Blend door arm...grrrrr!!!!

[PakProtector]

On my '02 Jetta the arm and pivot fell out. Heat went from zero to something like 3/4's on. Got under there, peeking in from driver's side after removing the front bit of footwell cover and saw it dropped out of contact with the tongue of the blend door itself( a wee bit of interweb research gave me some idea of what I was looking for).

One, there is darn near no room to play with this.

Two, thanks to no room, a bit of preventative attention will save this from *EVER happening. Once I get it working again, the intended fix is to glue a block right underneath so it can't fall out again. Epoxy and a thumb-sized bit o' delrin( or PEEK, or Nylon, or... ).

After discovering the issue, I made a quick try at stuffing it back in. It did not properly pick up the door and adjusting the knob did nothing for the temperature output. That is going to be a real PITA, but once working the block will keep it from ever happening again. Installing the block is simple compared to trying to fix it after it falls out...LOL

Douglas

 

[yeahkkyle]

Back in 2015 I had the same thing happen, driving along in the summer and all of a sudden I had full heat. I even think I bought an aluminum one from ECS tuning but never installed. I got the pivot and arm aligned/reinstalled and glued a short piece of like 3/4" heater hose underneath with 1/8" gap so if it did ever try to fall out it wouldn't the entire way. Been holding strong since then.

 

[jmodge]

On my '02 Jetta the arm and pivot fell out. Heat went from zero to something like 3/4's on. Got under there, peeking in from driver's side after removing the front bit of footwell cover and saw it dropped out of contact with the tongue of the blend door itself( a wee bit of interweb research gave me some idea of what I was looking for).

One, there is darn near no room to play with this.

Two, thanks to no room, a bit of preventative attention will save this from *EVER happening. Once I get it working again, the intended fix is to glue a block right underneath so it can't fall out again. Epoxy and a thumb-sized bit o' delrin( or PEEK, or Nylon, or... ).

After discovering the issue, I made a quick try at stuffing it back in. It did not properly pick up the door and adjusting the knob did nothing for the temperature output. That is going to be a real PITA, but once working the block will keep it from ever happening again. Installing the block is simple compared to trying to fix it after it falls out...LOL

Douglas

Can’t you just stuff your t-shirt in there and pull it back out when it gets cold?

 

[454k30]

oh yeah. I've had to deal with this a few times now, always when driving through 100+*F. The trick i now use is to turn the fan on high, that way the airflow holds the door in a position. I've found if I don't do this, that the door will flop back and forth, and thus making the reconnection even more difficult. Then I try to match to my best ability the temp knob to what I think the air coming out of the vents is at. Cycling the knob while applying a little bit of upward force usually gets it to pop back into place. I've teased the idea of applying some epoxy to the groove on the arm before install, but this never happens when I'm near a garage or just happen to have epoxy with me. I'm also a little concerned that I won't have the alignment quite right and then would be stuck with a misadjusted or non-moving door.

 

[PakProtector]

Now that is a bit strange; I have done the wiggle in order to get it to return to its spot but I still have no control over the heat. I don't quite see how that is possible...

I am getting slightly nuts and want to avoid taking the whole darned thing apart( at a minimum to the level where one would be able to access the door) so I can confirm the knob is moving the door.

Douglas

 

[JDSwan87]

Do you have access to a cheap borescope camera? Thinking put it down the center stack of vents and see what you can see....

 

[JETaah]

I dealt with this recently. If you get a little telescopic inspection mirror you can stick it under there to see whats going on in the hole. The end of the door prong that fits the bushing wants to flop around and fall off to the side. You wind up getting the bushing in without engaging the door...as you well know by now.
I stuck a chunk of ~2" poly foam under there to keep the lever in place until the new bushing came.

 

[csstevej]

What JETaah said…
I believe coolair vw has an improved style that he make up in a printer and sells them.

 

[STDOUBT]

^I think this is it, and I think it was Cool's buddy that made them.
Not looking forward to the day when I have to install them lol.

VW MK4 Blend Door pin bushing ***IMPROVED** for Jetta Golf Beetle PN 1H0819136 | eBay

"That bushing worked perfect. (prestonwert1254). - One year warranty! Should you ever have an issue with the bushing ( with. I've redesigned this bushing to prevent failure of the tabbed ears that plagues the original OEM part. ).

www.ebay.com

 

[J_dude]

I had the same problem. Instead of your block idea (which probably would have been simpler) I made a small metal bracket that screws into some existing unused mounting points on the bottom of the box, with a tab on one side to hold the arm in.
And yes it’s hard to get in there, and I didn’t take pictures...
Pretty sure I only removed the center console to get down there though.

 

[PakProtector]

^I think this is it, and I think it was Cool's buddy that made them.
Not looking forward to the day when I have to install them lol.

VW MK4 Blend Door pin bushing ***IMPROVED** for Jetta Golf Beetle PN 1H0819136 | eBay

"That bushing worked perfect. (prestonwert1254). - One year warranty! Should you ever have an issue with the bushing ( with. I've redesigned this bushing to prevent failure of the tabbed ears that plagues the original OEM part. ).

www.ebay.com

I think that if you block the thing from falling out, you will never need to get in there for a replacement.

Douglas

 

[STDOUBT]

I think that if you block the thing from falling out, you will never need to get in there for a replacement.

Douglas

Sure, but if you do end up having to pull the blend door box to repair the foam-loss issue, it's better to have a nice replacement for that adjuster "pin". These new ones don't fall out.
EDIT:

 

[PakProtector]

I ran in through its front door to install plugs to fix the missing foam issue. The plan is to get it that far open again so I can manipulate the door so the pin goes in its slot.

Douglas