Blower flaps unresponsive

[sambo2]

Hi all, long time lurker but first actual post, hope that's ok.

I've got an issue with the blower unit on my facelift 8P 2.0 tdi. I first noticed it when the car continued to heat up despite having turned the unit down to 16 degrees. Did the standard turn off and on and checked the fuses, all fine but the problem's still there. Took the glove box out thinking it was a stuck flap and found that I'm not getting movement on any of them. The control unit is lighting up when you select the air direction and recirc but it doesn't seem to be transmitting this to the motors. It's currently stuck on the front screen demist on max temp. Fan is working properly, slows down and speeds up on the controls but temp and direction are unresponsive.

Next thought was to disconnect the battery this evening in the hope it was a sync issue.

I haven't run VCDS yet, was going to see if there's anyone close to me that would mind running a diagnostic? I'd be happy to pay them. (I'm in Pontypool, South Wales)

Has anyone come across this before? I've seen plenty of threads for fan issues and stuck flaps but none seem to have the unresponsive controls like I'm seeing.

Thanks

[VAG-Abound]

Which unit type is it? Manual dials, LCD displays, etc? On many types you can trigger a flap test by pressing a couple of the direction buttons together. and on the digital types read its fault codes on the little screens. See post 5 here for example: Climatronic error code.

[sambo2]

Thanks for the link, I'll give it a go.
I've got the dual zone unit, round dials that you click multiple times either way to adjust the temp in 0.5 deg increments, orange LCD display.

[VAG-Abound]

Good, that should do the self test and error reporting. One thing I recall is that it gives the error codes in non-decimal numbers so you need to use something like Windows Calculator in Programmer display to convert hexadecimal numbers like 0107 to decimal 0263 to then lookup on Ross Tech, forums, etc.

[sambo2]

Thanks bud. I'd have overlooked the hexadecimal numbering.
I should get a chance to take a look this afternoon.

[sambo2]

I didn't get any luck accessing the diagnostic menu through the climate unit. I tried all button combinations I could find online to no avail.

Took it to my local garage and they managed to pull the following
538 - reference voltage.
-Faulty reference voltage
Additional fault code info from ECU
-Short to earth
-Permanent fault

Anyone come across this before?
I haven't been fiddling with anything either! It just stopped working about a week ago on the way to work.
I'll pull the glove box out again and see if theres anything obvious. Is the climate module also behind there?

Thanks for the help, hopefully I'll get to the bottom of it!

[VAG-Abound]

The climate moduke is built into the climate control buttons. No extra box.

Mine showed short to ground and stopped working when the air conditioning pressure sensor aka G65 failed due to corrosion. It'll probably be at front of engine somewhere. Unplug its cable and the AV control unit will work, but correctly report missing G65 if it is this.

[sambo2]

Ah right, hopefully it's not that that's gone.

I just pulled the G65 plug to see if it would restore the flap movement but it didn't make a difference. Not sure if I need to clear the 538 fault first? I'll unplug again tomorrow and take it to the garage to see what codes it throws.

Thanks again for the help and suggestions.

[sambo2]

Thought I'd follow up on this in case anyone else came across a similar issue. After pulling various plugs off the air diverter motors and still having the same fault I eventually gave in and took it to a local auto electrician. They completely removed the dash and found one bad connection and the sunlight sensor was faulty. This was replaced and all is working fine now, my pockets are significantly lighter too!

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

Sam

[VAG-Abound]

Wow. That's quite a find!