Dicky electrics on a 200 qt Avant

Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2003 6:16 pm

I've got a 86 200 which has been absolutely brilliant. 24000 miles in 15 months and only 2 wheel bearings replaced but recently I have had a problem with the interior lights coming on when I brake! Main dealers around South Wales are hopeless so has anyone out there got any ideas?
Also the aircon suddenly cuts out when in traffic and turns the inside like a turkish bath and the LED by the exterior temp switch starts flashing?[/img][/list]

Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 1:51 pm

hi, not sure about why your light comes on when you brake, unless there is a loose wire shorting or something? maybe up near interior light? does this happen if you brake when stationary?

the climate control unit led flashes when the head unit detects a major fault, ie in mine when i took out the control unit behind glove box. i think you have a faulty connection there. if this unit is removed, or temporarily not working, the main flap which adjusts amount of cold and hot air to cabin sticks, and usually the cabin heats up sauna style... the connector is at the control unit behind the glove box.

i bought a spare control unit but have never got round to fitting it as my heater matrix is also gone, so let me know if you need one. (i rigged up a cavalier heater matrix by the main air intake with a bike cable to a valve, as the air con side went duff years ago)

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 5:02 pm

Thanx for the reply
I had the air con looked at by a specialist who asked what year the car was and he told me that there was no chance of fixing it as it used the old kind of ozone burning gas in it!! when we opened the bonnet it had been converted to the new(R134A) gas!! I think I saved the system just in time as when the gas gets low the condenser/pump self destructs.
As for the interior lights coming on, when I hit the instrument cluster it flashes so the fault must be behind there. Now the weather has changed I look forward to doing work on the interior jobs.
ps If you ever take the instr cluster out make sure the connectors on steering column wands are pushed well in as one of mine was not pushed in well enuff and started arcing causing the dashbord lights AND the number plate light to fail! NOT NICE.
All the best
Muck

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 5:11 pm

a lot of places talk crap about not being able to put modern refigerants in old systems, you can. they just dont know how to fix them when they go wrong. no coolant does not fry your compressor, but no lubricating oil in the circuit does. (most garages never put any in either)

you can get all the fault codes out of your control unit. search for audi 5000 air con/climate control in google etc as a lot of the early american cars had it (100 was 5000 in us until about 1988). based on a system fitted to cadillacs... (they may have changed this in 100's new shape, and definitely in a6's)

press the off button and ext temp button together, to get channel 1. cycle through the 24 odd channels using the top of the 2 temp buttons (warm?) and the other button to read the channel. little of any use except channel 11 - voltmeter.