406 110bhp HDi Air con probs

I bought my 406 last October, the chap had it re-gassed before I bought it
as I felt the cold setting was not working enough when the ac is on. I have
only in the last few days wanted to use the a/c on the coldest setting as it
was quite warm on Friday. I have 2 problems, firstly the aircon display only
goes down to 14 centigrade, is this the coldest setting as all the other
cars I have had with aircon just had red and blue sectors on the temperature
knob. Secondly other than a gas leak, what are the common problems with the
406 aircon.
Thanks.

 

the air con on a 406 you have is a climate control, and yes it
wouldn't go under 14 degrees ( you don't want it under 14 degrees
celsius anyway)
if you bought it late october then you probably didn't get cold air
out of it in the first place, if the temperature in the car is F.I.
12 degrees and you put the air co on it cools the air and than passes
it through the heating matrix to get it to as cold as 14 degrees, this
is meant for defogging you windshield in winter times
one should use the air con on regular bases even in wintertime to
prevent drying out any seals and hoses

best to test the system is to go to a specialised air co centre and
have them check the pollen filter ( you might want to replace that
every year) system pressure, leakages, servo valves, etc also best
checked every year.


the common fault is leakage on hoses and seals and for a 406 the high
speed fan relay switches which are in the triangular box upside middle
of the fans. you can check the fan kicking in by disconnecting the
probe under the air filter box, if the fan does not kick in, the
aircon wont work. Common reason for that is a bad connection on
either one of the three relay switches. the Diag2000 will only see if
the common earth is lose or corroded, it will not find the relay fault
itself.
best is to take them out and test them with a multi meter, if their
working its time to se if there is any corrosion or otherwise dirts in
the sockets and to look behind it if ther is any lose connection.,
from there check the wire loom for irregularities.

best luck

Marc

 

14c is *plenty* cold enough !

Bear in mind, that's the temperature it will try to achieve in the cabin -
it is NOT the temperature of the air blowing out of the vents.

If your car was 26c inside the cabin, then the climate system will blow as
cold as it can (probably colder than 14c) until the temperature gets down to
what you've set.

You will want your car at room-temperature inside the cabin, so it's rare
that you'll set the climate much below 20c. Certainly not as low as 14c

 

Absolutely right! The temperature coming out of the vents when the
setting is 14 degrees is around 6 to 4 degrees. When the sensor picks
up the cabin temperature to be 14, then it mixes in warm air to keep
it to this temperature--or indeed any temperature you set on the
display.
If you want to see how could it could get, try an ordinary system--not
climate controll. Set the dial to full cold (blue) the direction to
the face vents, and the fan on full. Then get out and leave it for 20
minutes. Then get back in. Now that is cold!!!