Fred Duck

I included a typo in my reply in that it's the aircon pressure sensor, not valve. It detects a drop in aircon gas pressure and puts the fans into safety mode ie. running all the time. In my case, it was the sensor itself that was faulty and leaked the aircon gas (VCDS picks this up). If your aircon was working fine before it was 'serviced' and it's not now, I'd suggest that either the 'service' hasn't worked or the increase in pressure has caused the sensor (or something else) to fail leaking the gas. Either way, if there's no gas pressure the fans will run all the time. FD

Yes, but only in the last few days. The problem was with the air con pressure valve that was leaking gas. When this happens, the fans go into safety mode and run all the time. Replace valve, re-gas and all back to normal. FD

Many thanks. As far as I can see, the fan controller is integral with the fan being mounted within the fan housing. You can see it in the photo of the reverse side in this Euro Car Parts listing on Ebay - I think, might just be the motor itself. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Autogamma-GA200497-Car-Engine-Radiator-Cooling-Fan-Electric-Replacement-Spare-/332068744506?hash=item4d50d6ed3a:g:fD8AAOSwaEhZEdtz FD

Regretfully, I don't have any access to VCDS nor do I know anyone who has. FD

No. Same happens when Climatronic is in auto or manual mode or even when it's turned off. This has only started to happen this last two/three days. Had the car two years and during that time, the fans have only come on now and then as you would expect them to. FD

57 Plate 2 litre TDI Laurin & Klement. These last couple of days, the engine fans have started running within 20 seconds or so of starting the car and continue to run, flat out it seems, until the engine is turned off. This happens when starting from both cold and hot. I've looked through previous threads about similar problems but these tend to relate to fans that come on randomly whether the engine is running or not. So far, once the engine is turned off, the fans stop and don't start up. The dashboard temperature gauge shows the same reading it's always done, there are no warning lights lit, the external temperature read out seems accurate, the air con appears to be working normally, the car is loosing no coolant and there are no signs at all of any overheating. In days gone by I'd have changed the fan thermo switch with this sort of issue but the car doesn't have one having, instead, a 'Fan Control Unit' built into the fan housing. I've pulled the connections to this and they're clean and the under bonnet fuse box is dry and shows no signs of corrosion. I can only assume that it is the 'Fan Control Unit' that is faulty but would be grateful for any other advice others might have before I look at changing it and the fans. FD

Update. Removed glovebox and, after a bit of fiddling about, managed to disconnect the power plug from the recirc flap motor. Removed heater blower and was able to set the flaps into the none recirc position i.e. air flow is from the outside through the pollen filter. The recirc function doesn't work now (well, it wouldn't would it) but everything else seems to and no clicking noise. So far, so good..........! The photos at http://uk-mkivs.net/topic/4360-recirc-air-flap-motor-v71-remove-and-replace-guide/ were very useful in actually locating the servo and the connector. FD

I've changed two lock mechanisms using pattern parts from ebay. I think they cost something like £30 inc. p&p each from JM Car Parts (ebay name jmcarpartz). Both worked fine. The process for changing them is pretty straight forward and is well described in the Haynes manual. FD

Thanks again. Was going to start this afternoon but raining so, hopefully, a job for Friday. Although the motor is making a constant noise as it tries to do its job, what I have proved this morning on a 20 mile trip is that everything except the recirc function works perfectly. Air flow moves between the various vents as the various buttons are pressed and it gets hot and very cold as the temperature is adjusted. I imagine that the recirc flap is stuck in the open position as the car doesn't steam up. FD

Reading about this problem on this and other web sites, some people say that setting the recirc. flap to open and disconnecting the flap motor is a quick fix. I never use recirc. (it simply makes the windows steam up) so, assuming I can find the thing and get to it, is this a realistic option? If so, I suppose it would be too much to hope that the recirc. motor has a dedicated fuse! Thanks, FD

Many thanks. No, no other issues at all. However, yesterday morning when this all started it was particularly cold and the first few turns of the engine were a little laboured as if the battery was a touch low. I have to confess that it's still the original battery fitted in Sept 2002 so, perhaps, it might be reaching the end of its life!! I'd like to get to the bottom of this as whilst the car has done 145k, I've had it since 55k/2008 and it's still super economical, rust free with excellent paint, uses no oil, water etc. and will still average 60 mph and 60 mpg on a decent run. FD

I realise this has been discussed before but my 2002 1.9TDi Elegance yesterday started making the 'clicking' noise from behind the dash. This started as a regular, slow clicking that stopped when the car was moving but returned whenever it stopped (lights, road junction etc.). This afternoon, this changed to a constant fast clicking together with an intermittent very fast clicking that almost sounds like a buzz. I've tried the diagnostic/re-set procedure a number of times using the two, extreme, left and right hand buttons but that has made no difference. The error codes shown are 214 and 4FA. I understand 4FA means a problem with the recirc. flap motor and that 214 is B+ voltage. However, what does 'B+ voltage' actually mean? Hope someone can explain in simple terms. Thanks in advance, FD

2002 Octavia 1.9TDI. I've, today, removed the starter motor on my Octavia as the solenoid is not always engaging properly. The starter motor is the original and the pinion has 11 teeth. All the suppliers I've tried offer a replacement starter motor with 10 teeth and say that as the pinion is the same diameter as the 11 tooth version it will mesh with the flywheel teeth without a problem. I've also called the Dealer whose only answer was 'we don't know how many teeth it should have and we haven't got one in stock to check'!! Can anyone confirm that the 11 tooth and 10 tooth pinions are interchangeable please? Thanks, FD

I was hoping that would be the answer. Many thanks to you all. FD

2002 1.9TDI. My Symphony radio made by Grundig has packed up and I've obtained a replacement and have its code. Is it simply a case of swopping the new radio for the old and inputting the new radio's code? Thanks FD