# Air Conditioning is not working for a third time



## atlasguy (Apr 6, 2018)

Had the Atlas into the dealership twice now to repair the air conditioning. Had it back for two weeks and yesterday the drivers side is blowing cool air while the passenger side is blowing warm. This will be trip number three for the air conditioning. I like the vehicle, the ride, the room, the carrying capacity, etc. But this issue has started to grate on me big time. Last repair the dealership charged VW $2300.00 to repair. It involved replacing hoses that were back ordered so I got to drive a Honda Pilot for two and half weeks. Not bad. The air conditioning on the Pilot worked just fine.

Any one out their having similar issues not already expressed here?


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## jyoung8607 (Feb 14, 2006)

atlasguy said:


> Had the Atlas into the dealership twice now to repair the air conditioning. Had it back for two weeks and yesterday the drivers side is blowing cool air while the passenger side is blowing warm. This will be trip number three for the air conditioning. I like the vehicle, the ride, the room, the carrying capacity, etc. But this issue has started to grate on me big time. Last repair the dealership charged VW $2300.00 to repair. It involved replacing hoses that were back ordered so I got to drive a Honda Pilot for two and half weeks. Not bad. The air conditioning on the Pilot worked just fine.
> 
> Any one out their having similar issues not already expressed here?


I'd love to know how you got into a situation where $2300 changed hands on a vehicle that's virtually guaranteed to be under warranty. They only came out a year ago, so unless you bought it at release and drove it 72,000 miles this year, there's something critical you're not telling us.

Correction: I see "dealership charged VW", not you, so warranty work. N/M on the above.

I'm assuming the open campaigns have been addressed if it's been to the dealer recently? There's one that's right on topic. the temperature blend door gears slipping so there's a difference in air temperature left vs. right because airflow doesn't get directed properly over the heat exchanger vs. AC evaporator.


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## kkress (Sep 11, 2017)

Finally took ours out for a long weekend drive. Lots of interstate, mostly hot and humid. Would drive through cold downpours of rain numerous times. It was really weird how the AC was really putting out cold air when it was raining, then soon after when it was hot and dry it seemed to struggle a lot. Also had that smell you smell after turning off the AC. The whole time it was on re-circulate air. I've never had a vehicle that depended so much on the ambient air on how it performed. Seems like something may be off on mine as well. I'm going to inspect if the recirculate door is really functioning or not because to me it seems like it's just been outside air, which would explain why ambient air affected the performance that much that fast.


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## jyoung8607 (Feb 14, 2006)

kkress said:


> Finally took ours out for a long weekend drive. Lots of interstate, mostly hot and humid. Would drive through cold downpours of rain numerous times. It was really weird how the AC was really putting out cold air when it was raining, then soon after when it was hot and dry it seemed to struggle a lot. Also had that smell you smell after turning off the AC. The whole time it was on re-circulate air. I've never had a vehicle that depended so much on the ambient air on how it performed. Seems like something may be off on mine as well. I'm going to inspect if the recirculate door is really functioning or not because to me it seems like it's just been outside air, which would explain why ambient air affected the performance that much that fast.


It's possible you do have an issue, because driving through rain will rapidly cool off the AC condenser (front of the car, with the engine radiator) and also provide some extra phase-change/evaporative cooling. So rain can somewhat improve the performance of your AC system, IF the constraining factor is how fast it can reject heat outside of the car.

That said, please try this: Drive it in Auto mode for a while. Just hit Auto, hit Sync (turn on/copy settings to all zones), and set the temperature to your liking. Feel free to turn it down a touch (69F or so) on a hot summer day. Other than that, sit on your fingers and leave it alone. Don't set recirc, don't change the fan speed, don't change other zone temperatures, don't turn off other zones. Do nothing but set temperature. Most people with AC performance complaints on the Atlas have been doing manual stuff in the belief they're helping, but they're effectively hurting perceived comfort or cooling performance.

Give that a shot. If all else fails, you're welcome to bring it here some evening, and we could take a look together. You're pretty close to me up there in Dayton. I'm on the northern side of the Cincinnati suburbs, in the West Chester area. I have diagnostic tools (VCDS) and an IR thermometer, and an Atlas SEL Premium that works fine to compare to.


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## KarstGeo (Jan 19, 2018)

Agreed....I never take mine off auto and sync - just adjust the temp. Always works well in all three rows. It is a large vehicle so I have noticed on super-hot days it took some time to cool down the cabin. There have been reports of some coming with low refrigerant so have the dealer check that if it continues to have weak cooling. 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## Normie (Jul 23, 2012)

*Similar problem*

Experienced AC failure when summer hit. Brought to dealer, received loaner as this was not their first issue with Atlas AC problems. Determined that Freon was leaking from system. After two days of tracking and testing, determined evacuation valve was faulty and leaking. Another 2 days to receive part and replace. Returned to service and nothing but cold air working fine this hot summer.


