Dame Edna poor climate blowing power

[SaabLee]

My 2006 Dame Edna has lost I would estimate to be half the blowing power from the climate system. The round iluminated dial goes to full power but its just feels like half the power it was, its the same using hot or cold. Nothing has been changed or messed with and it had a pollen filter a year ago. Any ideas? Thanks, Lee

[sgould]

Have you checked the air temp at the vents?  If it's higher than it should be (try on the lowest temp setting) you may have lost refrigerant and the system is running as if ACC is off.

Or possibly, it's so hot that the system has defaulted to recirculation. I think it does this if the outside air 26 deg C or higher.

[SaabLee]

Ye been out to try it tonight (17 deg) and you can feel a temp difference at the vents with the aircon on and off so not refrigerant this time. Tried it on most temp settings, with and without aircon running but the blow power is just not there, shows its blowing max on the dial but only feeling like its only blowing on half power!

[CitTone]

May be a bit too simplistic, but...blocked ventilation air inlets? I have to keep clearing leaves from mine due to having a tree over my driveway. Other than that, if it happened gradually, clogged filter perhaps?

[Petemate]

I tend to replace my pollen filter every six months, especially as I do around 22k miles per year. Each time I renew it I reckon it looks pretty mucky, also they are not that large and I reckon the airflow could be seriously compromised should it get clogged. A couple of cars ago I had a Focus with aircon, and had a similar problem soon after buying it - took the pollen filter out (on the '97 Focus it runs right across the plenum, so is quite large) and the airflow was OK. Checked the filter and it was filthy - a new one went in and it was still good.
HTH

[Mr Linear]

Are the rear vents open. If they are it can reduce the flow in the front!

Mr L.

[SaabLee]

would being on recirc bypass the pollen filter? tried with recirc on and off and the blow power is the same, just a thought cause the filter is not that old so dont want to take it apart to find its ok!

[Petemate]

would being on recirc bypass the pollen filter? tried with recirc on and off and the blow power is the same, just a thought cause the filter is not that old so dont want to take it apart to find its ok!

Good point that. Have you checked the blower - is it performing on all speeds? Forgive me if that is a silly question but these blowers really do chuck out air on full chat, have to turn the radio up when the climate is cooling the car down after a day in the car park (showing off now that my ACC is working again - sorry)

[Max Headroom]

Have you done any work anywhere that might have knocked a duct/pipe off?
In my experience if everything elso seems good it's either a pipe has come off or has split or deteriorated.

[SaabLee]

The speed alters on each setting but would say each setting 50% less that it was. Not done a single bit of work lately apart from wheel alignment, last work inside was the pollen filter 12 months ago! Could it be the fan speed controller or the fan itself, wouldnt of thought the blower speed would still alter if either was faulty though

[stevetreacy]

Hi,
Just a thought but is your battery in good order.

Steve

[Petemate]

The speed alters on each setting but would say each setting 50% less that it was. Not done a single bit of work lately apart from wheel alignment, last work inside was the pollen filter 12 months ago! Could it be the fan speed controller or the fan itself, wouldnt of thought the blower speed would still alter if either was faulty though

MMmm. Fan speed controller  could, I suppose, affect the whole range of speeds, being as it doesn't look like a 'normal' resistor pack, eg Mondeo/Rover etc, but more like a box of tricks that is annoyingly compact and maybe not easily interfered with (ooer...)