Hi all, I've gotten an 2000 1.9 TDI SLX (I guess former Elegance trim?) on a bargain with a few issues to fix. Now getting to the heating/venting in the car, manual AC - something is not right. What I know in advance is that there is no background illumination on the AC controls and knobs, service records show that "climate processor changed, cabin fan changed, knob assembly changed". The thermostat is OK, engine gets up to heat in a bit.

 

So what happens is:

 

• Setting max heating only blows hot air on front window, center console vents blows only mild/cabin temp. air, and legs blow warm, definitely not hot air.
• The console vents blow air no matter what position the knobs are (only window, only legs).
• I see bits and pieces of dust, leafs, butterfly wings (?) whenever I clean the dash.
• When AC is turned on, all the vents blow cold air correctly, no different temps as with heating.

 

So there seems someone before me tried fixing this, or fixed only part of the problem. I'm taking it to a VW/Seat specialist tomorrow but still want to know if this is a common issue with 1st gen Octavias. Any feedback is welcome.

 

Thanks.

@Juka - It's not common as such, but it looks very much like there is a problem with the control connections to the blending flaps.

Well, turns out that at that mileage and age it's not uncommon for the flap seals to disintegrate, this happened to me - through the vents there are little pieces of it flying out ever so often. I would need a complete ventilation housing - my mechanic recommended not changing anything, as everything works, just to shut the vents manually when I don't want to use them.

 

In fact I could use this as an "extra feature" as the Octavia doesn't have an option of ventilation through central vents if using windows/legs part of the knob.