Hi,

Thought it was cold in the morning the other day - turns out the heater was changing from hot to cold on it's own, despite having the control

set to maximum temperature. Been doing a bunch of research of past threads and it seems it's likely one of a few things. The only thing I'm not sure on what to try in what order! Any suggestions?

I'll try VAG-COM first, then if that doesn't give any failures, which order to check these.....

* Motor or flap sticking (behind glove box)

* Temperature sensor (behind control panel)

* Temperature Control knob

Cheers.

There are two flap motors in the system, one for the recirculation flap behind the glovebox area and the other for the temperature adjustment flap which is mounted centrally. You'll need to remove the glovebox, move the centre console to remove the trim between the centre console and the hang down console that houses the radio and heater controls to get at it.

You'll likely find a few codes in Vag Com, clear them and try to put the flaps into basic settings.

Ive just changed all of the items you mention over 2 weekend - did the flap motor in under 10 minutes. The centre trim that is held with velcro is the only piece of trim you have to remove. the rest mentioned is optional. Lie on your back in . Only problem I found was the passenger side footwell is the easiest, the mount that holds the motor is easily accessible. just fiddley to remove. swop the motor, plug it in job done. then try another week and see if that makes any difference. The next part is the heaterdials with the temp sensor (this is what was wrong with mine!) again just that one piece of trim under the radio. pop off the outer grey trim off the heater dials and push the unit into the dash, twist it towards the left, unclip the vents with first, it unclips and only goes back on 1 way. then 4 connector plugs - then pull the unit out of the dash and refit the new one - and its a little bit of a fiddle. But its again a 15 minute job.

Since then I now have adjustable heat when I want

The only problem i have had is i cracked the piece of trim with the velcro on - ordered a new one from vag - £18. I could have put up with it as its only a crack, but I know its there.

You will know if its your recirc flap motor as when you press the button the sound of the fan wont change.

Hope that helps? My flap motor and heater control unit were both off ebay and came to £40 all in

Sorry forgot to say - my system is so earlier nobody - not even skoda - has been able to find where on my car the heater flaps codes are. its a got a July 2003 build date on the car!

Thanks for your detailed replies.

It was damn cold yesterday, so I only had chance to do a short look, but VCDS-lite only return 2 fault codes, unrelated to the heater...

Address 01: Engine - 18009 - Relay for Supply Voltage Terminal 30 (J317): Implausible Signal

Address 08: Auto HVAC - 65535 - Internal Control Module Memory Error

....hopefully neither of them are serious as I've so far experienced no other problems with the car.

The temperature sensor in the car was dirty, so cleaned that and also cleaned out the pollen filter which was also dirty.

Am going to run the car for a couple of days and see how it goes. If it still plays up, I'll probably do what you did and get

one of each item off Ebay and fit both. Silly not to do both when you have half the console off to fit one! Not sure though, buying a

2nd hand-module if this is a common fault as you don't know when the replacement may go, yet new ones are quite expensive.

Thanks again, much appreciated.

The one i bought was brand new in the box. They guy who was selling it had the same problem, but he wrote his car off before fitting it - even came with the receipt and still in a sealed plastic bag - £104 was its listed price!

Things may have changed a little - came home last night with the coolant alarm on. Checked it and found it's lost coolant.

Topped up, and drove again today but it appears to have lost another load. Can't see any leaks anywhere. I had this issue a few months ago and had a new head gasket fitted (cars only done 55K).

Done a test on the heater. Could not get any hot air out today. When changing from hot to cold on the control knob, I can hear the sound of the air from the vents change as the motor adjusts from hot to cold, so now I'm not 100% sure it is either the control panel

or the flap motor.

Could something have happened to the matrix itself? (Checked carpets etc. inside under and around console and everything is dry.)

Found what it was in the end - the EGR was leaking (turns out, it's water cooled and the internal cabin heater taps off of it).

Another month, another expensive repair bill following on from the head gasket giong. I will put my hands up and say, the most expensive car I've ever owned to maintain. VW quality (can't blame Skoda as all parts going wrong tend to be from VW, not Skoda specific) it turns out, isn't all what VW would have you believe :-(

Starting to think of my next car. Can anyone suggest a car as good as the VRS, similar size-ish, but isn't from the VW group?!