Aircon Blows Hot And Cold On Different Sides..!

[citrophile]

Hi All

 

I have been having a problem with the dual aircon. When I set it to be the same temperature, it works great on the driver side, nice and cool when asked for, but on the passenger side it blows hot air!

 

I'm wondering if it is perhaps a temperature sensor or maybe a control which decides if it is hot or cold air diverted into the cabin on the passenger side (if there is such a thing!)

 

I could take it to the dealer but i'm sure they'd tut and say it needs this and that at a cost that makes space travel seem reasonably priced.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Cheers

 

Rob

 

[Johndouglas]

This fault has been mentioned on the forum before.     What may have happened with yours is that the connection between the shaft of the geared motor and the shaft of the air control flap has broken.   All the bits are plastic.   I think there might be a DIY repair mentioned in the archives.

[paul.h]

I had the 2 sides at different temperatures and it turned out to be low on refrigerant - there was not enough to cool the full length of the evaporator matrix. Maybe you could check this by pulling out the cabin filter and seeing if the matrix is cold at both ends. I did try replacing an air flap motor first (about £60) but made no difference. From memory, the flap motor at the passenger side will not be too awkward to replace and is located  in front of the cabin filter on the same side.

[citrophile]

Thanks guys.

Seems the flap motor thing is quite a common issue so will have a dig around on the weekend.

One forum also suggested a system re-boot as sometimes the software gets in a bit of a muddle and just needs to reset itself so will try that first.

Any thoughts about whether a lexia session will be able to pinpoint the problem?

Thanks

Rob

[paul.h]

If you have to pay for a Lexia session it could cost more than the fix. A regass is about £50 at our Citroen dealer and a flap motor about £60 + if needed, fitting costs. Our C5 was 7 years old when it needed the regass.

 

If you want to check a flap motor, you can unbolt it and turn the flap by hand. Also if there is enough refrigerant, the temp should drop 10°C or more in to the cabin, so you could stick a thermometer in the central air vent and you ought to see less than 10°C.

[citrophile]

Finally got round to investigating this one a bit more after being away for a number of weeks.

 

Removed glove box to get access to the flap motors. Pretty easy really. Took out the motor which controls the air flow into the passenger side and discovered that the plastic bit which connects the motor to the flap looks lik eit has sheared off and dropped into the unit so the flap is no longer controlled. Just my luck it stuck on hot in this weather!

 

Now I have a real problem.

 

Am i right in thinking you can't get at any of the internal flappy bits without removing the whole unit, which i believe means removing the sterring and then the dashboard etc?

 

Is this easy to do? I reckon I could do it in 2 days over a weekend or am i being optimistic? I have a donor car with aircon so I'm thinking i could take the unit from that, or should i just change the broken bit?

 

Finally, seems such a faff for one broken bit - any thoughts about whether i could cut a section out of the plastic side off the unit to get at the internals and change the flap. Not sure if the bits would be accessible though. Might save taking the whole dash out and I have a spare unit i could get the bits out of.

 

Thanks

 

Rob