Heater Flap motor

[Worf]

Hi. Heater blows hot on passenger side only, which points to the drivers side actuator (UK). I bought a second hand motor, removed the trim under steering wheel and managed to find the motor. Yellow arm does not appear to move at all. After a struggle I managed to remove the electrical plug and try it on new motor, and it moves!

So far so good, but how on earth do you remove the old motor? I managed to get one screw out but the others defeat me. Is there anybody that has actually done this and do they have a "wizard wheeze" as to how they actually achieved it? Video guides seem to concentrate on pass side

Any help would be much appreciated

(2007 B7 Avant 2.0tdi, if that makes a difference)

[pdlh]

yes I did this eariler this year. Same situation, error codes popping up in VCDS about the potentialmeter.

First you need to remove the trim cover over the fuse box.
Then the lower panel above the pedals ( a screw or two if I recall) this also includes removing the VCDS communication port, it has a plastic release clip on the back.
Next remove the next trim panel just under the headlight switch, I think it was held in by 3 7mm bolts. 1 was in the fuse area, and 2 under the trim panel. you then have to sharply pull the panel to remove it.

My yellow motor was stuck on cold all winter. There is 2 x 6mm nut screws at the bottom of the motor and 1 at the top if I recall. I was upside down, arm up in the air, managed to crack the screw, and then was able to remove them manually with just the small socket between my thumb and forefinger slowly, took about 20 - 30 minutes to remove.

Once done, you need to drop down the motor, turn it 90 degrees to release the yellow arm without breaking it. Then remove the power wire.

When removed, I then disassembled the motor assemble in the house using a small screw driver, there were 4 plastic clips on the motor, I started with the smallest clip first and worked around, managed to un-jam the motor and powered it back and forward on a 9v PP3 battery outside of the car. I greased it up then took to look at the white potential-meter and sprayed it with electrical contact cleaner and carefully tried to clean with a cotton bud. By all accounts this tiny part is the main problem. because it mainly sits around 18 - 21 degrees, the copper plating on the potentialmeter wears away over the years.

The motor then gets confused and drives itself all the way to it's limit where it jams.

Anyway after I cleaned up the motor, it was working so I went to install it back in the car. as I went to insert the top screw, I dropped it and it disappeared......ahhhhhhh. I then started with the second screw and dropped the dam socket.

3 1/2 hours later, taking half the car apart, I found the screw which had falled between the carpet and the floor pan, it had dropped down behind the foot rest to the left of the clutch pedal which allowed it to go behind the carpet. I then found the socket wedged behind the foot rest bracket.

Post putting it all back together, you need to use VCDS to calibrate the new motor to your car, go into climate settings, 04 Basic Settings, then Channel 001. Takes about 30 seconds to calibrate and your hear the flap motors moving. It worked again, great news. 2 weeks later, it jammed itself again into the cold position. ahhhh bloody Audi!

I've come to the conclusion, it needs replacing, problem is I'm just not sure that all the ebay ones will be much better than the one I need to replace. At the end of the day, every Drivers Yellow one and every green screen demist motor are likely to be worn out on a 10 year old car that's done 100k + miles. TPS want £150 for a new one. I'm just a little unsure what to do next. Ideally I just need the small plastic potentialmeter part. But it's not sold seperately.

Great little money maker Audi!

Good luck.

Paul

[FrenchAudi]

............. yes I did this eariler this year. Same situation, error codes popping up in VCDS about the potentialmeter.

Ideally I just need the small plastic potentialmeter part. But it's not sold seperately .............

The pot measured out at about 4.5 k, so I have bought a couple of this item Piher PT 15 NV 5K Trimming Potentiometer, Horizontal | Conrad.com

As the ECU is looking at voltage, which is proportional to the position of the pot, the small difference in resistance shouldn't matter.

Anyway, I'll try it, and post the result here when I eventually get around to it. Cheaper than the last actuator I bought new on Ebay, for £120.