DIY: "How To" Fix Car blows only hot air or temperature control does not work.

[casrhino]

My ac is suck on hot also. It is 100 degrees here in the summer so i need to fix it now. It started off blowing foam through the dash now it is stuck on hot. Going to try to fix it the way you said. Would bypassing the heater help any?

[antonym]

Originally Posted by casrhino

My ac is suck on hot also. It is 100 degrees here in the summer so i need to fix it now. It started off blowing foam through the dash now it is stuck on hot. Going to try to fix it the way you said. Would bypassing the heater help any?

.. first tell me how you are going to bypass the heater and I will tell you if I think it will help.

[casrhino]

I was going to disconect the hoses going through the firewall to the heater core and using a copper 90 put them together, that way the hot water never makes it to the core.I have alot of experience with air cooled but i am new to the water cooled vw's

[antonym]

Originally Posted by casrhino

I was going to disconnect the hoses going through the firewall to the heater core and using a copper 90 put them together, that way the hot water never makes it to the core. I have a lot of experience with air cooled but I am new to the water cooled vw's

Um ... it would be much easier, and simpler to fix it properly in my opinion. I fear you may cause the car's computer to not know what the hell was going on and throw codes. The trouble you would go through to do what you suggested is easily avoided by doing it D2Beetle's way, or the slightly easier (but PITA) way you see here. All the best.

[casrhino]

THANKS. I think I got it anyway. When I finally got the time to look under the dash the whole blend door control arm had fallen out. I reached up and put it back and the controls work fine. I know there is a reason why it would fall out so something is still wrong but the heat is out of my face and the ac is working for now.

[casrhino]

drove the car around for a little while the problem is only half fixed. I no lomger have hot air in my face but the air is not cold either. It is only slightly cooler then the vent without ac. How big of a job is it to replace the foam that has blown out of the vents. Do I have to take the whole thing apart?

[antonym]

Originally Posted by casrhino

drove the car around for a little while the problem is only half fixed. I no lomger have hot air in my face but the air is not cold either. It is only slightly cooler then the vent without ac. How big of a job is it to replace the foam that has blown out of the vents. Do I have to take the whole thing apart?

I believe you are already familiar with D2Beetle's thread: Blend Door DIY

[krazykorean]

I know this is kinda old post but do you guys have the pictures from the first post? I dont see anything

[crutypegs]

i know i'm bumping an old thread but i found it and thought it useful. others will too. as a result, i have gone to look at my snap bushing and if you look from the side, it IS a tiny opening for my old eyes so i chose to remove the console and the trim piece directly below the controls. this is a simple removal and i would recommend that you consider it because it gave me an easy and direct look at the levers and cable ends. forgive me if this has already been mentioned.
also, i did not find my snap bushing to be damaged nor detect any travel issues with the door but did find a noticeable improvement in heater operation from adjusting the temp control cable stop point. i guess with the door gasket gone (had foam blowing out of the vents some time ago), there was a significant gap and the adjustment reduced that. for those that need a quick fix, this might help because i got adequate heat this way. i do plan to tackle the full dash fix when time/weather permit.

[BamaAF]

Originally Posted by NatCa

The info here is very helpful, but I can't see the pictures

Make sure you use 32 bit browser and refresh -- my default explorer is 64 bit and I could not see them, and then switched to 32 (in programs)

[HiRes]

Vents started blowing hot air today. I was using the AC, with no temp control, blowing cold. Punched in the "recirculate" button, not really knowing its purpose. Airflow seemed to increase. I ran it like this until it started blowing super heated air. So yes, what you described has got to be the culprit... but hold on. This has happened once before, shortly after i bought it. It fixed itself, meaning the AC worked again, but now no heat.
The gateway somehow, without my help, switched back to cold air flow. Thoughts? I am really scratchin' my head now...

[furballs]

So thanks to all for the great instructions. This, and other links on the site, have saved me a ton of stealership dollars. Thought I would add my experience to this.

In my case, I've popped the lever back in several times, as the dealership could never seem to order just the bushing. Whether because of this or some other reason, it appears that the cable has also stretched. So, I can pop the lever back in, but the knob doesn't take the door all the way to the cold position.

Solution: put knob on hot, pop lever back in by twisting knob slowly over to cold. Pops in partway over. Turn knob to cold. A/C now blows cool, but not cold air; door is not fully closed. So, leave knob at cold, pull lever back out. Twist knob to hot, pop lever back in. Now, we're starting from the halfway point, so twisting to cold fully closes door and I have ice-cold air!

