Heating System

[diarmuid]

Hi,

I have a couple of issues:

No Hot Air

My heating system (98 B5) deceided to tally pack up over the weekend. I don't usually feel the cold (comes from living for a few years in Aberdeen you get used to it!) but I found out that my heating system wasn't working over the weekend on a trip between St. Andrews and Aberdeen (outside temp was -1C!). The fan was blowing fine but it was only cold air so as you can imagine it wasn't a pleasant experience. I've checked the two heating pipes and they are both warm so there is heat going somewhere. I've read on here that there is a control valve that sometimes gets stuck on closed. Does any one know where this is and how easy is it to get access to it? If not this any other possible reasons? I've checked the coolant level and that seems fine.

Heater Blower

Over the weekend the heater bower decided to blow as well. So now I have no heat or air circulating in the cabin. Have to drive with the window down to stop the windows from fogging up. I was in Edinburgh for the weekend and brought the car in to a specialist to have it looked it. I got a call back an hour later telling me that the heater blower was gone and it would cost me £400 to replace it (part £250). As you can imagine I told them not to bother and I would try elsewhere (they charged me £114 for running a diagnostic and checking the fan wasn't working (I knew it wasn't working beforehand!) 1.5 hours labour, a rip off I know!)
I since found the part on ebay for £56 delivered and i'm going to attempt to fit it myself (if not I got a quote from a local garage £22.50 to fit the part. So I might just go down that route. Has anybody else got any expericnce with this.

I'd appreciate any advice especially on the heater problem.

Thanks

 

[AndyMac]

The blower is a 20 minute job, very very easy. Just remove the glovebox and the blower is there. You'll ned to remove one braket above the glovebox in order to give you enough space to remove the old unit, but it's really obvious what to do. It's a common fault on older models, the motor brushes just wear out. No idea on the heat issue though, sorry.

 

[diarmuid]

Many thanks Andy. The only reason I was going to get the motor fitted is if it was in the garage getting the heat done anyway. If the two pipes are hot then it seems as though the heater matrix should be ok. I've heard about a valve being stuck (the guy in the Audi specialist also mentioned that) but where it is Idon't know. Probably under the dash!

 

[macattax]

I fitted a new blower last week. Not that the the previous blower was gone or anything just more of a precaution than anything.
I got mine from ebay for a good price Here it arrived in Ireland in a matter of days, I fitted it in good time seeing as it was my first effort 1 hour. If I was to do it again it would probably take 20 minutes or so.
I am not sure if this will fix your heat problems though?

 

[diarmuid]

You'll never believe it. I have just found out that the reason that the heater fan wasn’t working was due to the aircon compressor being faulty and blowing the fuse for both the heater bower and the aircon (it cost me £114 at a specilist (stealer) to tell me that the heater blower was faulty which of course I’ve found out it is not!!). I changed the fuse and I noticed that the fan worked but when I turned on the air con the fuse blew (the same fuse for air con and heater blower). I took the fan out and changed the brushes to see if it worked and the same thing happened. I disconnected the air con loom and it works fine now (well except there's very little heat getting through (see start of post)!). I've called the specialist back to complain and I'm waiting for them to call me. To think they were chaging £400 plus to change the heater fan and it wasn't even faulty. To make matters worse I've already ordered a replacement fan from Ebay. If i wasn't sitting down I'd fall down!

If anyone has any views on the heating let me know. There is a bit of heat coming through but not much. The two pipes into the cabin are fairly hot so there is heat somewhere at least.

Thanks again

 

[donvas]

Hello sorry to about your heating fault.there could be 2 resons for no heat into cabin.If your 2 matrix pipes are not very hot you could have a blocked matrix.Note they should be both very hot, if they are your fault is with the heater box flap motor which you can see move.it can be seen from the left side of the center console between the feet vent.Move the temp up and down the motor should move aswell.If both pipes and motor are ok you still could have blocked matrix.A quick temp fix is to take both pipes off a put a high pressure hose into matrix to flush out system.I hope this info is helpful..

 

[Siena]

But be careful how much pressure you use to "blow" the matrix free.

You could just as well blow it to bits, with excessive pressure!

 

[diarmuid]

Thanks for the responses. The car is in the garage (a local garage and not a dealer!) so hopefully they should sort it out. Just drove from Edinburgh to Aberdeen this morning and the cabin temp was reading 4 deg C on the diagnostic climate code! Will let people know how I get on