No heat/ Low heat!!??! Please help

[vdub4eva]

Well, it's starting to get chilly in the mornings prompting me to turn my heat on. My Climatronic may have seen its last days.While the car(01gtivr6) temp is up to "normal" (190) I'm getting lukewarm heat out of the vents and even worse at speed. I believe I noticed it, somewhat, this summer with A/C. Although the A/C was cold I could feel some warm air pushing through the vents. Since then I've done a bit of research about the heater box flaps covered in foam that will sometimes deteriorate over time, allowing the outside air to push through the heater box and never heating up on its way into the cabin.
What I would like to know is: if anyone else has had this happen and fixed it themselves? A local shop wants $2500 to install new heater box assembly, core, and control module. I've checked the vortex and have found people using metal duct tape to re-seal the heater box flaps that have died. I'm more interested in that route now because i have more time than money. However, I'm not sure if this project would be over my head or not. Supposedly i'ts a 10+ hour job, so, is that 10 hours of turning screws just getting to the unit and replacing it, or is there some other technical skills and special tools involved? Because if i can save a couple grand with some elbow grease I'd gladly set aside afew days to do this. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks

[path0s]

They want to charge 2500 because they can't diagnose the exact problem. Best bet is to go to someone, with their own shop like Warrior Auto & let them look into it, it could be straight down to a leak.

[Mikewire]

Aeron loves to fix things.

[vdub4eva]

Aeron loves to fix things.

Yeah, I dunno if Aeron wants any of this.
Plus, he's gone for two weeks.

[vegas2017]

i got the same problem in my audi. started after i had to replace the heater hoses. blew hot air the first day then after that, cold. let me know what happens with yours

[Mikewire]

Im sure if you have climatronic that you have a dead servo on the heater blend flap. Usually you can remove the glove box and it's right there (you too Dave). If you can get it scanned with VCDS it should throw a code in the auto HVAC module, which would tell you exactly the problem and the servo to replace. They are usually about $100 or so, or you could find a used one online for cheaper.

vdub, what year is your GTI? I'll look it up in ETKA.

Nevermind I ninja found it.

[Mikewire]

If it is the servo, it's #10 in the illustration:



Part # 1J1 907 511 C

you can get it here for $135

Scan for codes first though - the system is smart enough to tell you pretty much exactly what is wrong - my thoughts are only guesstimates based on your description of the problem.

[vdub4eva]

Thanks for the help Mike! So is the heater box and whatnot all under/ behind the glovebox or is it buried in the lower front dash behind the stereo and climatronic controls? Or are we talking two different things? In addition, there has been sort of a musty smell and little bits of foam coming from the vents albeit infrequent. Cabin filter was just changed.

[Mikewire]

It's hard to tell from the diagram how tucked under the center console the heat box is, but IIRC in my Jetta the blower fan was right above the passengers feet so the servos should be accessible by removing the glove box, which is about 8 screws.

I had a musty smell from the vents in my Audi when I bought it, but I changed the cabin filter and bought some vent sanitizer and it's gone now. I think it's common for any AC system to accumulate moisture and mold up, but it's easy to remedy. Don't know what to say about the foam bits, but if you get back there, you will probably see what's going on. I would seal it up with some HVAC tape anyway just to be safe.

Bottom line is that it's all just nuts and bolts, and it can be repaired without spending $$$ if you are willing to take a little risk and time to fix it yourself and save some cash.

Good luck and keep us updated - try to get a scan before ripping into anything serious.

[vdub4eva]

Update/ new info: I am now getting heat (even at speed) as long as the cabin circulation button is switched off. If it's "on", the air comes through ice cold. When I switch it "off" it take several minutes to push warm air again What is going on?? Doesn't that seem like reverse logic? Of course I find this little nugget of information after tearing the lower dash apart, haha.