Blend Door Repair Secret '96 Passat B4V

ketchupshirt88

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2012
Location
waupaca, WI
TDI
2005 Passat daily, a bunch of others in the graveyard out back...
i just spent the whole day doing this... but i tore the dash out and the airbag. i didnt start out that way but i just couldnt get my fat hands in there so i just removed everything in the way. now that i know how it all goes together i think i could do this in 4-6 hours including pulling the dash up... but the dash was impossible for me to put back in with out removing the airbag.

looking for a B3 glovebox to go in airbag hole if anyone has a line on one.

***edit: user steve addy got me a glovebox, fits perfect and came with a key to boot***

unfortunately i needed to button it up and go home and i forgot something... my blower fan control doesnt work. ill have to pull the hvac controls again in the morning and fix it. pretty sure i just left it unplugged.
 
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tripl-e

Veteran Member
Joined
May 22, 2006
Location
Basking Ridge, NJ USA
TDI
b4 sporting a new ET 6th gear!
First of all a big THANKS! to diesel300dmanual and ToddA1 for pioneering this effort. Like others here, I was putting up with the marginal creature comfort rather than deal with a complete dash removal. But this procedure looked easy enough to manage. I took ToddA1's extra step(s) of removing the airbag, mount bracket and dash distribution plenum. One caveat here is that the top bolts on the air bag mount are not easy access and more than a little patience is called for. The real benefit of this method is the clear access to the repair area. With the distribution plenum out of the way, access to the foamless doors is clear and easy. And is sure is nice to have heat this time of year!:D
 

ToddA1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 3, 2011
Location
NJ 08002
TDI
'96 B4V, '97 B4 (sold), '97 Jetta (scrapped)
Well, I appreciate the props, but I in no way pioneered this method. I may have come up with the extra step to save time and effort, but it's truley a group effort.

Did you lift the dash? If so, the A/B bracket screws should be easy to remove either with a ratcheting box end or 1/4" ratchet and 8mm socket. I think I used the latter.

-Todd
 

Col Sanders

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Location
Illinois
TDI
97 B4 Green And it's Possessed 2001 Audi A4 AFN SWAP
Going to tackle the blend door problem starting tomorrow. Probably use felt and Hvac tape. I didn't realize B4's came from the factory with heaters.
 

TonyJetta

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 15, 2005
Location
Tucson, Az
TDI
'15 Jetta TDI SE / '06 Jetta TDI DSG Pkg0 / '96 Passat TDI
Not likely. The plenum is going to be different.

Tony
Sent from my e-diesel fleet
 

TheDguy

New member
Joined
Oct 19, 2014
Location
SoCal
TDI
1997 Jetta AHU
I just tried to do this on my A3 Jetta (97 model year if it matters). The knee bar/crash support has to come out to get the whole box unit out or even the front off to get good access to the doors. Getting the bloody bar off means getting the steering column off.

I was able to do this by getting the dash out alone and working from the top of the HVAC box, I'm "lucky" enough to have small enough hands to get in the hole and was able to use felt tape. The only reason this route worked was cause the tape was tacky enough to stick, but if it no so much that you couldn't peal it a bit if it tried to stick to anything you didn't want.

Also getting the entire door covered on 1 side was nigh impossible. So far I have a hell of a lot better heat than I did before (keeping in mind, I'm in Socal where we are currently "freezing" our asses off at post-50F temps).

Did VW decide to build this cars by starting with a heater core/hvac unit in mind and assemble around it?
 

lisab4

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2013
Location
Belgium
TDI
1996 Passat B4 1.9 TDI
I think we could start a line for that :/ That and the doorhandles,central locking system,...
 

Steve Addy

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Location
Iowa
TDI
97 Mk3
Yes...yes they did. And I'd love to slap the engineer that came up with that stupid design, among others.
MB did the same thing with the W140 and that car is a lot more complicated than the Passat or Jetta. Having the evaporator replaced in that chassis is a several thousand dollar event.

