Significant Air Conditioning Issue

[at1503]

Hi all,

Just a bit of background on this first.

I purchased my '66 reg BlueGT in October 2019. It had 29,000 miles on the clock and was it very good condition. Before I purchased, the car was serviced and MOT'd so I was all ready to go and confident everything was fine.

Skip forward to June 2020 - the AC is blowing warm-ish air. Prio to this I'd had no issues. I take it to a local garage that caters to AC issues, and they find the gas is low. It costs around £100 to fix and I was told that they pressure tested the system to check for leaks. They said there was no indication of leakage but that it couldn't be ruled out entirely. After this it works fine for the rest of summer.

Skip forward again to a few days ago. I turn on the AC for the first time in months (although I did infrequently have it on during the winter, but only briefly) and it blows warm.

I contact the garage again and book it in, thinking it'll be another case of a re-gas. But no...they find a major leak in the system coming from underneath the dash. They think it's the evaporator.

I've been quoted an estimate of £1400(!) inc. VAT to replace the evaporator, re-gas and any other parts (plus labour). Part of the reason this is so much is that it could take hours to remove and re-fit the entire dash.

Is this normal in a car of just over 4 years old? I should say it's now got 45,000 miles on the clock. I've treated it very well and have serviced/repaired it when needed. I've considered writing to VW but I'm expecting that, as it isn't under warranty, they'll tell me to 'go away' basically. Any advice on what I should/could do? I'm not even planning on keeping the car much longer as my PCP deal ends in October.

[RUM4MO]

I sort of think that this is a "normal" failure in a 6C Polo!

I found that my wife's August 2015 Polo 1.2TSI SEL was reporting low fridge pressure but I just ignored it as we did not need to use the AC much, then, last year, early summer, I checked the actual charge pressure and found that it was just above ambient pressure, so when Nationwide(maybe) had a deal on for recharging, I snapped it up and that sorted that low pressure issue out and the AC worked just perfectly.

As I have a fridge manifold set to work on these systems, I reasoned that it would be a smart idea to check the system frequently and also use my proper pumped sniffer to pin point the leak site, well I searched for leaks in the engine bay, but seemed to have forgotten about the rash of evaporator failures.

By the time that I decided to sniff the air outlets inside the car - the gas had gone, so back to not working again.

This summer, if I see another good deal to recharge, I'll grab it again and give the complete system a good check with my sniffer, I'll be disappointed if it ends up being the evaporator - but at least I will then know that I've found the leak source.

I'm hoping that as a gas certified diyer, I'll be able to get the casing of the evaporator and get it swopped over etc without taking the complete dashboard assembly out - if that is doable, it will reduce costs dramatically - we have another car so this is not a huge inconvenience.

Edit:- if you are handing it back in October, would not just ignoring it work out as the best plan?

[at1503]

I sort of think that this is a "normal" failure in a 6C Polo!

I found that my wife's August 2015 Polo 1.2TSI SEL was reporting low fridge pressure but I just ignored it as we did not need to use the AC much, then, last year, early summer, I checked the actual charge pressure and found that it was just above ambient pressure, so when Nationwide(maybe) had a deal on for recharging, I snapped it up and that sorted that low pressure issue out and the AC worked just perfectly.

As I have a fridge manifold set to work on these systems, I reasoned that it would be a smart idea to check the system frequently and also use my proper pumped sniffer to pin point the leak site, well I searched for leaks in the engine bay, but seemed to have forgotten about the rash of evaporator failures.

By the time that I decided to sniff the air outlets inside the car - the gas had gone, so back to not working again.

This summer, if I see another good deal to recharge, I'll grab it again and give the complete system a good check with my sniffer, I'll be disappointed if it ends up being the evaporator - but at least I will then know that I've found the leak source.

I'm hoping that as a gas certified diyer, I'll be able to get the casing of the evaporator and get it swopped over etc without taking the complete dashboard assembly out - if that is doable, it will reduce costs dramatically - we have another car so this is not a huge inconvenience.

Edit:- if you are handing it back in October, would not just ignoring it work out as the best plan?

I'd hate to think this is normal considering the cost!

I would consider not getting it sorted, but I think that puts me in violation of the PCP agreement. I beleive if I handed it back with the fault they'd charge me for the repair. I'd also likely loose any value from the car to put towards a deposit for the new one. I may just have to bite the bullet and pay the price.

I've also considered buying it outright then part exhanging it, but again I'll likely have the cars value reduced due to the repairs needed.