Stuart's Volkswagen Golf Mk 7/VII Forum

Hey , I saw your post and found it interesting because I have had to also replace the driver and passenger side actuators in my mk7 (dual zone) those motors and the recirc does not involve taking the dash apart at all. I replaced the passenger side one myself without a lot of hassle. Message back if you would find more info interesting! Cheers, Jamie

Hi Jamie,

Thanks for your message. Yes I think you are right. I had that problem with the faulty AC recirculation actuator on my Mk 7 for years and it really annoyed me. I looked into fixing it myself but I got the impression it was too much for me. I sold the car last year and now, I am seeing loads of videos on YouTube showing how easily it is to get to and replace (without replacing the dash). Oh well, you live and learn.

Thanks for your help. Feel free to share any more info you have with me and it might end up on my website so more people can benefit.

Stuart

Ahhh so you’ve sold the car and I’m assuming you have something different now? (I misread your reply)
Yeah so the reason that I knew the temperatures weren’t right is because the pretentiometer within the motor loses its min/ max values and mine made a horrible crunching noise and found a wee white plastic cog on the drivers side footwell - that’s when I traced it back to the heater flap. Admittedly, I got the dealer to fit mine free of charge on a one off goodwill basis (I paid for the part) around 90-100 quid. The passenger one I did myself, and when I heard this horrible noise, I knew exactly what is was. So I took the soft baffle plate off under the glovebox and, yes, another small cog so I knew exactly what it was. The passenger side was a bit of a pain (the smaller the tools eg rachet tool you have - the better)

As long as you’re reasonably flexible and don’t mind lying in an awkward position for a while it’s something one can do themselves. I have very limited experience in fixing anything in cars , but even I managed it. One thing I didn’t do is code the new motor to the car but apparently you don’t need to as they’re 180 degrees sweep. The garage probably put it in a service mode or function but I managed fine after a bit of fiddling and it’s been working fine for ages. All I did was removed the trim that runs along the centre console for access and it’s removed with one torx bolt so it’s really easy! It’s just an awkward position to fit it. I don’t have any photos of during the job but the motor can be seen quite easily if you look up after removal of that one bit of trim.

My recirc motor is fine and works as it should with no noises. However, as you said before, with a bit of searching and the help of utube , it looks like it’s accessible through the glovebox after removing a couple of things.

I still have my golf 7, the only thing that mine seems to do (can’t remember if it’s always done it) but when using the windscreen button for the airflow (particularly when cold) it goes away when hot air begins to come through is i get a bit of noise from the flap , like a couple of taps under the dashboard. I think that’s the only motor that would require dashboard removal. However, it does seem to work fine. Can you remember if yours did that?

Cheers, Jamie

Hi Jamie,

Thanks for the info. Sounds like you’ve had more problems with your Mk 7’s climate control than me. I don’t recall ever hearing any noises in my car.

I usually left my car’s Climate Control in the AUTO position and usually it seemed to work fine. The only problem was occasionally, usually when driving in rain, the windscreen would suddenly fog up – still no weird sounds. When this happened I used to have to switch from AUTO to Max Windscreen Defrost and this would clear the windscreen within about 10 seconds. However, the problem could reoccur a few more times the same trip. I just imagined this could only be caused by a problem with the air recirculation flap although, as I said, I never got very far with my investigations.

I sold my Mk 7 for a GTE last May. Fortunately my new car doesn’t appear to have any problems with it’s Climate Control. But if anything does appear in future, I’ll be more inclined to investigate further following your advice.

Thanks again,
Stuart

Thanks Stuart for the useful info ! :)