What breaks on the heater control panel(not the usual)

[Son of a Beesting 0]

Ok so my heater control panel wouldnt go turn apart from to blow onto the windscreen os the feet. So i thought it was broken.

 

Got the cables off and the heater dials turn fine. I looked on kevs guide on WIKI and it shows a metal tab that usually breaks. Well mine hasnt got one.

 

Is it just the cables could have been damaged? Those that have changed theirs, did yours turn fine when it was removed from the car? All the internals seem to turn ok.

 

Thanks

[latestarter2 0]

first thing to break is your wallet cos those things cost a couple of hundered quid!!

[Son of a Beesting 0]

first thing to break is your wallet cos those things cost a couple of hundered quid!!

 

Thats what I am trying to do! Hence the faint hope I could fix the problem without having to get a new one!

[latestarter2 0]

i had exactly the same prob and tried allorts of things in the eni just gave up a bought a new one..trouble is the bloody things are so flimsy even the new feels like its gonna fall apart at any moment!.

[Niges16V 0]

If the dials are still intact and moving the lever arms OK then it is probably the bowden cables (or whatever they are called). As they are now quite old and in a warm dry place they dry out and the friction increases, this makes it difficult for the plastic mechanics to move them so something snaps.

 

If you have the dials out you can push and pull the cable to see how stiff they are, bare in mind they need to be very smooth for the plastic bits to deal with. I had/have the same problem, seem OK but when you add the bend as when the dials are in possition it is enough to make the cogs jump.

 

I think you can get the cable from ECP ect for just a few squid.

[dinkus 10]

I have the same problem - the dials are all good, the cables are all good, but the cogs have jumped a tooth or two on the main heater box.

 

So if you take the control panel out, you can pull the cables to line the flaps up, but they're not all correctly aligned in relation to each other to work with the control panel.

 

The only solution is dash-out and mess around with the cogs on the heater box :(

[Son of a Beesting 0]

I have the same problem - the dials are all good, the cables are all good, but the cogs have jumped a tooth or two on the main heater box.

 

So if you take the control panel out, you can pull the cables to line the flaps up, but they're not all correctly aligned in relation to each other to work with the control panel.

 

The only solution is dash-out and mess around with the cogs on the heater box :(

 

So your saying the problem could be with my heater box (which I presume is what goes round the heater matrix?) Well that might be ok. I am taking the dash out anyway(halfway through). I will try to get some pics up to show people what I am dealing with. I presume a heater box is cheaper than the control panel!!

[Niges16V 0]

If your leater box gogs have jumped then yes, that is more complicated! One of my box levers is a bit stiff which in conjuction with a stiff cables does cause concern. But the thought of taking the dash out scares me, so I am very gently with heater dials and avoid using them.

[tonedef 8]

When I swapped from my old valver with slider controls to a VR, the salesman advised me to first stop the fan when changing the heater settings. That way less strain was put on all the mechanism. It seems to have paid off over the 6 years we used it as mine never broke or jumped any teeth.

[dinkus 10]

Son of a Beesting - yeah, it's at the heater box end and there are no markings on the cogs to say where they should go :lol:

 

And the controls are expensive, but the heater box is even more so!

 

It is possible to fix it, but you have to sit there moving the cogs about on the heater box while twiddling the knobs on the control panel (while it's in the dash) to see what combination of cog positions works :?

 

I guess if someone has a working heater box out of their car, they could take a photo of it to show the cog positions...

[Son of a Beesting 0]

I should have learned by now, nothing is cheap with VW.

 

Ok so I had a look at the weekend. The cogs appear to be ok, a little stiff but hoping some greese will help that. But it wont turn when I pull the cable. So maybe just the cables are shot. When you get the cables from VW do they come in the plastic sheath?

[Yandards 0]

I should have learned by now, nothing is cheap with VW.

 

Ok so I had a look at the weekend. The cogs appear to be ok, a little stiff but hoping some greese will help that. But it wont turn when I pull the cable. So maybe just the cables are shot. When you get the cables from VW do they come in the plastic sheath?

 

Got a similar problem on my VR. I split the control box apart a few weeks ago to discover the shaft that the cog that selects the flaps etc to be sheared.

 

Managed to glue it back on ok but I ordered the wrong cable, I needed a cable for control flap (RHD) part no: 536 819 831. I bought a defroster flap cable instead (Assumed that because the dial was stuck between windscreen and feet it was defroster one) part no 536 819 835.

 

Got some movement between the windscreen and feet now but not going to force the dial as it is going to break again. If you watch how the selector levers move on the control box you will see that the defrost selector (top one) has a lot of travel on the selection from windscreen to feet - hence the reason that one moves ok. Cables are not too expensive £8.22 each and well worth doing I think.