Hey guys. First time I've used the air con in ages and for some reason no air is coming out of the vents. The blower is making plenty of noise and I can feel a tiny dribble of ice-cold air, but its like there is something blocking the airway? Pushing the flow buttons I can hear things happening inside the dash somewhere, but no air comes out. Nothing from the back either.

Only got it scanned a few days ago with no warnings.

Does anyone have any clues?

 

What you're likely hearing "inside the dash", I suspect is the flaps and such inside the fan box that controls the air flow... and with that, I suggest getting into the air box and have a look to see if everything's working or not... which is relatively "easy" to do. I had a similar problem with my '08 GTC... which had been sitting for a couple years before I bought it, and it's air fan was stuck as well as some of the air box flaps were sticky. As I recall, to gain access to the air box guts requires removing the plastic shroud just ahead of the windshield under the hood... be careful removing and installing this as it's easy to break the plastic tabs that affix the seal-edge to the bottom of the windshield. As I recall, the windshield wiper arms must be removed as-well. Once that shroud is removed is an opportune time to clean the leaves and stuff out of the area under that shroud. The air box is square-ish, and the size of a small suitcase in the middle under the shroud. The top of the air box comes off easily... as I recall the top is 2 pieces... there's about a dozen torx head screws holding it on. With the top of the air box off, as I recall you can get the most of the doo-dads on the inside "pretty good". I was able to free-up my stuck flappers and such giving them a bit of a gentle nudge.

I'll presume your cabin air-flow from the HVAC fan is otherwise fine (except for on AC), but if not, I'd say check your HVAC air filters... which are on the under side of the hood, above that shroud I referenced above... and while it's likely doubtful those filters are so plugged to reduce the air flow to a dribble... the filters are easy to remove, check, and clean.

 

Thank you so much for your detail guide. Looks like its fixed itself.

I had a good poke around under the hood, but yes you are right the window wipers need to be removed to get access to that airbox - not something I'm confident with (in fact, coming within 10 feet of the car with a spanner is a little too scary for me if I'm honest).

I could hear the air being blown around inside, but altering the settings on the dash made no difference. It was possible to poke a small dowl of wood through the gap in under the hood, so I knocked the airbox a few good times and voila! - it works. I ran through all of the settings to give everything a good workout, but now I have lovely freezing cold air coming out all the right holes.

I think you were bang on the money, the car has been sitting around for the last 5 years with little use. It's been garaged, but I think things like this happen if its not being constantly used.

I'm not sure my 'poking it with a stick' method helped, it might have unfrozen itself eventually just by moving the dash controls. Still, I'll take that. Beats a massive bill from the garage to strip down half the engine bay to do the same job.

Cheers