Fix Air-conditioning - Seat Alhambra ?

On my 03 Alhambra I had 2 holes in radiator,replaced and regassed only to find out that the clutch on compresor has burn out,had this replaced with seconhand one, now it works a treat. 600 quid later though :-(

likom
August 2014

Hi THPH,

How did you get on? I get the same problem with my 1998 Seat Alhambra. The main Seat dealer did some diagnoses and came up with the conclusion that there wasn't any live feed to the compressor. All feeds ok to the control module (radiator fan control mobile next to the battery) but none out. They concluded that the module needed replacing at a cost of £164!! Well I sourced a s/h one on ebay for £10 and guess what! It still does not work. I'm not convinced it is this radiator fan module although according to their diagnosis it indicates it is. Perhaps I brought a duff one off ebay, although I checked the fuses and seem all ok - who knows. Any ideas?

Paul G
August 2011

I bought an 05 Alhambra for airport taxi work 14 months ago with 40k on the clock, it now has 120k on and 2 days ago the air con stopped blowing cold air and started misting up inside windows. I was told it probably needed regassing, took it in and had this done, and as it happened it did need regassing. However, still no cold air. Only to discover that the compressor was not kicking in when the air con was turned on. Cue 2 hours spent under the bonnet working out why one of the earths going in to it did not go live on start up, but when a tool was applied to the wire it fired up the compressor, so we know that doesnt need replacing. However, theres about 250,000 miles of wire under the bonnet so you know where this ones going......just wondered if anyone had a similar issue and what the result was, as I'm off to an auto sparky in the morning to try to fix it...???

THPH
June 2011

dove posso trovare i tubi chi vanno al compressore d aria condizionata x alhambra 2001? grazie

ammin
May 2011

I've had Alhambras for my last 3 cars, all bought new, and reliability is great up to about 3 years. Had air con problems before too. Current Alhambra is 3.5 years old and guess what, air con problems. Hot air blowing out so put it in to main dealer and got it regassed for about £70. Worked great as I drove away from the garage, then 5 days later there was a couple of really hot days and the air con fired up, worked great for about 20 secs then a burning smell and it's packed in again. Been reading forums about needing oil adding during regassing, hmm, wonder if they forgot it. Will be taking it back soon to find out what went wrong this time.....

Steve
June 2010

Hi I have an 04 leon 1.9TD(red)I and sadly, again in this current climate, noticed that the aircon is no longer anywhere near cold.... I have yet to get to the bottom of my problem, but found the following as a possible solution on another forum site:-

"Mobile Aircon engineer did some research and called back proposing that too much oil in the compressor could be the problem causing it the system to cut out.

He came round Saturday - dismantled and cleaned out the compressor recharged all the systems with the correct volume of oil and "Hey Presto" it works!! Cost a further £100 on top of the original service - well pleased.

So much for Seat main dealer diagnosis 3 years ago - need new compressor etc £1,100!!"

The above solution seems to be applicable when the system starts up cold then gradually gets warmer....

Going to look into this on my side. Anyone from Northern Ireland got a contact name of any good mobile Aircon Engineers... I'd be glad to hear from you.

Mackers
May 2010

Seat Alhambra air con system is a disgrace, both Seats I have had, and still own 2003 1.9tdi auto and 2006 tdi auto have had exactly the same problems, collapsing seat cushions drivers side air con pipes made of papier mache.. electic window problems and pre heater.. who the hell thought that rubbish up? graet idea for polluting a whole street with partially burned diesel fuel. Poor trim and handling, after the "sport suspension" has softened like a bucket of ........ Try contacting Seat head office, a very very bad joke, don't buy this vehicle. you may ask why do I have two of them, please don't even ponder, but get a big estate car instead..

John McLaren
November 2009

I have been told this is a common problem on this model. Mine has been replaced twice and has now broken a third time. It is a waste of money trying to fix it, I'm afraid.

Frank
July 2009

Hi Rachel,

The recharging of gas is a garage job or an air conditioning specialist job which could be cheaper. This is the first thing to check. However, it could be something else especially if it blows cold air to start with but then blows warm air very quickly. First thing first, get the gas recharged done and hopefully this will fix it (£30 to £70 depending where you go).

Phil T_L
June 2009

just to let you know we have put our alhambra in to be fixed at the seat garage to fix- cost 6 hundred to fix air con and replace seized windscreen wiper motor, got it back still blew hot air and wipers now jump when i turn on the engine, took it back and they say that alhambras have bad air con and that car at 5 years is a bit old as the air con does not last on this car and that some other pipe now needs replacing for an extra 260.00 but this may not fix the air con as air con is problematic for this model blah blah. This is the newest car i have ever owned - gutted!!!

shephallmassive
June 2009

you have no gas in system. poss just needs re gassing but maybe leakages. needs to go to garage. kwik fit are charging £25 for aircon regas.

roger
June 2009