Climate control issue

[Mav3riK]

Hi all,

I have a 2016 T6 (T30 Highline) with the manual climate controls. First long work drive in months yesterday and noticed the vent control had stopped working. Kind of. Selecting windscreen, feet or dash vents didn’t do anything, although selecting defrost would switch on the ac but not direct any air at the windscreen vents. There was a trickle of warm air coming from the all outlets whatever the setting. Selecting recirculate would create a lot of blower noise, like it was blowing against closed valves. The really weird thing was that using the screen washers had the same effect as pressing the recirculate button - it initiated a loud blowing for maybe 30s, then go back to how it was. Also selecting reverse would do the same, although this later stopped. I’ve noticed since I got the van four years ago that selecting reverse changed the blower noise but because everything worked so I just thought it was odd. I’ve never noticed using the screen washer effecting blower noise before, which seems bizarre.

I had the ac on to keep de-misted in the rain. Outside temp was about 7C. I looked at my ac pipes when I got to work (3 hour drive) and one was thick with ice. That may or may not be related to the problem. I have a hunch it is. I checked for fault codes but there were none.

For the return journey (4 hours later) I kept the ac off and all was ok, vent controls were working as normal. Selecting reverse still changed something and induces blower noise but then it always has. Thoughts?

 

[Loz]

Yes, as you have noticed, using washers or going into reverse automatically puts the recirculation on, this to prevent fumes from entering the cab this is operated by a motor.

You may find that the control cables that operate the flaps have become detached from the control knob?

 

[Mav3riK]

Thanks for that. Good to know, re reverse and the screen wash selecting recirculate. I've never come across that before in another vehicle.

The flaps worked on my way home when I had the a/c off, so them being stuck would appear to be related to the use of the a/c. Was the thick coating of ice round the one a/c pipe normal? Could that have interfered with the working of the flaps? If it's not normal, what's gone wrong?

 

[david harris]

I have the same issue. After about an hour of driving (usually with the aircon on) air stops coming out of any vents but the fan is still working. It makes no difference what I select on the panel.

 

[T6 Reiver]

Mine blows cold on the drivers side and hot everywhere else, is this linked to the same issues as above ?

 

[Ads_Essex]

I can hear and feel the flaps moving about constantly on mine, moving between face and feet blowers, so somethings up…
2015 Highline.

 

[Ads_Essex]

…
I fitted genuine cali heated seats using a kufatec loom and genuine t6 heated seat dash mounted dials/ controls.
…

My problem is that now the heater/AC blower goes round a continous loop from face- windscreen- feet and ignores the settings from the right hand control knob…

Did you ever resolve this? I tried a different climatic unit in mine to see if it would work but it didn’t, and perhaps that has upset my system?

 

[Ads_Essex]

I also tried a capacitive discharge but that has made no difference.

 

[Mav3riK]

I have the same issue. After about an hour of driving (usually with the aircon on) air stops coming out of any vents but the fan is still working. It makes no difference what I select on the panel.

I still have this issue. Did you ever resolve it?

 

[4x4rob]

Did you ever resolve this? I tried a different climatic unit in mine to see if it would work but it didn’t, and perhaps that has upset my system?

Did you resolve this, I have same in a T6.1 and it’s driving is mad, no fault code, constantly goes between windscreen, feet, center, hot and cold the same

 

[Ads_Essex]

Did you resolve this, I have same in a T6.1 and it’s driving is mad, no fault code, constantly goes between windscreen, feet, center, hot and cold the same

Yes - it turned out the plug connectors at the rear were loose. Removed and re-plugged them back in and all was normal again.

I tried a Passat unit and it didn’t work with the van, it having errors similar to yours, whereas @Littleblackflash tried a Golf unit and it did. Might have been the age of the unit that affected it, or because the Passat platform is more different than the Golf - I don’t know.

Some have had success with alternative climatic units - see the retrofit threads for more info.

But do check your rear connections are good. Because months later I thought my heater swirl-flaps were playing up (heater direction kept cycling from screen, fronts to feet and so on) but on investigating I found the connections at the back of the climatic unit to be loose.

I’ve retitled this to hopefully get you a bit more assistance.

 

[4x4rob]

Yes - it turned out the plug connectors at the rear were loose. Removed and re-plugged them back in and all was normal again.

Thanks so much for reply, I took it all apart and the plug on controls unit was fine but the plug on the motor on the left of vent box was out a little, could not get my hands in there but a wooden baton did the trick,
Thanks again