RE: AC / Climate control or lack there-of (fix for stiff selector lever) [long]

[Chris Coracini <Coracin@usdl.com>]

> What I did is I went under the hood to the valve
> that controls the amount of coolant that is allowed into the car.  What
> was
> happening is the selector knob in the car was not closing the valve all
> the
> way allowing hot coolant in the heater core.  So I used my hand to close
> it as
> tightly as possible and I don't have the problem anymore.  I never use my
> heat
> (Florida), but if you do you will have to close it mannually agian.
> 
> Brian 86 16v
> 
not only do i live in florida, but i also have an 86 16V that ALSO had the
same problem.  spooky.....  every time i would use the heat (when i lived in
NC) it wouldn't close all the way, so i would go under the hood and close
the lever manually, just like you do.  but i fixed it by ordering a new
valve (it was all of $10) and adjusting the cable so it closed tightly when
i moved the lever over to cold.  
	i would check to see if the valve is closing all the way.  i believe
you also said that with the other lever all the way to the left it still
would not recirc the air?  if you can't find a vacuum leak, it may be that
the lever isn't fully going to the left.  on mine, i have to pull out the
end of the lever just a tad (so the square rubber end doesn't hit the panel
when i move it to the left) and then it will move the last 2 or 3 mm needed
to turn the recirc mode on.  
	one last thing that you may want to do (but this involves a bit of
work...) is to take apart the vacuum thingy that diverts the air to all the
flaps, clean it and lube it with silicon.  it make a WORLD of difference, i
recommend it to *everybody* that has a stiff selector lever.  mine slides
back and forth like butter now and i did this soon after i got mine (about 7
years ago...)  VW puts white grease in there, but it starts to get stiff
over time.  it's not hard at all once you get in there.  i think i just took
the face off the A/C and maybe something else.  once inside, you will see
the vacuum thingy.  it's attached to the lever and it's white (mine was),
looks like a one of those things that women have to put powder on.... a
compact, yeah, that's it.  there is a C-clip that holds the two halves
together.  i just popped it open, wiped all the grease out of it, sprayed
some silicon in there, put it back together.  i remember there being a
spring of some sort, so watch out for that.  but it was fairly easy, because
i did this about 6 years ago when i wasn't that experienced yet.

chris
86 16V scirocco



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