blazej01

So the time of the year has come, and my wife tell me that the AC is not blowing cold air. I have some AC gauges in my garage, so I have hooked them up and this is what I got. The ambient temperature outside was 73 degrees. The gauges where showing low side: 45 and high side: 140.
Thanks for any help in advance.

dvs_dave

Variable capacity compressor means that old school pressure gauges don’t really tell you anything. System needs to have 620g +/- 50g to work properly. It’s very sensitive to this. Get it evacuated and recharged with the correct amount and you’ll be good to go.

cardinalfan

I was also recommend performing a VCDS scan and see if you have any A/C related codes. The G65 sensor is a known weak spot over time.

dvs_dave

Diagnostics 101 on these cars is to run a VCDS scan. Otherwise you’re just playing the guessing game.

blazej01

Thanks guys. Did no think about that one.

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

The high side looks excellent, the low side is a little high, should be under 30. Dave's full evac and recharge recommendation should have the system like new. Forget the VCDS.
Cheers,
Louis

dvs_dave

Don’t forget VCDS. That’s straight up bad advice.

At the very least it will help you determine wether or not there is another issue with the system. Like a maybe a bad sensor, or something before you go off and get something unnecessary done.

The error people make with VCDS is that their expectations as to its abilities are set way too high. People expect it to be able to tell them exactly what the problem is and how to fix it there and then. No. Often it can, but very often you need to combine what vcds is telling you with other symptoms to diagnose the actual fault and then tackle it appropriately.

Its a tool that in knowledgeable hands will absolutely help diagnose a problem more quickly and accurately. It’s not a layman’s one stop shop though.

Plus it’s now 20 year old tech, so whilst it’s still good, things have moved on massively since, and it’s unfair to compare it to more modern diagnostic systems.