climatronic problem

[shazza]

hi there i have a 1999 passat tdi and has started getting problems with climatronic, when you start the car the screen goes all funny, press the eco button and its fine :confused: and last night the blowers stopped working but when i took the kids to school they started again but on the way back they werent working :1zhelp: any idea to what may cause this problem

shazza

[danski]

Hi Shazza,

I dont know the answer to you problem, but, the climatronic units often come up on ebay, if you go that route, dont pay £100 to some cheeky scrap yard...they often go for a LOT less than that.
You may want to try posting over on PassatWorld, most of the users are American, but dont hold that against them, they`re not too bad. ;)

Good Luck
Dan.

[SKIDDERWOLF]

I know what this is. when you start the car the climatronic unit will flash all digits if a problem is detected in the climatronic system. In your case similar to mine the blower motor brushes had worn down resulting in the blower motor not working and causing the climatronic display flashing try searching on passatworld as there are tons of posts about this or email me RICHARDSALE@HOTMAIL.CO.UK about the fix.

[stuart]

AC blower motors are a "Very" common fault on 97- Passats and Audi A4's.....

Stuart

[SKIDDERWOLF]

This is how I fixed the motor.


1. Remove the glovebox T20 screws about seven of them. Open the glovebox door and there will be three across the top and two down each side remove these and also the glovebox light .

2. The glovebox will now slide out remove and set aside.

3. You should now see the motor.

3. According to the haynes manual, models fitted with airbags require the passenger side airbag to be removed before the blower motor can be removed. With a bit of squeezing i managed to remove the motor without doing this. after unscrewing the phillips head screws pull the motor from the black plastic housing. And by manipulating it you should be able to remove the motor you may have to squeeze the fan a bit be gentle to not break it.

4. After you have got the motor out you need to remove it from the black housing. Do this by depressing the three foamy/rubber things the motor should then pull out.You will also need to release the connector from the housing this justs twists 90 degrees and pulls out. On the back of the motor you should see two silver caps beneath these are the springs and the brushes open one at a time remove the spring and the brush.

5. Now you will need some new brushes I used some out of a mini starter motor filed to size and dropped down the hole then i replaced the original brush then the spring. Just ensure that the brushes you make are not tight in the slot.

6. I connected the motor to a 12v source to check it worked if alls ok replace motor in the car. I did this to mine and have had no trouble since. I was told it could not be done by some VW "specialists" glad i did though save myself a lot of money.

Cheers Rich

[stuart]

I think that, for time reasons most garages take the easy route and fit a new item, rather that repair the faulty item :(

Thanks for posting the guide, may prove very useful

Stuart

[Dave Boy G]

Thanks Skidderwolf, my fan works fine now, you saved me a fortune.....but, all the LCD didgits still flash for 10-15 seconds, have i forgotten to do something?

PS if you need to remove the airbag, either don't unplug it from the car or if you unplug it dont turn the ignition on until it is reconnected to the car or the airbag light will stay on....arggghh as it did on mine!!

Dave

[SKIDDERWOLF]

Yes i did exactly that switched the ignition to test the fan without reconnecting the airbag. Had to get the airbag light reset £15 at a garage near work.

[Gavin78]

Hi,

Just reading the thread you posted about repairing the Climatronic system - I have a similar problem with my '98 Passat 20V and was wondering if you thought mine may require the same 'fix':- Display flashes for approx 10 seconds after start-up. Fan decides when it wants to come on and more recently seems to struggle to reach desired fan speed (usually accompanied by fluctuating fan speed). Fan has developed a 'noise' which has progressivle got worse over last 4 weeks - itially noise was only apparent at lower fan speeds, now it happens all the time.
Any suggestions you have would be great. Thanks, Gavin.

[SKIDDERWOLF]

Sounds like it is starting to pack up! Mine did a very similar thing eg deciding when to start spinning, noises and unstable speeds.

[ICTIS]

Thanks Skidderwolf, my fan works fine now, you saved me a fortune.....but, all the LCD didgits still flash for 10-15 seconds, have i forgotten to do something?


