2000alhVW
Veteran Member
My 2000 Golf has become my daily driver. And I do drive it daily.
All has been calm.
But this evening, I was making my 200 mile trip back to school. To keep the cabin decently warm, I turn the temp dial 80% to hot, fan on 1, with re-circ off.
About 1 hour in, I hear an odd scratching noise. Just a quick one-time flick or scrape. Then I hear it again. Maybe a double motion this time.
"Wow I guess I have a couple leaves stuck in the cowl"
I hear it again maybe 2 minutes later. Hmmm...
I turn blower motor to 2 hoping to jostle the leaves loose.
I hear lots of motion.
Before, it had my curiosity, now it has my attention.
I turn blower to 4 with heat on 100%. This thing goes crazy. Several scratching/scraping noises, what seems like scurrying or frantic movement.
I turn it back down realizing that something may get chewed through in a primal panic. I would like to avoid that if possible.
Less heat, less movement.
I pull into a gas station, turn blower on 4, and squat in footwell with a flashlight. Nothin'
Hmm...
I finish my trip, and this thing is moving around a lot. Heat or no heat, there's scratching. Occasionally I heard weird noises, such as that electrical sound when a capacitor charges up. Kinda like the sound these MK4s make when the interior light timer expires and the lights dim out, or the sound a large camera flash makes.
I heard that noise twice, and thought it chewed through a relay or something. Additionally, there was a time I heard an odd whistle while pressing on the throttle.
I get to my destination and tear the dash apart as much as I can with no torx tools. I pulled off steering shaft cowl behind pedals, and removed fuse panel covers.
10 minutes looking with a flashlight, and I got nothing. No rodent eye contact. No droppings. Nothing chewed up. No collection of foam/carpet nesting. And I heard this thing like between my feet and the steering wheel.
Any ideas?
All has been calm.
But this evening, I was making my 200 mile trip back to school. To keep the cabin decently warm, I turn the temp dial 80% to hot, fan on 1, with re-circ off.
About 1 hour in, I hear an odd scratching noise. Just a quick one-time flick or scrape. Then I hear it again. Maybe a double motion this time.
"Wow I guess I have a couple leaves stuck in the cowl"
I hear it again maybe 2 minutes later. Hmmm...
I turn blower motor to 2 hoping to jostle the leaves loose.
I hear lots of motion.
Before, it had my curiosity, now it has my attention.
I turn blower to 4 with heat on 100%. This thing goes crazy. Several scratching/scraping noises, what seems like scurrying or frantic movement.
I turn it back down realizing that something may get chewed through in a primal panic. I would like to avoid that if possible.
Less heat, less movement.
I pull into a gas station, turn blower on 4, and squat in footwell with a flashlight. Nothin'
Hmm...
I finish my trip, and this thing is moving around a lot. Heat or no heat, there's scratching. Occasionally I heard weird noises, such as that electrical sound when a capacitor charges up. Kinda like the sound these MK4s make when the interior light timer expires and the lights dim out, or the sound a large camera flash makes.
I heard that noise twice, and thought it chewed through a relay or something. Additionally, there was a time I heard an odd whistle while pressing on the throttle.
I get to my destination and tear the dash apart as much as I can with no torx tools. I pulled off steering shaft cowl behind pedals, and removed fuse panel covers.
10 minutes looking with a flashlight, and I got nothing. No rodent eye contact. No droppings. Nothing chewed up. No collection of foam/carpet nesting. And I heard this thing like between my feet and the steering wheel.
Any ideas?
