k service and billed VW for it. I do all my own services and had originally asked if they would provide me the supplies and write it up as a service. They said they weren't allowed to do that but apparently did it anyway but didn't give me the parts. I will be escalating this.

And they wonder why I won't let them do the free service.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

But ironically, climatronic changes nothing on that part of the system, since it only controls temp (blend doors) and fan speed. The compressor/evap/condenser works the same . . .

- Tim

Climatronic also actively controls compressor load and it can vary the output temp of the vents without adding heat, increasing overall system efficiency. I don't think the manual Climatic system is quite as sophisticated with its controls.

Regardless, that shouldn't change anything related to this discussion.