Shuttle Caravelle ceiling vents stuck on side windows. VCDS adaptation?

[Broadside]

On my Shuttle the ceiling vents in the rear are stuck on side vent only, the control panel should allow you to swap between side vents, main vents or both, it has never worked on mine.


Following advice on here I dropped the headliner at the rear where it meets the D pillar air duct and found the small servo motor for the control flap which swaps between side and main vents. The gear wheel had snapped off presumably because the motor rotated too far. It causes the air flow to default to the side windows only and shuts off the main air vents.

I got a replacement motor which seems to do the exact same thing, before connecting it is set in one position (on the wooden board in the photo) and then it auto rotates, but the position it goes too (shown with the white background) is beyond the physical stops of the gear which causes it to shear off. I have opened the motor to manually change the position but as soon as I connect it to the van it auto rotates again to precisely the same position, it must have an optical sensor inside to determine the position of the gear wheel.

After Googling it turns out these servomotors appear in most VAG cars to control cabin airflow, they are not just a Transporter thing.

My question is when fitting a new servo motor do you need to put in some adaptation in VCDS to tell it how to set the motor. I don’t have VCDS myself but I am intrigued how it works. I am quite likely to just jam something in the duct to leave it on main vents anyway and just remove the motor.

The VW part references were very hard to find out, the dealership had to get their top man to find it in ETKA.

Servomotor 2Q0907511G
Gear train 7E0898903A

 

[Vasicrisssss]

Hello,
I had exactly the same problem. The only difference it is at the servomotor. Mine it is another producer, probably aftermarket.
I glued that small gear in an certain position, and with the vent off I put that flap in the position that blows in the direction of the chairs, not to the window. After that I put back the servo, disconnected. No error (or I didn’t noticed any).
But I follow this post if somebody found any solution to make it functional.

 

[andrewarnich]

Hello,

I'm sitting with the same issue....no air on passengers. Was it easy to get to the servo, link and gears, or would I have to take the complete inner panel off to get to the servo and link? Mine seemed to be positioned between the blower unit and the outer body panel.

 

[Vasicrisssss]

I had the servo with some broken parts inside, there are 2 white gears there, I tried to glue them back, but at the first operation they we’re broken again. I bought one from eBay, just changed it, and it is working just fine since then (2 years). I didn’t had to make any adaptations via VCDS.
I suppose (just my opinion) that it can be an issue when it is operated when the fan it is at a higher speed, in that moment can appear a too big force on the servo to move the flaps from one position to another.

 

[ThysT6]

I do have same issue. Did you fix your problem. I can see the servo motor for the heater but can't see the servo motor for the flaps

 

[ThysT6]

Hello,

I'm sitting with the same issue....no air on passengers. Was it easy to get to the servo, link and gears, or would I have to take the complete inner panel off to get to the servo and link? Mine seemed to be positioned between the blower unit and the outer body panel.

Did you find the servo motor? The reason for asking is because I do have same issue no air on passengers

 

[Vasicrisssss]

I do have same issue. Did you fix your problem. I can see the servo motor for the heater but can't see the servo motor for the flaps

The servo for cold/heat and the servo for foot/ceiling selection are on the HVAC system.
The head/window servo it is above the ceiling lining, somewhere near the rear door, but there are some clips of the lining that you must unclip with something (like a bbq fork, don’t laugh, this is what I had use, probably it is also a specific tool for them) to reach that servo.

 

[ThysT6]

Is it possible for photo's to see where this is fitted

 

[Vasicrisssss]

I hope this will help you.

 

[ThysT6]

What is behind where you marked "head and foot"

 

[Vasicrisssss]

There is the servo for the selection between sending the air to the foot or to the upper part (head and window). For head and window, from the HVAC the air is sent through a foam plastic pipe hidden below the cover of the pillar above the HVAC. After that, where I marked the area in the second picture, is made the selection, with another servo, between the head or window direction.

 

[ThysT6]

Thanks for your response. Is it a big job to remove the liner in picture 2, that is to get to the servo that switches between the window and head?

 

[n10n]

Remove the cover just behind the tailgate in the ceiling. This just pulls down. Bend the liner catiously down and you will see the flap, you’ll be able to unplug it and with some luck you might be able to remove the flap servo without taking the liner down.

If you have to take the liner down it is pretty tedious job but not huge. Basically two man job although I (barely) managed to do it by myself. Remove all the handles. Then lights and vents, these just come down as big blocks so don’t try to get individual lights out. All B,C and D pillar upper covers need to be removed as well. After that, it’s just a very brisk pull down starting from the front part, feels like something will be broken. And indeed most of the clips holding the liner will be broken so better get a bag of those in advance.

Position Sensor for Rear Air Distribution Flap 2

 

[Vasicrisssss]

You don’t have to take all the liner down. It has some lines of clips that holds it there. You have just to unclip the last line. There are, if I remember well, 4 clips in line there and also if you have the last folding handles. All this will allow you to lower the liner enough to remove the servo and to check the correct movement of the flap.
You have to be careful when you install the new servo to check the servo position and the flap position to be the same (meaning that if the servo it is at window position, the flap to be also at the window, otherwise at the first operation something will be damaged).