door flap for recirc ac not working too well

hello all. 97 passat tdi. the door/flap under the cabin filter is not 100%. if i press the button for it to close (recirc) it will not move. but if i help it up (yes, it goes up to close) by hand, about half way up, it will then close and stay closed on its own. it opens/down when i shut the engine off. so i'm guessing its vacuum activated. i'm also guessing that either i have a leak or the mechanism for the door is shot. solonoid is working. any ideas?

Check all the vacuum lines running to it. Heck, replace all the ones on the car, at this point it's due.

-Jason

are all the vacuum lines easy to get to and is there any test for the door actuator being the problem

I have the same symptoms with my 96 Passat. With engine running, if the recirc button is pressed, the flap will close if I give it a little tug. When I press the button for fresh air, the flap will open. But then it won't close on the recirc setting unless I give it a tug. If I hit the recirc button before the flap fully opens, it will close again.

Seems like I might have a vacuum leak. A lot of the vacuum hoses are frayed. How do you replace the hose that goes through the firewall?


I tried pulling on it, but it seems glued in. Do you have to take the whole dash apart to get to it?

i would like to know that also. hopefully someone will help with that

In this post, http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=191156&highlight=vacuum, I tryed to explain the recirculation vacuum hoses replacement. Hope this helps, good luck!

i'll try that when i get the time. thanks, rune