Steve
 

Col Sanders

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Location
Illinois
TDI
97 B4 Green And it's Possessed 2001 Audi A4 AFN SWAP
I removed the plenum to get at the doors, clear access to doors, a layer of hvac tape then felt sticky over that. There is a easy way to remove the airbag. take out the bottom Phillips screws on the airbag cover, ( the front that should be a glove box ) then you can raise the cover up and sit in pass seat with a 8mm socket and 8" extension, 3 min job. No need to stand on head and work blind. Airbag will stay out, I used a 3.5 ohm resister in airbag plug, no light ! Thanks to all for the good info, nice to have heat !
 

lsantin1969

New member
Joined
Mar 1, 2014
Location
San Mateo, CA
TDI
'96 Passat Wagon
I just completed diesel300dmanual's original procedure. Awesome! I had some extra Dynaliner, which should hold up well to heat. I cut two pieces roughly 3" x 7", and managed to place the pieces square onto the two blend doors. It's great to have heat and direct air flow.

Thanks for the great write up, diesel300dmanual!
 

LLL

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2006
Location
Europe
TDI
'95 Red Passat TDI 90hp 5 manual
My ventilation is strange. A few months ago, I noticed foam is showing up from the vents. I have great heating and cooling, but something else is weird - no matter where the regulation knob is positioned (up, down, up & down or windshield) air blows from the upper vents all the time, or when the knob is on the position to blow down, it doesn't blow at all, etc, etc...
Does this situation is caused by the foam came off from the blend door? Thanks.
 

Steve Addy

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Location
Iowa
TDI
97 Mk3
My ventilation is strange. A few months ago, I noticed foam is showing up from the vents. I have great heating and cooling, but something else is weird - no matter where the regulation knob is positioned (up, down, up & down or windshield) air blows from the upper vents all the time, or when the knob is on the position to blow down, it doesn't blow at all, etc, etc...
Does this situation is caused by the foam came off from the blend door? Thanks.
As Abacus said, two doors. The second is hidden behind the first.



Steve
 

LLL

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2006
Location
Europe
TDI
'95 Red Passat TDI 90hp 5 manual
Ok, thanks. So, does it mean that I have to cover the door the foam came off from, to get proper air flow? How to reach the second door?
 
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rpeasley

Active member
Joined
Jul 30, 2015
Location
sault Sainte Marie MI
TDI
96 Passat
Great information

I'm right in the middle of replacing the foam on the blend doors. Sure wish I had read all the way through the posts before starting. I removed a lot more items than I needed to. The pictures were especially helpful and the advice about the dash bolts/screws on each side being removed for more wiggle room.
 

rpeasley

Active member
Joined
Jul 30, 2015
Location
sault Sainte Marie MI
TDI
96 Passat
B3 Glove Box

Reading through this thread I am very interested in replacing my airbag with a glove box. Anyone know where I might be able to find one?
 

LLL

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2006
Location
Europe
TDI
'95 Red Passat TDI 90hp 5 manual
Can anybody give me an advice, is this thing good for repairing blend and mode doors? It's sticky alu tape... what about AC temperatures? The guy in the store said that it
will be there even after ten years!... opinions?
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Abacus

That helpful B4 guy
Joined
Nov 10, 2007
Location
Relocated from Maine to Dewey, AZ
TDI
Only the B4V left
It's probably similar to the sticky aluminum tape used in heating and ventilation systems. I have used it before with good results but I cannot speak of the long term reliability.
 

rwolff

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2002
Location
Lesser continental mass, Tosev 3
TDI
None yet
I'd steer clear of that stuff. Exhaust repair bandages need to withstand high temperatures, and adhesives which can do that usually have little to no initial "tack". Usually what happens is that they either have a high-temperature-only adhesive and need mechanical (i.e. wrapped completely around) attachment, or have a dual adhesive (initial "tack", and final adhesive). In both cases, the high-temperature adhesive (usually a silicate) needs to be exposed to high temperatures to set properly - your blend door won't get hot enough.
 

LLL

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2006
Location
Europe
TDI
'95 Red Passat TDI 90hp 5 manual
I think it will work. I'll put this adhesive seal on the alu tape which freely withstands temps from -40°C to +90°C and is very reliable!
(I often use it at work, it has amazing characteristics!).
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Mcgink

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2004
Location
South of Boston MA
TDI
I-Red,"The Passat formerly known as Harlequin" 97 B4, a non VW GTDI too
I think it will work. I'll put this adhesive seal on the alu tape which freely withstands temps from -40°C to +90°C and is very reliable!
(I often use it at work, it has amazing characteristics!).
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IMO, you're overthinking this project. Just use one of the 3 products that the rest of us have. Keep in mind that you still need to be a contortionist to do the blend door repair short-cut.
 
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