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## ToySlacker (Aug 10, 2007)

I'm at about 3600 miles and a few times when I turn on the AC while the car is parked, it won't even try and blow cold air on full blast, despite my manual override attempts... it seems like the system is trying to wait for it to "be ready" to blow cold air before it does. And it'll even wait until 5-10 minutes into driving is sweltering heat before it finally kicks over to blowing the AC Cold air it should...

Anyone else experience similar problems?

I'm just use to being able to run the AC while the car is parked, no matter how bad that is for my car.

Thoughts?


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## kamouche (Sep 22, 2017)

atlasguy said:


> Had the Atlas into the dealership twice now to repair the air conditioning. Had it back for two weeks and yesterday the drivers side is blowing cool air while the passenger side is blowing warm. This will be trip number three for the air conditioning. I like the vehicle, the ride, the room, the carrying capacity, etc. But this issue has started to grate on me big time. Last repair the dealership charged VW $2300.00 to repair. It involved replacing hoses that were back ordered so I got to drive a Honda Pilot for two and half weeks. Not bad. The air conditioning on the Pilot worked just fine.
> 
> Any one out their having similar issues not already expressed here?


For the OP, I had a very similar issue about 2 months ago, one vent was considerably warmer than the other vent...After about a week of investigation the, dealer told me that the Temp Flap Gear wasn't fully engaged into the airbox. It came from the factory installed backwards!! The Tech had to re-orientate it and that more or less fixed it.

However, I am now noticing that the front vents are not as cold as the rear vents..I understand it's been hot but nonetheless when it's on Max Cool, it's noticibly warmer than the rear vents. Back to the dealer it will go..


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## gvan1998 (Jun 26, 2017)

kamouche said:


> For the OP, I had a very similar issue about 2 months ago, one vent was considerably warmer than the other vent...After about a week of investigation the, dealer told me that the Temp Flap Gear wasn't fully engaged into the airbox. It came from the factory installed backwards!! The Tech had to re-orientate it and that more or less fixed it.
> 
> However, I am now noticing that the front vents are not as cold as the rear vents..I understand it's been hot but nonetheless when it's on Max Cool, it's noticibly warmer than the rear vents. Back to the dealer it will go..


Thats why car shouldnt be assembled in the USA.


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

ToySlacker said:


> I'm at about 3600 miles and a few times when I turn on the AC while the car is parked, it won't even try and blow cold air on full blast, despite my manual override attempts... it seems like the system is trying to wait for it to "be ready" to blow cold air before it does. And it'll even wait until 5-10 minutes into driving is sweltering heat before it finally kicks over to blowing the AC Cold air it should...
> 
> Anyone else experience similar problems?
> 
> ...


You do know that no system can blow cold air immediately right?


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## sedelstein (Jul 13, 2017)

gvan1998 said:


> Thats why car shouldnt be assembled in the USA.


And in the southern states no less.. There's a reason why automakers have made such big investments in Mexico. They''ll do comparable to, or better work than the American workers for less money. Despite the rattling on the new Tiguan, I don't recall anything as ridiculous as a gear installed backwards being present on VWs Mexican-built cars.


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## KarstGeo (Jan 19, 2018)

ToySlacker said:


> I'm at about 3600 miles and a few times when I turn on the AC while the car is parked, it won't even try and blow cold air on full blast, despite my manual override attempts... it seems like the system is trying to wait for it to "be ready" to blow cold air before it does. And it'll even wait until 5-10 minutes into driving is sweltering heat before it finally kicks over to blowing the AC Cold air it should...
> 
> Anyone else experience similar problems?
> 
> ...


I don't think I've ever heard that it's bad for your car to use the AC when you are parked?

Mine when I first start it there is a delay (less than a minute) before the fan blows hard as the system figures out what it needs to do (in auto mode). How do you have yours set? What "manual override attempts" do you do?

Just take it to the dealer and demonstrate the condition.


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## ToySlacker (Aug 10, 2007)

I will have to do that... but the issue is that it doesn’t do it all the time, it’s happened like 5x in the past month. I think I’ll have to video it next time.

Manual override is turning the fan up, with the center crank. I don’t use auto much/ever. If I can get a video of it, I’ll post a video...

Thanks!

I have a couple other issues, the handsfree tailgate doesn’t work, passenger window switch doesn’t work well. So I was letting things bubble up before I went in for a fix-it appointment.



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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

ToySlacker said:


> ..... don’t use auto much/ever.....


Ah, the problem revealed.


