# Confused with "ECON" Mode



## stash64 (Jan 26, 2005)

I am starting to think something is not quite right with my climate control. Now that it is getting cold, I have been trying to heat up the car using "ECON" so that I don't run the A/C compressor if not needed. My understanding (after reading the manual again) is that "ECON" turns off the A/C unit but it is still an "automatic" mode, meaning it will automatically bring the car interior to the preset temperature and hold it there. Well, it never seems to properly heat up the car. As a matter of fact, the fan speed drops down to only two blips shortly after turning on the climate control. I have even cranked it up to 80F, and though the fan may pick up speed briefly, it drops down to almost nothing before there is any noticable change in interior temperature. Lastly, I can only turn off "ECON" by pressing "AUTO". Bumping up the the fan speed for manual operation does not shut off "ECON" as it does with "AUTO" mode. If I do manually increase fan speed, it holds temporarily but than quickly drops down to two blips. And before anyone suggests that I need to let the car warm up first... I do.
I am bringing my car in for the 5k service in a few weeks, and I may have them check the climate control along with a hard starting problem in the cold. So I am just curious if others have the same or different experience with "ECON" mode ??? Am I correct that it is an automatic setting, but with no A/C operation ? If I do use the "AUTO" mode with A/C operation, it seems to work properly or at least much better than "ECON". And the climate control seemed to work fine in the summer.
Thanks !!!


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## McGriddle (Sep 26, 2005)

*Re: Confused with "ECON" Mode (stash64)*

I don't remember what it says in the manual, but I thought ECON mode was mainly to conserve A/C power in hot weather. Maybe I'm wrong here? 
Anyway, on normal AUTO mode, while it was 50 F outside today, and I set the temp to 74 inside, the fan seemed to stay around 4 to 5 blips. I actually thought that it was blowing kinda weakly, but it does still seem to warm the interior adequately. 
Anyone else got comments? I don't think that the climate control really blows as hard as it could.


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## ProjectA3 (Aug 12, 2005)

*Re: Confused with "ECON" Mode (McGriddle)*

ECON just turns off the air conditioning compressor so it will not forceable make the air cold.
This is used when driving when its nice out and you dont NEED the A/C real cold but you do want to bring outside air into the car and still have it filtered and such.


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## A4Jetta (Feb 16, 1999)

*Re: Confused with "ECON" Mode (stash64)*

ECON on doesn't mean AUTO has to be on at the same time. ECON = A/C off.


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## mog555 (Mar 2, 2003)

*Re: Confused with "ECON" Mode (stash64)*

I believe some vehicles also will run the ac on defrost mode for the windows even if it is cold out, so it may still run your compressor with the heat on in non-econ-mode.


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## aeitingon (Mar 21, 2005)

It's just Audi-logic and is the opposite of most cars. Most cars have an A/C on/off button that turns on a light when the A/C compressor has been turned on; it's the opposite in the Audi - ECON on means that the A/C compressor has been turned off. Ahhh German engineering....


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## rcase13 (Sep 1, 2005)

*Re: (aeitingon)*

The Econ button works the same as in my Saab. It simply disables the A/C compressor as others have said. The system will do it's best to maintain a proper temp by using the fan speed, heater and/or vent. The Saab will use the A/C even when it's cold out. The reason is as said before to keep the windows fog free. If it's cold and dry then you can hit the econ button and the windows will probably not fog up on you. In the summer you can hit it and if it's not too hot outside just have vent. I used the system extensively on the couple of test drives I had and it seem to work well pretty much like every other European car I've owned.


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## A3owner2B (Jul 14, 2004)

*Re: (rcase13)*

Agreed. I think some of the logic behind this all is that most people do not understand how to use air conditioning on both cold and hot settings as a way to reduce humidity inside the car, which causes interior condensation. Air conditioning is a big aid when using warm air defrost to remove interior condensation.
Audi is assuming that the majority of the time you want A/C on for one reason or the other. Its a tossup depending on where you live I guess.


