When I turned on the air conditioner, the air, radio (heated seats and power mirrors also I found out later) went out. I then heard a hissing sound for about 45 seconds. Took it to the mechanic who replaced a fuse. The air fan now works, but it is not actually cooling the car. Do you think some problem with the air conditioner caused the fuse to blow? Thanks.

 

it could be the condensor, id check more fuses...

 

A similar thing happened to me with my air conditioner. It was in the middle of Sept... in SoCal... so it was a good 90 degrees, and all of a sudden I heard a hissing and then it sorta of a grinding sound and then all of a sudden I realized the air coming out of my vents was no longer being cooled. Took it in for a look, and they told me that the part is only made by audi and it costs $1300 for just the part... then on top of that $500 for the labor. I have been driving without A/C since. Just trying to decide if I should keep it... I now have 80K on a 2000 TT Quattro, and thinking of going into the new Lexus IS.