Air conditioning is lazy

It's the same on my Xantia, I think Citroen/Peugeot had a rethink on the A/C circuitry afer the XM. The A/C on my XM did exactly what you would expect/want. I run the fan on manual all the time because the auto setting is so unreliable. It did improve slightly after I fettled the connection onto the fan but it still doesn't do what you would expect.

I remember reading somewhere if the gas pressure/quantity is to low then this symptom is apparent.

first port of call IMHO is a regas.. if it doesnt fix the problem, then dunno, is this a new ting? or has the car always been like it..

if its never been regassed, then that would definately be my first port of call!

Loopy

When the A/C is running is the air that it kicks out cold?

Best check with a themometer, if possible one with a digital scale, if its kicking out less than 5 degrees C then its fine. My 206GTi 180 is similar but it picks up speed afer a few moments.

Shunt

There's your problem 1999 It will need regassing. The system needs recharging at least every three years, subject to your usage! I had a similar problem and was made very aware of lack of gas, no cooling effect.Incidentally I always found that auto seemed only to "trickle" the fan speed, never producing a full gale just a slight breeze.

"Johny H" wrote in news:d6akc3$bjd$ snipped-for-privacy@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk:

This is correct: regassed the aircon on my 2001 306 a couple of months' ago. Did the trick.

Thanks for the comments. All responses say the same thing, so I'm hopeful. Mind you, I can't relate the cause to the symptoms. Logic doesn't work out.

BTW, the temperature coming out is approx 9-11 degrees.

Cheers all.

Just had the air con checked out today. They said the gas is fine. Regardless of whether the aircon is or not, the auto setting fails to have any get up an go.

It's all working just as it's supposed to. For some reason, the AUTO setting never raises the fan-speed enough to blow a meaningful blast of air out - my 406 is exactly the same.

However, I've found that the Auto setting does a fine job of *keeping* the current temperature. So get in the car, start the engine, and put the fan speed on max. After a few minutes when the interior has cooled down, then hit the Auto switch.

when you have a re-gas get them to put a dye in it as well ,as 306's are prone to leaking refrigerant by the condensor pipes(AMONGEST OTHER PLACES!) .peugeot air conditioning service intervals are every 2 years all the best mark

"MARK BANKS via CarKB.com" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@CarKB.com:

Yeah, they did that.

I think you may find that the air you are blasting out on manual is warm air (not cooled by a/c) because you have not given the cooling system time to get itself warmed (cooled?) up so to speak. Try this - leave the fan on Auto; after 2-5 mins, does the speed pick up to near full and the air is cold? OK, next is harder to try - keep the interior thermostat quite high, with engine running, and let the interior temp rise; shut off the engine and leave for a minute to reset systems, then restart and select cold air & auto fan; because the system is charged, compressed, whatever, it should be able to provide cold air straight away and the fan should immediately go to high speed.

Let me know how it goes.... JB

My 406 exec doesn't fire up unless the temp is 20+, then the auto setting slowly picks up speed 30 secs after starting the engine and immediately blasts me with cold air. However, If its only 17 or 18 outside, it leaves me to stew in stuffy car just as you have described. Phil