A6ljr

I have had Audi's for 11 years and have a unique problem that I haven't had with my '01 A6 or '11 Q5. I'm experiencing a problem with the recirculation feature in that polluted, outside air is entering the cabin in the recirculate mode. The dealership finds nothing wrong, but at high speeds I still notice outside air is coming inside. I wonder if there is passive air movement that brings outside air in at higher speeds than around-town driving might. Any thoughts?

I just read the manual that said the AUTO button would take the system off recirculation as does the front defrost button. I'm going to try taking the system off AUTO and manually control it to see if that makes a difference. I also went into the MMI and turned the automatic recirculation sensitivity to OFF in case it was overriding the manual setting.

In another post, someone mentioned Audi Customer Service; I will give them a call. I asked the dealership to pursue this issue with AoA, but I'm not convinced there will be follow-through.

Thanks for any help!

A6ljr

PROBLEM SOLVED! Through this forum I read of someone calling Audi Customer Service, which I did and got a super tech on the phone. With some info he gave me and by my studying the climate control section of the manual, I realized what the problem was. At the same time I discovered all four air vents in the back seat area were completely closed (from the plant) restricting the air flow; therefore when I had a passenger in the car, the cabin air became laden with moisture enough to fog the windows. However, the system has an override feature when it detects 'dense' air that cancels the recirculate mode (which I always use). Then the outside air is allowed in moderating the cabin air. So I opened all the air vents (which should have been done as part of the dealer's prep) and made sure all settings were on Auto. There is also a setting in the MMI AC system that allows for selction of air flow intensity! All should be well when one or more passengers ride with me, and if not, I will know why and how to correct it! Just want to pass this info along if nothing else to make owners aware that all the air vents should be open for the best cabin air quality.

dcmetro

It'd be great if you can post the pictures of the final MMI setting...would help out others if they run into the same issue.

A6ljr

Well, I hope that I didn't speak too soon! I have continued to smell pollution entering the cabin sometimes when I'm traveling on the interstates. It is rather frustrating. Yesterday I changed an MMI setting and will try that setting for a while.

To get to these settings (both for air flow and air recirculation mode), go to Menu, Car, Car Settings, and then AC. What I did last night was to turn OFF the Automatic Recirculation Mode thinking when it's ON it might override the manual settings. The third setting on the AC page is Air Flow; the settings for that are Low, Med, and Intense. My car is set for Med. So I am still working with the situation as DC metro auto pollution is very poor, and I must keep it outside the car! Hope this helps!

scottphillip

My sensor doesn't seem to work. I even tried putting my sensitivity level at high. This is the one flaw that I don't like.

My former Lexus was excellent at keeping exhaust fumes out of the cabin.

Any suggestions?

snagitseven

I've had a slight "exhaust/burning" kind of smell on full acceleration and pointed it out to my service dept. They are telling me it's "normal" and that the catalytic converters used now will need to burn off some of the coating in about 10K. I'm not completely sold on this explanation. As it's very faint and only present under full throttle, I'll wait for awhile and if it doesn't go away, we will have further discussion.

A6ljr

Are you getting the smell in the cabin in the recirculate mode? If so, here is what I would suggest: In the MMI turn the 'sensitivity' dial to OFF and then manually control the AC by dialing the fan speed, air flow, and temp independently. See if that helps.

Audi Convert

Sorry to bring up an old thread but my 2013 only has the auto recirculation sensitivity screen, nothing else pertaining to airflow. I'm not sure how to engage the auto recirculation on in the first place.. All I do is press the recirculation button and the red light goes on, but that just makes me think it's simply recirculating air manually on and not auto. What is this low medium and intense screen I can't find? Not sure about the footwell temp setting either.

qqq1970

I don't have that air flow option either on my MMI. Can someone post a screen shot?

A6ljr

If you look at my original post, you will note that the Audi A6 was a 2012 model. I currently have a 2013 A6, but the options have been changed! In looking at the AC setting in Car, Car Systems, there is no longer any airflow selection. My preferred setting is to keep the Auto Recirculation Sensitivity in the OFF mode and control the Recirc manually. I use it every minute I'm behind the wheel, as the auto exhaust air pollution in the DC metro is very harmful. I hope this answers your question. The short answer is they took the airflow option out of the system from 2012 to 2013, as well as changing the CD changer with 5 disc capability to a single disc player