A/C working intermittently on Leon TDi

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Mon 29 Nov 2004 15:22
A/C working intermittently on Leon TDi - plinth
Recently I picked my car up from the SEAT dealers and noticed that the Air conditioning was no longer working (they were only checking out a faulty central locking actuator).

Its a SEAT Leon TDi SE and has climate control installed, when I press the A/C button the snowflake symbol appears for a brief moment then disappears. All other aspects of the climate control are working fine.

I went to take the car back to the dealers because I thought it must have been something they'd done (for diagnostics they apparently plug into the CC unit, or somewhere very near). However when I started the car three days later at Tuesday lunch time, the damn thing was working again and stayed working all week so I didn't bother going back to the dealer.

This morning (the next Monday) it stopped working again. This lunchtime when I drove it, it was working OK.

I guess I have two questions:
1) Is this likely to be something the dealer's have done when performing diagnostics?
2) If not, what could the problem be? Can you suggest any checks ? (for info, a full service and timing belt change was carried out only the week before).

Any suggestions are appreciated
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Mon 29 Nov 2004 15:32
A/C working intermittently on Leon TDi - bek
I would also like to know what causes this problem, as my boyfriend has a SEAT Leon 1.8t (03-reg) and his a/c does exactly the same.

If you keep your finger on the a/c button, the snowflake symbol will stay there, but obviously this is mighty inconvenient!!

It was taken to the SEAT dealer a while ago and they replaced something to do with the AC and I think it worked for a while, but the problem has just come back.
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Mon 29 Nov 2004 15:42
A/C working intermittently on Leon TDi - plinth
As they say, a problem shared is a problem two people have.

Can you remember, or find out, what part(s) the dealer's replaced? Was there any pattern to when it stopped working?
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Mon 29 Nov 2004 15:50
A/C working intermittently on Leon TDi - bek
There doesn't seem to be any pattern to it breaking, but I think it was since it got really cold.

When it broke before, apparently the dealer replaced the control panel. But that's all I know.

Hopefully someone can shed some more light on the matter...
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Mon 29 Nov 2004 16:44
A/C working intermittently on Leon TDi - quizman
I think that the A/C stops working when it gets cold.
As yours seems to stop in cold weather, perhaps this is the case.
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Mon 29 Nov 2004 17:30
A/C working intermittently on Leon TDi - Rhubarb
Hi. Understand that the compressor system on Leon, Golfs etc will not operate when the ambient temperature is below 5 degrees centigrade. Suggest you have a look or post over on www.seatcupra.net/forums/ . You might find some help there.
Andy
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Mon 29 Nov 2004 17:44
A/C working intermittently on Leon TDi - plinth
Rhubarb thanks for the response.

That would pretty much fit with the pattern of when its stopped working (cold in the morning so it doesn't work, later on in the day the weather gets warm...)

One thing that doesn't fit, I don't remember it being that cold when I initially picked the car up from the dealers.

Without the A/C though the car has trouble demisting, obviously in winter I don't need it to keep cool but it is very handy to keep the windows clear.

Thanks for the advice, I'll post on the seatcupra forum also.
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