'80s climate control!!!!!!!

baron2211 · 06-02-10, 09:41 PM

Does anyone have a clue how the climate control on my 200 works? I've had a problem by which the direction of the air seems to do what it wants, ie, the scren is misted up, and it blows at your face! I've investigated, but all the vacume pipes behind the dash look alright, the control box in the passenger foot well loks alright, no burnt conections, or suspicious looking solders, pipes look to be attached inside the box ok, but still no control! Where does it get its feed from? Could the unit in the centre if the dash with the temperature desplay on it be at fault?

Any help, advice, etc appreciated!

Cheers.

missfire · 07-02-10, 12:27 AM

any good...?

http://www.sjmautotechnik.com/trouble_shooting/ac.html

No air from the center vents? Fogging Windows? A/C Recirculation Door, Broken Return Spring or Vacuum Servo Mount?

There are two air control doors that control the air flow into the evaporator housing, one lower door inside the vehicle under the passenger side dash, (behind the glove box) and one upper door under the plenum cover under the hood.

These two doors are connected together with a hinge, so that if the upper door is open fully, the lower door will be closed fully and vice-versa. These two doors control the amount of fresh air that enters the Air Conditioning system and also allow the system to operate in Recirculation mode when the upper door is closed and the lower door is open.

Many times when the windows are fogging up on the inside of the vehicle, the vacuum servo that pulls the upper door closed, breaks loose from its plastic cross bar mounting. In other cases the lower door return spring breaks or the upper spring mount cross piece (plastic) breaks and the spring comes loose which prevents the lower door to be closed.

Because the upper and lower doors are hinged together, when the lower door is open, it does not open the upper door to allow fresh air into the vehicle. (replacement spring part number 443-271-241). In some cases you can reuse the spring if the end has broken off, by bending the end into a hook and reattaching the upper end over the plastic cross piece which is part of the evaporator housing, and is located just below the servo mounting area.

To inspect the servo mount and the return spring for breakage, remove the two screws holding the passenger side lower dash trim piece (black plastic piece with square holes and interior light mounting). Then locate the inside fresh air door, you can open the glove box door to get a better view.

The fresh air door can then be pulled open towards you with your hand and you can look inside to check for a broken servo mount and check for a broken spring. Usually when the return spring is broken, the fresh air door will already be hanging open a little. Often times leaves and other debris will be on the bottom of the evaporator housing.

While you are in there checking the servo mount and the return spring, you can look up and see the evaporator coil fins inside this housing and clean out any foreign matter. This lower door can be taken off completely by removing the two Phillips screws which are under the sound deadening material. You can also look at the upper recirculation door by removing the right side wiper blade and the plastic plenum cover under the hood.

The upper recirculation door is in back of the evaporator housing. There are two Phillips screws that can be removed on the upper door to get a better view of the repair. The servo uses a twist lock flange to connect to the upper door.

There is a repair kit for the broken vacuum servo mount, which consists of a U shaped metal bracket that is screwed in place with self tapping screws. Audi part number is 200-271-200.

I used a 3/8 drive air ratchet from inside the car to drive in the self tapping screws, a 1/4 drive air ratchet or right angle screw driver would also work. It is very tight working inside the evaporator housing, so getting this metal U bracket mounted is a little tricky.

NOTE: Use caution when working inside the evaporator housing, as you could punch a hole in the evaporator housing coils which are behind the exposed fins. The A/C system has freon under pressure inside these coils.

5potnoodle · 07-02-10, 02:03 AM

You might find this link to my website useful.

Go to www.audi200.org.uk click the menu link at the bottom for "Technical Pages" and the first item in the "Type44 General Information" section is a pdf for the climate system which shows you where everything is, how it works and includes how to retrieve the fault codes stored in the climate control head.

I hope that helps you.

baron2211 · 08-02-10, 01:02 PM

Cheers lads, wow, it must have been a clever chap who designed that!! My technically minded friend Richard came around last night and we managed to trace the problem to a vacume leak as missfire suggested on the actuator for the evaporator flap, I finished putting it back together at 2am, yes I probably am clinically insane! But the air now flows where it should, and keeps me nice and warm!

