Air conditioning is lazy

The climate air on my 306 1999 1.8 16v seems to very lazy. here's the
scenario:
* I get into the car on a hot day and the outside temp reading is high - say
25 degrees.
* The inside of the car is like an oven - say 40 degrees.
* I turn the temp dial to18 degrees and set the fan to Auto - the fan just
trickles cool air out. Its probably the equiavalent fan setting of 2.

Now, I want it cold in the car and want it fast. So, I expect the fan to be
on full blast until it gets close to 18 degrees in the car, then the fan can
slow down to maintain the temperature.

Over the summer, I have had to use the manual fan setting, instead of Auto,
because it is not urgent enough.

The only anomaly I have seen is that the outside temp gauge reads about 2
degrees too high.

 

It's the same on my Xantia, I think Citroen/Peugeot had a rethink on
the A/C circuitry afer the XM. The A/C on my XM did exactly what you
would expect/want. I run the fan on manual all the time because the
auto setting is so unreliable. It did improve slightly after I fettled
the connection onto the fan but it still doesn't do what you would
expect.

 

I remember reading somewhere if the gas pressure/quantity is to low then
this symptom is apparent.

first port of call IMHO is a regas.. if it doesnt fix the problem, then
dunno, is this a new ting? or has the car always been like it..

if its never been regassed, then that would definately be my first port of
call!

Loopy

 

When the A/C is running is the air that it kicks out cold?

Best check with a themometer, if possible one with a digital scale, if its
kicking out less than 5 degrees C then its fine. My 206GTi 180 is similar
but it picks up speed afer a few moments.

Shunt

 

There's your problem 1999 It will need regassing. The system needs
recharging at least every three years, subject to your usage! I had a
similar problem and was made very aware of lack of gas, no cooling
effect.Incidentally I always found that auto seemed only to "trickle" the
fan speed, never producing a full gale just a slight breeze.

 

This is correct: regassed the aircon on my 2001 306 a couple of months'
ago. Did the trick.

 

Thanks for the comments. All responses say the same thing, so I'm hopeful.
Mind you, I can't relate the cause to the symptoms. Logic doesn't work out.

BTW, the temperature coming out is approx 9-11 degrees.

Cheers all.

 

Just had the air con checked out today. They said the gas is fine.
Regardless of whether the aircon is or not, the auto setting fails to have
any get up an go.

 

It's all working just as it's supposed to.
For some reason, the AUTO setting never raises the fan-speed enough to blow
a meaningful blast of air out - my 406 is exactly the same.

However, I've found that the Auto setting does a fine job of *keeping* the
current temperature. So get in the car, start the engine, and put the fan
speed on max. After a few minutes when the interior has cooled down, then
hit the Auto switch.

 

when you have a re-gas get them to put a dye in it as well ,as 306's are
prone to leaking refrigerant by the condensor pipes(AMONGEST OTHER PLACES!)
..peugeot air conditioning service intervals are every 2 years all the best
mark

 

Yeah, they did that.

 

I think you may find that the air you are blasting out on manual is warm air
(not cooled by a/c) because you have not given the cooling system time to
get itself warmed (cooled?) up so to speak. Try this - leave the fan on
Auto; after 2-5 mins, does the speed pick up to near full and the air is
cold? OK, next is harder to try - keep the interior thermostat quite high,
with engine running, and let the interior temp rise; shut off the engine
and leave for a minute to reset systems, then restart and select cold air &
auto fan; because the system is charged, compressed, whatever, it should be
able to provide cold air straight away and the fan should immediately go to
high speed.

Let me know how it goes....
JB

 

My 406 exec doesn't fire up unless the temp is 20+, then the auto setting
slowly picks up speed 30 secs after starting the engine and immediately
blasts me with cold air. However, If its only 17 or 18 outside, it leaves me
to stew in stuffy car just as you have described. Phil