Heater Flaps

[taxi3528]

Ever since I got the car around two years ago the heater has always gone cold when switched from floor to screen, only whacking the heat control knob up to almost the vertical does it stay warm, and that is with the air con turned off. Now when I shift the heater control knob from floor to vent I can now hear a flap within the heater moving. Is this noisy flap a sign of impending doom for the heater and more £'s flying out of the wallet? Car is a 59 r line.

[RichardSEL]

You saying "whacking the heat control knob up to almost the vertical" sounds like you've got the Climatic three-knob control system?
If so then you'll have to get a VCDS scan of you HVAC module to see what flap faults are being reported.

Yes, the flap control motor / mechanism can get stuck only partially opening.

On Climatic there's a bowden cable that controls the direction of flow connected to your third knob. If you've had the control panel out for any reason (changing CANbus module for better headunit is usual) then that can get re-connected wrongly so that the airflow director isn't fully directing fan airflow

[taxi3528]

Thanks for the reply, yes it's a three knob system. The control panel has never been out in my time and I don't know it's past, no heater faults have shown up on previous scans and I don't know what system he uses but he has been spot on with problems in the past. I will just have to wait and see how it develops and entrust the work to the usual problem.