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## stash64 (Jan 26, 2005)

*Re: (A3owner2B)*

Thanks Everyone !!!
Definitely have confirmed my belief that ECON "on" means A/C "off". It also sounds like ECON is indeed an automatic setting in that it should efficiently bring the interior to the preset temperature. This is where my issue really lies.
When using ECON, the fan speed quickly drops to only two blips... how can this bring the car interior up to temperature efficiently ??? I also discovered that the same thing happens if I adjust the fan "manually" with both ECON and AUTO "off". The fan speed soon drops down to only two blips, on its own. I thought that if ECON and AUTO were off, this is "manual" operation or effectively no climate control. I used manual operation frequently in the summer (with temperature at "LO") and the fan speed always stayed where I set it.
There is one possibility I can think of for this behavior. The manual seems to suggest that the priority is to get the engine up to normal operating temperature. If the climate control was set to blow lots of hot air from the moment the car was started, this would certainly slow engine warm up. *Is it possible that Audi has some logic to hold back the climate control until the engine is fully warmed up ???*
My commute is only 15 minutes, and it normally takes 5-10 minutes for my temperature gage to read normal. And since I wait for the car to be near normal operating temperture before turning on the heat, I wouldn't think any engine warm-up logic would over-ride the climate control... but perhaps the temp gage reads normal well before the engine actually is at normal operating temperature. From what I understand most temp gages are just "idiot" gages anyway.


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## PD Performance (Jul 1, 2004)

*Re: (aeitingon)*


_Quote, originally posted by *aeitingon* »_It's just Audi-logic and is the opposite of most cars. Most cars have an A/C on/off button that turns on a light when the A/C compressor has been turned on; it's the opposite in the Audi - ECON on means that the A/C compressor has been turned off. Ahhh German engineering....

Thats actually more the way it should be.. Many people don't realize that A/C really is meant to remove moisture from the air.. The proces of doing this happens to make it cold. So alot of times people will not put their A/C on when its cold out not realizing that this can actually aid in defogging their windows and such. Many systems is automatically comes on when you put it in defrost mode for the windshield but some do not. By allow you to switch it off with econ mode you have more freedom to control it then most systems. Systems that just have an on button may not allow you to shut it off if its auto on when defrost is on even though you may not really need it.


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## Travis06 (Jul 19, 2005)

*Re: (PD Performance)*

You are right in that the blower won't blow on high until the car has warmed up. No sense blowing cold air around the car! If you let the car warmup, and put the windows down, you'll get really hot air out of the vents.
Just trust the system.....


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## handyandyman (Feb 23, 2005)

ALLWAYS use the airco in AUTO mode, anytime, summer, winter..
otherwise after a year or so, you'll get a smell like hell out of it, each time you start the car-airco


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## stash64 (Jan 26, 2005)

*Re: (Travis06)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Travis06* »_You are right in that the blower won't blow on high until the car has warmed up. No sense blowing cold air around the car! If you let the car warmup, and put the windows down, you'll get really hot air out of the vents. 

Good idea... I'll give that a try !!! I actually tried cranking up the temperature in ECON mode, but the fan speed did not budge off 1 or 2 blips. If the fan speed doesn't budge with the windows wide open, something has to be out of order !?!? I am starting to wonder if ECON economizes beyond just turning off the A/C unit. Perhaps it economizes on the fan too ?
The next step is to see if someone at the dealership is sufficiently knowledgable on the Audi climate control. I don't want them messing with the system until I am sure something is wrong.


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## audiandy (Aug 17, 2005)

*Re: (stash64)*

If ECON is on, fan speed is controlled manually unless both AUTO and ECON are "on." Changing the temperature in ECON mode changes the temperature of the air coming out of the vents, but does not control fan speed to get to that temperature. If you want the system to do what you described (maintain set temperature w/o using the A/C), use both AUTO and ECON.


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## stash64 (Jan 26, 2005)

*Re: (audiandy)*


_Quote, originally posted by *audiandy* »_If you want the system to do what you described (maintain set temperature w/o using the A/C), use both AUTO and ECON.

Thanks... I finally did figure this out after more trial and error. What I still don't understand (and why I became "confused" in the first place) is the fan speed adjusting (going down) on its own with just ECON engaged and no AUTO. I have also noticed that if I adjust the fan speed upwards quickly in ECON mode, AUTO will sometimes turn on all by itself.
Either my climate control system (or all A3 systems) has a bug, or the system is just not meant to be run in ECON by itself (without AUTO). And I find once again that the manual does not do a good job of concisely explaining how things should work.


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## audiandy (Aug 17, 2005)

*Re: (stash64)*

Mine does this too...
I'm not too sure why the fan does adjust on it's on with just ECON engaged, but it may have to do with the temperature setting. Since it can't use the compressor, it blows more air to try to blow out the requested air temperature when the ambient temperature is higher than that. 
When AUTO turns on by itself, it's indicating the fan speed that it would be at if AUTO were engaged.


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## judgegavel (Apr 26, 2002)

*Re: (audiandy)*

Fan speed will adjust automatically, unless manually changed, reguardless of anything else. This includes when front defroster is used.


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