So when he drains the system, he is draining the R134 and the oil, but he is only adding R134 back in? He made it seem that the oil is seperate from the R134, because he only changes that when he replaces a component. Is this the same in all A/C systems, or just for Audis. Because if you are supposed to replace the oil in all A/C systems, I don't understand how he has ever successfully recharged a system.


On a side note, we are going to replace the ambient temp. sensor today on my A4 so we will see where that gets me....

 

I would say he has only ever topped systems up rather than doing a full job, when you drain the system you are draining the oil as well if its done right best of luck and look for another garage to do the work

 

Well after changing the ambient temp. switch and having no look, my local mechanic has pretty much given up and admits its over his head. He only charged me for parts $38 for the temp switch and like $40 for the freon. He is convinced that oil doesn't need to be added for a full recharge. He says he has evacuated at least 200 systems and has only accumulated about 7 qts of oil, claiming that almost no oil is drained from an individual system.

Anyways, he says he got a new scanner of some sort that was able to pull some codes from the A/C system.

The codes are:

01297 Footwell - Vent Temp Sensor G192 - Open Circuit Short with Power
01296 Center Dash - Vent Temp Sensor G191 - Open Circuit Short with Power
01582 - Coolant Temp Signal - Open Circuit Short with Power


The mechanic is kind of old school and says he doesn't believe it auto-starts and things like that. He thinks it is something to do with the VIPER alarm system or aftermarket DVD player that are installed in my A4 and that somebody most have accidentally cut a wire or pulled one loose or something. Anyone have any better ideas on what these codes mean, and, better yet, what to do about them?

(This is on the 1996 A4 2.8, BTW)

 

That last code looks like you need to change the coolent temp sensor.

I am no expert on the A/C stuff. Anyone else out there had a similar issue?

All these codes indicate a short, does the wiring look intact? Something seems shorted out somewhere, check all the wiring connections, look for any corrosion on any of the connectors, seems like a wire is disconnected somewhere that should be connected, or maybe a connector is corroded and not making a good connection.

Good luck. Did you try a search on those codes? Def. give that a try. If I dont find things on the forum, often you can type that code in google and find other resources for your problem.

 

The coolant temp sensor was actually changed a week or two ago. I was having intermittent starting problems which have been taken care of since replacing that sensor was replaced. I guess the code must be old. I tried searching for those other codes on this forum, didn't find anything. To be honest, I'm not sure if those codes are zero-1297 or "oh"-1297. Guess I will try both on Google!