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## KarstGeo (Jan 19, 2018)

ToySlacker said:


> I will have to do that... but the issue is that it doesn’t do it all the time, it’s happened like 5x in the past month. I think I’ll have to video it next time.
> 
> Manual override is turning the fan up, with the center crank. I don’t use auto much/ever. If I can get a video of it, I’ll post a video...
> 
> ...



For the handsfree tailgate, are you 1) having the key on you 2) kicking in/out deeply under the hitch and 3) taking a large step back?


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## KarstGeo (Jan 19, 2018)

ToySlacker said:


> I will have to do that... but the issue is that it doesn’t do it all the time, it’s happened like 5x in the past month. I think I’ll have to video it next time.
> 
> Manual override is turning the fan up, with the center crank. I don’t use auto much/ever. If I can get a video of it, I’ll post a video...
> 
> ...


So it only does this if you leave it in Auto?


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## ToySlacker (Aug 10, 2007)

No, it does it in manual and auto. I was just saying that I can’t even override, alter what it is trying to do for me.

And re: the tailgate: I was just rear ended in an off ramp in traffic, so that’ll be fixed one way or the other... I’m literally waiting for state police as I write this. We are fine, heads hurt a little. The Honda Civic took my trailer hitch to its front end and it’s F’ed










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## ice4life (Nov 6, 2017)

jyoung8607 said:


> It's possible you do have an issue, because driving through rain will rapidly cool off the AC condenser (front of the car, with the engine radiator) and also provide some extra phase-change/evaporative cooling. So rain can somewhat improve the performance of your AC system, IF the constraining factor is how fast it can reject heat outside of the car.
> 
> Don't set recirc, don't change the fan speed
> 
> ...



seems strange that the system wouldn't be designed to work manually considering climatronic has been around since the dawn of ages.


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## Hedgehodge (Nov 7, 2008)

I wonder if they used foam on these flapper doors, blender box things. Mkiv was a nightmare.


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## KarstGeo (Jan 19, 2018)

Hedgehodge said:


> I wonder if they used foam on these flapper doors, blender box things. Mkiv was a nightmare.


My old MKIV Jetta used to randomly belch out foam every once in a while...it would fly out!


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## ToySlacker (Aug 10, 2007)

So, I FINALLY got around to uploading some videos about my HVAC issues... 

Admittedly, I sound like a major dweeb on them, good thing I chose an industry that doesn't involve recordings. And when I shot these videos, it was usually hot, and I was uncomfortable, so I'm severely annoyed as I record.

HVAC Video 1

HVAC Video 2

Taking the Atlas in on Friday for it's first service visit.


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## KarstGeo (Jan 19, 2018)

^^^So clearly a fan issue - does it ever blow air?


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## ToySlacker (Aug 10, 2007)

KarstGeo said:


> ^^^So clearly a fan issue - does it ever blow air?


Yes, it eventually blows air, sometimes after 10 minutes, sometimes after 30, 45, 60 minutes. There's no rhyme or reason. And it sounds like air is blowing int he dashboard, but as if the flood gate isn't open to allow it to reach me. 

It was in to the dealer, and they did 2 system/program updates, and it's oddly working, but... they said there's a regulator and blower issue, so both were ordered and I have to take it back when those arrive (sometime this week).

Other items...

Also having the front passenger window switch replaced, it sticks and doesn't respond (per my wife). 

Coolant was low (again even after I filled it), but there's no evidence of a leak, they claim evaporation since the coolant is watered down (50/50), and that was confirmed by an independent tech, but I know have 4 extra liters of coolant in my trunk anyways since I had filled it before I took it in for service. The low coolant prevented my remote start from working.

Then they are replacing all 4 end caps on my load bars. There are little teeth on the inner side of the end caps that are flimsy and broke off immediately upon installation. 

Lastly, they checked all the connections for my front left headlight, as I had "Please check left low beam headlight" warning coming on 2 weeks ago while I was driving in daylight on the highway, but I never witnessed it being out then or now.

Hopefully this will take care of the little things for a while...


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## KarstGeo (Jan 19, 2018)

ToySlacker said:


> Yes, it eventually blows air, sometimes after 10 minutes, sometimes after 30, 45, 60 minutes. There's no rhyme or reason. And it sounds like air is blowing int he dashboard, but as if the flood gate isn't open to allow it to reach me.
> 
> It was in to the dealer, and they did 2 system/program updates, and it's oddly working, but... they said there's a regulator and blower issue, so both were ordered and I have to take it back when those arrive (sometime this week).
> 
> ...


Based on your description, the coolant is not normal. It's a closed system so if you are losing it, it's going somewhere and likely if you can't see it externally it's going internal through the cylinder head gasket and out the exhaust. I have read on here of this issue so do some research...again, not normal. What was "normal" was a low fill from the factory some experienced.

How did you know your roof rack bars had broken end caps?


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