Possible stuck heater flaps

jdp1962

jdp1962

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For a while now, I've been getting all my hot air through the dash vents, and only cool air through the footwell vents. So I'm wondering if I've got a problem with heater flap motors. I don't have VCDS, and a quick search of the VCDS users map suggests no current members within 20 miles or so.

So I'm going to have a go and removing the glovebox and attempting a visual check. IIRC, there are five hex bolts to remove, but do I have to remove the CD changer as well? Or will the glovebox come out with the changer in place?

Once I have got it out, any tips on what to look for? I'm presuming it's a case of pressing all the different directional buttons on the CC panel and watching what the levers do.
 
You have to remove the CD changer as there's a bolt above it holding the glovebox in place.

If your problem is a cold passenger footwell, then with the glovebox off and the engine up to normal temperature & running change the passenger footwell temperature up & down and you should see a motor moving.

BTW the driver and passenger footwell are separately controlled, so there's an equivalent motor on the drivers side of the heater.
 
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PetrolDave said:
You have to remove the CD changer as there's a bolt above it holding the glovebox in place.

If your problem is a cold passenger footwell, then with the glovebox off and the engine up to normal temperature & running change the passenger footwell temperature up & down and you should see a motor moving.

BTW the driver and passenger footwell are separately controlled, so there's an equivalent motor on the drivers side of the heater.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Dave.
 
Ok, had my glovebox out this morning, and a look inside. I'm pretty certain I've identified a malfunctioning motor, the one sitting below the red linkage in the following photo:

Heaterflapmotor_zpsc2ee572b.jpg



I unscrewed the motor, detached it from the linkage, manipulated the red linkage to a point where it was allowing air to flow to the footwells, and replaced the glovebox. Not been out in the car yet, so haven't had a chance to test it. Meanwhile, here's the motor I've taken off.

P1000485_zps63045ea3.jpg


The red lever that attaches to the red linkage will not budge when I try to move it. So I removed the cover to reveal this:

P1000486_zpsab9621df.jpg


I'm going to have a go at lubricating the mechansim, see if I can get it moving. If not, I've got the part number (8E2820511A) and located a couple of used ones on eBay for around £30. Of course, they could be problematic too, so I will also check out the price of a new one.

I removed the lower dash cover on the driver's side, but couldn't see a similar assembly on that side. I decided to leave well alone rather than poke about too much and risk disturbing something.

Will report further on whether I can get this motor moving again.
 
Ok, so the red lever is still stuck fast, despite liberal applications of WD40 and silicone spray. I'm reluctant to start pulling the motor innards apart (I'm not very good at these things) but is there a knack to freeing them up? Am I right in assuming the lever will turn manually when functioning correctly or will it only move when the motor is connected up and receiving power?
 
Ok, so I managed to dismantle the innards.

Heatermotordismantled_zpsd1ededc2.jpg


First the good news, the motor spindle turns freely when it's disengaged. That suggests the motor is not seized. Secondly, the cream coloured cog (which is connected to the red lever on t'other side turns freely when disengaged. However, as soon as the green spindle is slotted back into place and engaged with the wheel, all movement stops.

I need to find a way of getting the wheel to move when the spindle is in place.

Will report progress if I make any.
 
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You can pick the motor units up from ebay for around £30. I just replaced one in an A6 that had a similar fault.
 
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If the car blows warm airs to the foot wells tomorrow morning, I'll be reasonably confident I removed the right motor, and will order up a new one from eBay.
 
Had this problem the other day, pulled part to bits. Motor was fine but the cog mechanism was a bit stiff so kept WD40'ing and moving and eventually started to work okay. Am keeping an eye on it though just in case it sticks again.
 
Sorry for a slight thread hijack but does ticking from behind the dash signify similar issues? I've not noticed any problems but just wondered.
 
OK, well just drove to work, and the result is mixed. I did get air flow to the footwells (including through the small grills on the side of the transmission tunnel), but it was all warm on the driver's side and cool on the passenger side. Same with the dash and screen vents too.