07-02-10, 02:03 AM	#3
5potnoodle OCD member Classic Audi Club Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Lincolnshire, England. Posts: 196	You might find this link to my website useful. Go to www.audi200.org.uk click the menu link at the bottom for "Technical Pages" and the first item in the "Type44 General Information" section is a pdf for the climate system which shows you where everything is, how it works and includes how to retrieve the fault codes stored in the climate control head. I hope that helps you. __________________ Current: 99 Subaru Forester S-Turbo Auto - interesting... but it's not a quattro 91 Reliant Scimitar SST 1400 - no.39 of 42... something for the weekend Previous: Two consecutive 1989 Audi 200 Quattro Turbo Avant, 1B 1990 Audi 100 SE Avant, NF 1986 Audi 100 CD Avant, KU 1987 VW Passat GL5E Estate, JS "Honorary" triple member of the 200,000+ Club Audi 200 in the UK (legacy website) Classic Audi member no: 258

07-02-10, 12:27 AM	#2
missfire making wooden things Classic Audi Club Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: cow land Posts: 8,156	any good...? http://www.sjmautotechnik.com/trouble_shooting/ac.html No air from the center vents? Fogging Windows? A/C Recirculation Door, Broken Return Spring or Vacuum Servo Mount? There are two air control doors that control the air flow into the evaporator housing, one lower door inside the vehicle under the passenger side dash, (behind the glove box) and one upper door under the plenum cover under the hood. These two doors are connected together with a hinge, so that if the upper door is open fully, the lower door will be closed fully and vice-versa. These two doors control the amount of fresh air that enters the Air Conditioning system and also allow the system to operate in Recirculation mode when the upper door is closed and the lower door is open. Many times when the windows are fogging up on the inside of the vehicle, the vacuum servo that pulls the upper door closed, breaks loose from its plastic cross bar mounting. In other cases the lower door return spring breaks or the upper spring mount cross piece (plastic) breaks and the spring comes loose which prevents the lower door to be closed. Because the upper and lower doors are hinged together, when the lower door is open, it does not open the upper door to allow fresh air into the vehicle. (replacement spring part number 443-271-241). In some cases you can reuse the spring if the end has broken off, by bending the end into a hook and reattaching the upper end over the plastic cross piece which is part of the evaporator housing, and is located just below the servo mounting area. To inspect the servo mount and the return spring for breakage, remove the two screws holding the passenger side lower dash trim piece (black plastic piece with square holes and interior light mounting). Then locate the inside fresh air door, you can open the glove box door to get a better view. The fresh air door can then be pulled open towards you with your hand and you can look inside to check for a broken servo mount and check for a broken spring. Usually when the return spring is broken, the fresh air door will already be hanging open a little. Often times leaves and other debris will be on the bottom of the evaporator housing. While you are in there checking the servo mount and the return spring, you can look up and see the evaporator coil fins inside this housing and clean out any foreign matter. This lower door can be taken off completely by removing the two Phillips screws which are under the sound deadening material. You can also look at the upper recirculation door by removing the right side wiper blade and the plastic plenum cover under the hood. The upper recirculation door is in back of the evaporator housing. There are two Phillips screws that can be removed on the upper door to get a better view of the repair. The servo uses a twist lock flange to connect to the upper door. There is a repair kit for the broken vacuum servo mount, which consists of a U shaped metal bracket that is screwed in place with self tapping screws. Audi part number is 200-271-200. I used a 3/8 drive air ratchet from inside the car to drive in the self tapping screws, a 1/4 drive air ratchet or right angle screw driver would also work. It is very tight working inside the evaporator housing, so getting this metal U bracket mounted is a little tricky. NOTE: Use caution when working inside the evaporator housing, as you could punch a hole in the evaporator housing coils which are behind the exposed fins. The A/C system has freon under pressure inside these coils.

08-02-10, 01:02 PM	#4
baron2211 Grown up member Classic Audi Club Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Midlands, or North East Posts: 690	Cheers lads, wow, it must have been a clever chap who designed that!! My technically minded friend Richard came around last night and we managed to trace the problem to a vacume leak as missfire suggested on the actuator for the evaporator flap, I finished putting it back together at 2am, yes I probably am clinically insane! But the air now flows where it should, and keeps me nice and warm!