A/C Defect?

[Rascal]

Not sure if it has already been covered in a thread (didn't see anything posted), but it looks as though there may be a defect with the A/C system in the A3's - at least the 06's.

My wifes car is less then a year old and after a weekend away, she started it up, and after a few minutes, the A/C quit. The compressor engaged, but it failed to get cold.

I suspected a leak and thought about giving it a top-charge but figured I'd just take it in.

Well, after one week in service the dealer is telling me that they are going to replace the ENTIRE system! To make matters worse, there are no parts available so they have to wait for them to be delivered from Germany.

It will take about two weeks to fix the car.

They at least gave us a nice A4 to drive in its place but man, this car is completely different in character from the A3 - almost boring I'm sad to say.

When initially taking the car in, I had just received one of my car mags, and in it was an article about a long term test of an A3. It too had experienced an A/C failure (after 13k miles) and required a complete replacement of the A/C system, then again required a new compressor after 500 more miles.

We showed this to the dealer who at the time thought it a funny coincidence. After further discussions, they are hinting that there may be a design issue.

[a8 tech]

A3 does indeed suffer from compressor failure and the reason there on back order is because there have been so meny fail.They will not be replacing the hole system but they will also replace the condensor which involves the front lock carrier removing to replace.fear not as the new compressor will be modified(i hope).

[Rascal]

Ahh, cool, thanks for the info.

Hopefully other owners won't experience the same failure - after warranty. For us, the car was still covered but it did fail on one of the hotest days of the year.