For winter, I'll have to adjust back so I can get fully hot air, but this is a decent workaround pending a full cable replacement.

[Twilah]

Originally Posted by BamaAF

Make sure you use 32 bit browser and refresh -- my default explorer is 64 bit and I could not see them, and then switched to 32 (in programs)

I can't see the pictures either. I've tried explorer and firefox (both 32 bit) and no luck. I'm quite sure my daughters car is suffering from this exact ailment & I would love to see the pics before I start contorting this old body & eyes ;-) I can see D2Beetle's Blend Door DIY pics... but not these.
Any suggestions/help would be appreciated.

Thanks to Antonym, D2Beetle, & others for the great info... *very* helpful

[antonym]

Originally Posted by Twilah

I can't see the pictures either. I've tried explorer and firefox (both 32 bit) and no luck. I'm quite sure my daughters car is suffering from this exact ailment & I would love to see the pics before I start contorting this old body & eyes ;-) I can see D2Beetle's Blend Door DIY pics... but not these.
Any suggestions/help would be appreciated.

Thanks to Antonym, D2Beetle, & others for the great info... *very* helpful

Not sure what to tell you ... they show up fine here ... I hope you figure it out soon.

[Twilah]

Originally Posted by antonym

Not sure what to tell you ... they show up fine here ... I hope you figure it out soon.

I never got them to show up but I found pictures of the same culprit on the vwvortex forum for the Golf/Jetta:
Home,Forum,Volkswagen,Golf IV & Jetta IV,
DIY: Heater, Air Conditiong Fix (blend door issue)

VWVortex.com - DIY: Heater, Air Conditiong Fix (blend door issue)

With a visual in hand, under the dash I went, and sure enough... same problem. Since I didn't have a replacement part, I borrowed the idea offered in another post to use a small socket and wedge it between the lever and the lower heater duct to hold it in place until the new part arrives... worked like a champ.

"Patience required" can be a major understatement! I struggled for quite a while before I could get the lever re-inserted and aligned with the blend door. I would also recommend finding someone young, small, and flexible as well... just about killed me laying upside down with my spine bent over the door jamb!

TIP: I did not use a mirror to align the blend door... I just suck a finger up in the hole to feel/adjust the blend door alignment. On several attempts to re-insert the lever, the blend door would slip to the side & I couldn't feel it... I thought I had really messed up and was in for a dash disassembly nightmare to recover it. I had my daughter turn on the blower while sticking my finger in the duct & THANKFULLY, it "pulled" the door back against my finger so I could reposition it again (which I had to do many times).

Hopefully this extra info helps someone else a bit.

Thanks again!... these newsgroups & your inputs are invaluable for resolving these kinds of problems.
(still wish I knew why the picture didn't show but... )

[antonym]

Originally Posted by Twilah

I never got them to show up but I found pictures of the same culprit on the vwvortex forum for the Golf/Jetta:
Home,Forum,Volkswagen,Golf IV & Jetta IV,
DIY: Heater, Air Conditiong Fix (blend door issue)

VWVortex.com - DIY: Heater, Air Conditiong Fix (blend door issue)

With a visual in hand, under the dash I went, and sure enough... same problem. Since I didn't have a replacement part, I borrowed the idea offered in another post to use a small socket and wedge it between the lever and the lower heater duct to hold it in place until the new part arrives... worked like a champ.

"Patience required" can be a major understatement! I struggled for quite a while before I could get the lever re-inserted and aligned with the blend door. I would also recommend finding someone young, small, and flexible as well... just about killed me laying upside down with my spine bent over the door jamb!

TIP: I did not use a mirror to align the blend door... I just suck a finger up in the hole to feel/adjust the blend door alignment. On several attempts to re-insert the lever, the blend door would slip to the side & I couldn't feel it... I thought I had really messed up and was in for a dash disassembly nightmare to recover it. I had my daughter turn on the blower while sticking my finger in the duct & THANKFULLY, it "pulled" the door back against my finger so I could reposition it again (which I had to do many times).

Hopefully this extra info helps someone else a bit.

Thanks again!... these newsgroups & your inputs are invaluable for resolving these kinds of problems.
(still wish I knew why the picture didn't show but... )

I am very glad it worked out and that we could help .... I hope you figure out the picture thing soon. All the best for the rest!

[S2TDI]

I know I am bumping this thread from the abyss but did anyone ever figure out the pics situation? I've seen the ones from the link posted above but they are ridiculously small.