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

[antonym]

There are two main reasons the car will blow only hot air:

1. No refrigerant (due to any number of things... not covered here!)

2. The Blend door / Temperature control door mechanism does not work (covered here).

There is also an excellent write up from D2Beetle HERE well worth investigating.

To find out if this applies to you open the passenger side door and look under the area directly in front of the center console.

Make sure you have ample lighting!!!!

A MUST have is a small mirror and a piece of wire that can be easily bent.

You are looking for the lever that control the blending of hot and cold air. It SHOULD look like this.....

If it DOES NOT look like the above picture, then you probably see that the lever has fallen out of the housing. If so, the bushing on top of the lever has broken clips and cannot stay up in the housing - it has disengaged with the door opening mechanism aka blend door (conversely, this may also cause the blend door to be stuck on cold air - hence no heat!!).

You can get someone, or stretch your hand up, to move the control on the dash and observe the moving of this lever.

Remove the nut visible on the lever and take off the top part of the lever (the bushing).

Get a new bushing (Part Number 1H0 819 136)

Re-bolt the new bushing onto the lever.

Now comes the tricky part!!

Using a mirror, locate the end of blend door that this new bushing fits into ... MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE that it is centered and not pushed to the side.. if it is, you may need an piece of wire to reposition it.

The diagram below is a drawing of the end of the blend door. The center area fits onto a slot on the top of the bushing.

Make sure you line them up correctly.

It may take several tries until you get it just right. The bushing will not seat properly in the housing until you get this center piece of the blend door into the top of the bushing.

Turn on the A/C and make the car engine warm up and give it a try. If you did it correctly then you are "Good to Go!"

Special thanx to D2BEETLE for his help!!

[Schmit]

I'm "feeling" this, I really am. I can feel this is what is wrong with Sputt.

[antonym]

I must add... while this is an easy fix.. it's a PITA to do because there is hardly any space.

A key is A LOT of PATIENCE.

The first time this happened to me (approx. 1 year ago) I took it to Txxe Pxxs and they wanted to charge me over $200 to pull the dash apart... I told them NO WAY!! They eventually said they could fix it for about $80.

This time I decided to do it myself and realized that they realy did not fix it the first time.... shoddy job. I am now getting colder air that I can ever remember since I own the car.

All the best with your attempt.

I will try to answer any questions relating to this.

[Schmit]

Hardly any space is an UNDERSTATEMENT!

OK got a chance to look under there. The lever looks like the picture. It has about a 1/8 gap between the lever and the housing and the lever moves when the control knob is turned on the dash.

I also tried to pull the lever out of the housing (gently) and it didn't budge.

Guess it is a refrigerant problem... I hope.

[antonym]

Originally Posted by Schmit

Hardly any space is an UNDERSTATEMENT!

OK got a chance to look under there. The lever looks like the picture. It has about a 1/8 gap between the lever and the housing and the lever moves when the control knob is turned on the dash.

I also tried to pull the lever out of the housing (gently) and it didn't budge.

Guess it is a refrigerant problem... I hope.

Yeah... I would say the blend door mechanism is OK....

Refrigerant is my next guess, but this was easy enough to check and rule out.

All the best!

[nb_mitch]

We recently moved to NW Arkansas and both our 99 NBs don't have any hot air. Being in Florida the last 8 years, didn't really notice, but now it is going to be in the teens tomorrow, Heat would be nice.

If this is our problem, do you need to take the dash apart to get to this or is everything accessible from underneath?

[antonym]

You can access things from beneath but because there is no space it is a PITA!

... although taking the dash off would make things easier... taking apart a dash is much more headache than what you would have to do.

[nb_mitch]

I checked both of our cars, the piece seems intact and when I turn the heat/cold knob both move back and forth and they seem solid.

We rented a car today to drive to Kansas City, it was 7 degrees today when we got there, without heat, the drive would have been unbearable.

So what is the next possible problem which would cause "no heat"? We might be getting 50 degree heat in 20 degree weather, but nothing that feels like real heat.

[OrangeNB]

Ugh, my '03 2.0L GL, 67K miles, just got back from the shop this is the second time the blend door has stuck on full furnace-level heat. Local VW dealer repaired the cable connection about a year ago. That is still good but now they say the blend door is stripped and they want $1900 to disassemble the dash and replace the entire heater box to repair it. Is there any other way to fix it? If it was stuck on the cold side I could probably live with it while save the money for the repair. Can I flip it manually?

[antonym]

Try going under there and turning it to make it stay on cold... might work.... but mind you... space is tight!

All the best!

[kkaschke]

Any chance you still have the pictures of what the blend thing looks like?

[cjsoto2]

I have the same problem with my a/c ,the lever on mine can be pulled off. You say to look under there with a mirror to see the blend door, where...?? the hole is too small to look into.I think I'm looking in the wrong place.:

[antonym]

I have pics and a hand made drawing in the original post.

If the hole looks too small.. then you probably have the RIGHT hole.

You have to use a mirror.

As I said before.. easy fix... but pain in the @$$ to get it done because there is no space.

PS... A GOOD flashlight and Mirror!!!

[OrangeNB]

Thank you Antonym! Your pictures and notes gave me the guidance I needed to fix the blend door problem on my 2003 2.0L GL. The local dealer in Springfield, VA, wanted $1900+ to do it. It took me five hours and $40 in parts (the new bushing and a pollen filter). Dismantling the dash, removing the glove box and just getting access to it is tough but not impossible if you work carefully. Now the temp control works normally again!

[antonym]

Originally Posted by OrangeNB

Thank you Antonym! Your pictures and notes gave me the guidance I needed to fix the blend door problem on my 2003 2.0L GL. The local dealer in Springfield, VA, wanted $1900+ to do it. It took me five hours and $40 in parts (the new bushing and a pollen filter). Dismantling the dash, removing the glove box and just getting access to it is tough but not impossible if you work carefully. Now the temp control works normally again!

You are very welcomed!

I am so happy I could help a fellow DIY'er keep money in his pockets!!

[jerryda]

For some reason the pics from antonymn's excellent description are not showing up in the thread. Any way I can get those pics?
thanks,
jerry

[antonym]

Originally Posted by jerryda

For some reason the pics from antonymn's excellent description are not showing up in the thread. Any way I can get those pics?
thanks,
jerry

Hmm.. I can see them fine. Maybe an administrator has suggestions for you. I have no idea why you can't see them. All the best!

[jerryda]

Ok, I can see the pics now. Thanks!

[NatCa]

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

[D2Beetle]

antonym nice DIY, here is the link for the Blend Door so you can add the link your first post; oh by the way I added your link to mine for cross reference.

I still have to post some updated pics, but the instructions are all there.