So at least I know I need to replace the motor I took off, but I have a feeling when I do, I may still have some more digging to do.
 
The way it's geared you will find it difficult to move.

You can put 12v direct to the motor and see if it moves.

Mine was the coloured bit going through the black plastic bit/casing was tight so used some wet and dry to open the hole up a bit and now it works fine
 
leegsi said:
The way it's geared you will find it difficult to move.

You can put 12v direct to the motor and see if it moves.

Mine was the coloured bit going through the black plastic bit/casing was tight so used some wet and dry to open the hole up a bit and now it works fine
Click to expand...

Thanks. I will try that
 
Wow Jeff! Good to see you tackling this yourself and not taking it to a garage. Hope you get it sorted in the end. Always a good feeling after you've accomplished it.

All the best, Azeem.
 
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A4_MaJiK said:
Wow Jeff! Good to see you tackling this yourself and not taking it to a garage. Hope you get it sorted in the end. Always a good feeling after you've accomplished it.

All the best, Azeem.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the vote of confidence Azeem, however my attempts to fix myself usually end up with a bigger garage bill for fixing the original fault and the damage I did.
 
£120! When all it is is a few bits of plastic cog and a small electric motor you could find in a trainset?
 
I'll have a crack at reconnecting my existing and newly lubricated motor, see if it moves when blasted with 12V of power. If not, then it's off to the Bay.
 
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Just reconnected old motor to power supply. Creaked a bit but didn't turn. So now I know it's borked. Moved the linkage up and down a bit by hand, and sorted out the hot/cold flow side of things.

So all I've got to do now decide whether to buy a used motor for £27.50 (that's come from an older car than mine) or £120 for a new one. That's an absurd sum of money to pay for something the innards of which look like they came out of a scalextric set, but I don't want to be doing this again in a few months' time.
 
jdp1962 said:
Just reconnected old motor to power supply. Creaked a bit but didn't turn. So now I know it's borked. Moved the linkage up and down a bit by hand, and sorted out the hot/cold flow side of things.

So all I've got to do now decide whether to buy a used motor for £27.50 (that's come from an older car than mine) or £120 for a new one. That's an absurd sum of money to pay for something the innards of which look like they came out of a scalextric set, but I don't want to be doing this again in a few months' time.
Click to expand...

Quattrojames is breaking his old car, he msy have a motor going spare. Send him a PM.
 
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Take the motor back out from the housing and give it 12v to see if it moves. If it does you know it's the cogs binding somewhere.
 
leegsi said:
Take the motor back out from the housing and give it 12v to see if it moves. If it does you know it's the cogs binding somewhere.
Click to expand...

I've already done that; I know the motor is working but I have't been able to free the cogs, despite a lot of jiggling and greasing.
 
Take the motor out and turn the cogs by hand and take the cogs out one by one till its free.

Out of 3 I have repaired its always been the coloured arm in the round hole being tight.
 
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I tried doing that, Leegsi, but just couldn't get it to work. I guess it was just beyond my level of incompetence. Just spoke to TPS, and they can go a new one minus the 20% dealer markup. I'll pick it up tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I'm just off to fit my S-Line door blades which Craigcull sent me. Happy days!
 
PetrolDave said:
You have to remove the CD changer as there's a bolt above it holding the glovebox in place.

If your problem is a cold passenger footwell, then with the glovebox off and the engine up to normal temperature & running change the passenger footwell temperature up & down and you should see a motor moving.

BTW the driver and passenger footwell are separately controlled, so there's an equivalent motor on the drivers side of the heater.
Click to expand...

Well, I've swapped the motor on the passenger side, and all is well there. I think I might still have a problem though, as the air through the dash vents still a fair bit hotter on the driver's side than on the passenger side.

Does anyone have a picture of the motor that directs warm air to the driver's footwell?

or do I need to get the system reset with VCDS?
 
