A/C: Can't activate ECON?

[dkvasnicka]

Hey all,

most of the problems with A/C units will probably be of the "not working" type... mine is the opposite. It works even when I don't want it to

During the last few days I've started to notice that ECON mode deactivates itself after some time and it's then impossible to turn it on again. I press the button, the "ECON" text does not come on on the display and the A/C compressor still runs. Every second time I push the button, I can hear a kind of "switching" sound from under the bonnet (when parked and with the driver door opened), so I don't think it's the ECON button malfunctioning actually. The display won't be the culprit either because the A/C really does not turn of itself.

But sometimes, it just works! The problem is that I have not yet been able to find some pattern in this... can it be some kind of a relay or switch quietly passing away? Or is it a SW problem? Is there any kind of setup of the A/C ECU that would prevent the driver from manually selecting ECON? I thought this button works always.

Thanks for any valuable input you might have.