heater controls
Discussion
The heater control on my car that switches from cabin to window demist, does not appear to change anything. The lever moves, but the blown air always comes out through through the windscreen vents only. I get very little air coming out of the centre and side vents. Is this a common issue/fault/by design? Before I start looking to see where the fault might be, can anyone point me in the right direction?
The hot/cold control, does work in as much as it switches the hot air on and off. I assume this is as much control as I am likely to get.
The cold air feed pipes that come through the engine bay are still there. I understand some people remove theirs. Once they go in to the wing / bulkhead, where do they go? Do they feed in to the whole system, or just to two vents?
If anyone has any advice to offer about the heater system, please let me know. I might be expecting too much from the car and what appears to be a fairly basic heater/cooling system, but it would be nice to know how 'normal' mine is.
The hot/cold control, does work in as much as it switches the hot air on and off. I assume this is as much control as I am likely to get.
The cold air feed pipes that come through the engine bay are still there. I understand some people remove theirs. Once they go in to the wing / bulkhead, where do they go? Do they feed in to the whole system, or just to two vents?
If anyone has any advice to offer about the heater system, please let me know. I might be expecting too much from the car and what appears to be a fairly basic heater/cooling system, but it would be nice to know how 'normal' mine is.
The centre console vents are force fed from the pipes which run from the bonnet and enter the body behind the wheel arch. Even when you’re moving there’s not much flow. The footwell vents are fed by flexible pipes from the heater which may or not be connected. Have a look underneath the dash and see what you can see. All that happens when you move the slider is that a flap is raised or lowered inside the heater box which directs air either up to the screen and side vents or down to the pipes which may or may not connect to the footwell vents. It’s really basic!
On mine that flap Joe mentioned did not completely close off the air flow to the screen when moved to "interior" position so 99% of air still took the far easier route to the screen vents.
While the heater was out a while ago (not a five minute job) I managed to modify it a bit so it completely closes and I can now get a reasonable amount of warm air from the footwell vents.
It's also quite possible that over time, with various owners messing with things, that one or more ducts are no longer attached to where they should be?
v8s4me said:
The centre console vents are force fed from the pipes which run from the bonnet and enter the body behind the wheel arch. Even when you’re moving there’s not much flow.
This is a timely topic for me as I have just ordered tubing to replace the two ducts which run from the bonnet to the interior. My question is this - do the two tubes run directly to the centre console eyeball vents i.e. drivers side tube supplies the RH eyeball and nearside tube the LH eyeball vent or is there an interconnection with the rest of the ventilation system behind the dash?Both under bonnet tubes were missing when I bought my S3.
An update on the heater system.
I removed the old and broken alarm systems from the car yesterday, which has really tidied up the wiring. I found that 3 different alarms/immobiliser have been fitted in the past. None worked, and all had been left behind, with most of the wires connected somewhere. How the car actually ran is a mystery.
Anyway, while I had the centre console out I found that the two heater pipes, that feed the eyeball vents either side of the radio, both had a black mesh stretched over the end of the pipe where the two bits of pipe join together. The mesh was a black fine fabric (a bit like ladies tights). Removing the mesh revealed what I can only assume is 22 years worth of dead flies, leaf material and dust. This might explain the poor air flow through the heater. A quick blast with the hoover and they are gone. I have reassembled the pipes without the mesh. I know I might get a few bits of debris in the car, but as it is driven with the roof off mostly that happens anyway.
I now need to check if the same mesh is on the rest of the pipes.
I removed the old and broken alarm systems from the car yesterday, which has really tidied up the wiring. I found that 3 different alarms/immobiliser have been fitted in the past. None worked, and all had been left behind, with most of the wires connected somewhere. How the car actually ran is a mystery.
Anyway, while I had the centre console out I found that the two heater pipes, that feed the eyeball vents either side of the radio, both had a black mesh stretched over the end of the pipe where the two bits of pipe join together. The mesh was a black fine fabric (a bit like ladies tights). Removing the mesh revealed what I can only assume is 22 years worth of dead flies, leaf material and dust. This might explain the poor air flow through the heater. A quick blast with the hoover and they are gone. I have reassembled the pipes without the mesh. I know I might get a few bits of debris in the car, but as it is driven with the roof off mostly that happens anyway.
I now need to check if the same mesh is on the rest of the pipes.
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