I would suspect that the central system still has the fault in memory? Having said that, mine occasionally doesn't flash at all and I've not fixed it yet.

Thanks for the details Skidderwolf - I'll give it a try on mine - only had the car a week!!!

[ICTIS]

Further to Skidderwolf's details - I've just done it on mine...

On step 3 - the pain in the neck is the phillips screw right at the top. However, if you remove the four 10mm bolts that hold the air con unit up, you can drop it just enough to a) get at the screw and b) enable the motor to be removed without too much "bending"! :Blush:

The problem I have is obtaining replacement brushes. Taking them out - they appear to measure 8mm x 9mm. CAn anyone with a micrometer verify this please??

However, what I *did* do was to rotate the brush 180 degrees and put it back in again. This will give them a bit longer life and give me time to source new brushes. ;)
Thanks Again Skidderwolf :beerchug:

[Gavin78]

I agree with the phillips screw in the top of the motor housing - I lost most of the knuckles on my right hand but with some persuasion I managed it. I too had trouble sourcing the brushes and considered modifing some old brushes to fit, however a mechanic friend found the correct size in the RS components catalogue - I'm just about to fit them this weekend after at lease two months with no blower motor!

Gavin

[ICTIS]

I agree with the phillips screw in the top of the motor housing - I lost most of the knuckles on my right hand but with some persuasion I managed it. I too had trouble sourcing the brushes and considered modifing some old brushes to fit, however a mechanic friend found the correct size in the RS components catalogue - I'm just about to fit them this weekend after at lease two months with no blower motor!

Gavin

Out of interest - what size are they - and perhaps the RS catalogue number???;)

[Dave Boy G]

dont worry about the size of the brushes, i butchered an old starter motor nad it has worked fine since!

[ICTIS]

dont worry about the size of the brushes, i butchered an old starter motor nad it has worked fine since!

It would be nice to be able to get the right size ones and not waste time fiddling with the wrong ones :biglaugh:

[staffs]

I have a V Reg(2000) Passat and seem to have a similar problem in that the blowers dont work, however, my display does'nt flash on and off as its meant to if there's a fault, it just comes on as normal. Could there be some other electrical fault or is it definately the blower motor?

[ICTIS]

I have a V Reg(2000) Passat and seem to have a similar problem in that the blowers dont work, however, my display does'nt flash on and off as its meant to if there's a fault, it just comes on as normal. Could there be some other electrical fault or is it definately the blower motor?

Its difficult to say - mine worked with the flashing at time and didn't work with out the flashing so it's pretty confusing! Easiest way to check is make a cigar lighter lead up with the wires bare - take off the glovebox, and remove the two wires to the blower motor. Plug in the cigar lighter and touch the wires on the motor contacts and see if it kicks in. It not - then its the brushes. If it DOES work this way, it could still be the brushes as mine was intermittent. You'll need to test it several times. Also, plug the motor wires into a multimeter and switch on the blower and see if it registers any voltage. If not - then it looks like your controllers shot.

Hope that helps

Tym.

[ICTIS]

however a mechanic friend found the correct size in the RS components catalogue - I'm just about to fit them this weekend after at lease two months with no blower motor!

Gavin

We'd still ike to hear the correct part number please!!!:1zhelp:

[www.vw-club.cz]

hi...

in the beginning I wanna send some regards to you from VW fans in the Czech republic...

I was looking for service codes for climatronic and saw your problem..

may help you this:

http://istargazer.ca/tips_climatronic.htm

or for diagnostic this:

http://www.passatplus.de/arbeitshilfen/klima/codes.htm (only in German :mad:)

[lil_elvis2000]

We'd still ike to hear the correct part number please!!!:1zhelp:

I seem to also have this problem. My blower started running eratically, then only at high speed, only when defrost was on and now hardly at all. I can hear is rumble up when I start then die down. It seems to spin very slowly - I believe it is the brushes. Just like a VW to break down just when you really need it!

Anyway be great if someone could post a part no. for the brushes either from a car, washing machine, dryer etc. that could fit. I've no access to any spare starters or electric motors.

Thanks,