Upgrading Air con.

[A80Avant]

Does anyone have any ideas on how to upgrade the climatronic in a way that it produces more cold air and is more efficient, something like Japanese cars!
Any Toyota or Lexus I have ever used has been brilliant in the air con efficiency. I can't say a lot about the rs2 however which is semi decent when above 2000rpm but anything below that whole stuck in traffic is not very good.

So given a reverse manifold which blocks air pathways to the condenser, the fact that these sit quite close to the alternator and no extra fan can be used from the front, what other parts could be used to get more efficiency?
Different clutch? Any suggestions?

[Error404]

maybe a smaller pulley would help at idle?

[LHD_Kid]

Truth is you can't compare old German air con with old Japanese.

My experience with old Audi, Porsche, Merc etc is that it rarely works and when it does, its poor.

Get an old Toyota or Nissan and not only does the engine keep its fluids, the air con still works and is superb (they do have other issues... granted)

I'd be interested if you find a way to inprove it - good luck!

[A80Avant]

Alex do you mean a smaller pulley on the compressor?

Another issue that I noticed is a significant change in temp coming from the centre dash against the side ones. I am told this could be due to the middle flap not closing completely when low temp is chosen between ambient and air con climatronic. At LO setting it's meant to be completely closed from the engine side.

[Typ89]

Mine is ice cold, even at idle. Enough to make your nose run. Have you ever taken out the heater matrix and re-covered the flaps? Alu-tape with normal door sealing tape around the edges works superb.

[A80Avant]

They did this recently and I think wrong type of tape was used

[A80Avant]

Also remember we get 35 to 40deg ambient so the ability for the air.con to work is reduced.

[PaulJ]

If you come to Scotland the whole country is air conditioned

[A80Avant]

I remember last year I wouldn't even repair the aircon due to the uk weather!

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[PaulJ]

Yip thats about right, pot holes and speed bumps will knacker your suspension too

[A80Avant]

Don't worry that's even worse in Greece!

I'm just wondering if there is any room for a different position of a condenser, or even fitting parts off a Japanese system marrying them to the oem climatronic

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[macspring]

Mine in a '97 UrS6 works well and is cold on idle or driving. Doesn't affect it either way. And is able to chill the air after only a minute or so when started in the morning to blow chilled air if asked.

Admittedly no experience of Japanese air con.

I5 air con compressors look pretty big imho. So it should have the necessary capacity to chill the air.

Like a water cooling system where a thermostat controls / sets the temperature.

On our car's air con, is there not a 'yoke' that controls the temperature of the output of the cold air ? i.e.

Someone on here must understand air con systems ? I obviously I don't.

I presume Audi didn't design an air con system that couldn't perform say in the summer heat of Portugal or Spain on idle ? Not to mention Greece.

Can I respectfully suggest that if all of your car's components of the a/c system are working correctly it should chill the air, without the need to 'upgrade' it from oem ?

Interested to see what comes out of this thread.

Every day is a school day, for me anyway.

Best wishes.

[A80Avant]

We have tested the air con and from the mid vents on the lowest setting of the digital climatronic I can have up to 18C but I have about 10C higher from the side vents. That's on idle. At about 2000rpm it drops to 14C.
However these tests are done in a shop where temp. Is stable. When stuck in traffic and ambients reach well above 40c at direct sunlight the efficiency drops even more.

I can sense a drop in a Toyota I use frequently on similar conditions but it's so damn cold that it still works even when stuck in traffic.

Currently my side vents only blow cold air when either the engine is not very warm or I'm able to run above 2000rpm.

That's why we considered adding another fan on the condenser.
I'm also positive that my condenser is aftermarket rather than oem but I don't know how much difference this makes

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[newsh]

Does the recirc function work?

[A80Avant]

It does , it does seem to work better in recirculation mode.

Does anyone have a photo of the main flap in the evaporator box which modulates how much cold or warm air will be blowing? I want to use a flexible camera tomorrow to see if this is fully closed and if not if I can push it to close

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