Last edited:
Grab vcds & do a basic setting 001 in module 08 hvac, this will reset the flaps, if you've moved things about it may create an issue, so make sure its been refitted in the same position as it was removed, although this may be the only way it may fit based on current location that is, but I recall a note in elsawin stating about how to remove/refit & I cant recall atm, but something in a distant memory mentioned about positioning.
 
NHN said:
Grab vcds & do a basic setting 001 in module 08 hvac, this will reset the flaps, if you've moved things about it may create an issue, so make sure its been refitted in the same position as it was removed, although this may be the only way it may fit based on current location that is, but I recall a note in elsawin stating about how to remove/refit & I cant recall atm, but something in a distant memory mentioned about positioning.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Nigel. I'll get my local indie to reset it. They're pretty reasonable.
 
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I said they were pretty reasonable. Sanspeed did the basic settings reset free of charge. All now working fine. They did say it could come back if there's an intermittent fault, but will cross that bridge if and when I come to it.
 
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jdp1962 said:
I said they were pretty reasonable. Sanspeed did the basic settings reset free of charge. All now working fine. They did say it could come back if there's an intermittent fault, but will cross that bridge if and when I come to it.
Click to expand...

Well I came to the bridge rather sooner than I'd hoped.For the first fifteen minutes of my journey to work this morning, all was well with gentle breezes of slightly warm air distributing evenly throughout the car. Then all of a sudden, it began once more to send concentrated heat to the driver's side dash vents. Back to square one, I'm afraid.
 
jdp1962 said:
Ok, so the red lever is still stuck fast, despite liberal applications of WD40 and silicone spray. I'm reluctant to start pulling the motor innards apart (I'm not very good at these things) but is there a knack to freeing them up? Am I right in assuming the lever will turn manually when functioning correctly or will it only move when the motor is connected up and receiving power?
Click to expand...
Hi jdp1962,
I'm reading this thread as I've got a similar problem and I'm impressed that you've tackled it in a way I'd imagined I would. Only thing is, I've been told never to use WD on plastic and rubber parts as it can swell and distort them. I would be more inclined to use a brake and clutch cleaner and a silicone grease for lubrication. WD is not, as we all know, a lubricant.
Keep up the good work.
 
Wussell said:
Hi jdp1962,
I'm reading this thread as I've got a similar problem and I'm impressed that you've tackled it in a way I'd imagined I would. Only thing is, I've been told never to use WD on plastic and rubber parts as it can swell and distort them. I would be more inclined to use a brake and clutch cleaner and a silicone grease for lubrication. WD is not, as we all know, a lubricant.
Keep up the good work.
Click to expand...
Thanks. In fact, both motors had to be replaced very soon after this post.
 
I've got a similar problem. Drives side blows only cold air, located the drivers side motor and took it off, moved the arm by hand and it controls the heat if I move it I can get hot/ cold air depending how I move it. So guessing this is the tempreture control motor what is wrong. I've ordered a new one off eBay and it's came and the problem is the same, I have been told it needs reset via a computer before it would work? Any help/ advice?
 
Rossg93 said:
I've got a similar problem. Drives side blows only cold air, located the drivers side motor and took it off, moved the arm by hand and it controls the heat if I move it I can get hot/ cold air depending how I move it. So guessing this is the tempreture control motor what is wrong. I've ordered a new one off eBay and it's came and the problem is the same, I have been told it needs reset via a computer before it would work? Any help/ advice?
Click to expand...

Will need to go onto VCDS to carry out flap adaption ( calibration ) probably . This link might be useful to have a read through too :

http://www.audiforum.ca/a4-b5-b6-b7-b8-65/diy-hvac-flap-motor-potentiometer-cleaning-72039/

Hope it goes ok, Gary
 
Thanks, I don't have VCDS, but my friend has a better snap on computer than me so meaning to give that a try to see if that can calibrate it? I have fitted the new motor but still the same, so maybe it needs calibrating to solve the problem. I hope this is all as it's giving me a headache!
 
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