Good evening everyone, I am experiencing some issues with my car's blower and/or air conditioner, which I suspect may be related.

The car is a 2003 Fabia MK1 1.2 47 KW, engine code 6Y5.

Yesterday I was driving for about 45 minutes with the AC on, set on about 24 degrees or so. Suddenly, it started blowing very hot air and didn't stop even if I stopped the AC. Same in the return trip, it started heating and won't stop. Until yesterday the AC has always worked fine. The engine temperature indicator was in its usual state, and so was the external temperature indicator on the dashboard.

Today I started the blower (not AC) to remove some mist on the glass, temperature around 22-24 degrees, same behavior, only hot air. I turned off the blower and noticed another strange thing (or, at least, it sound strange to me): the vents continued to let air from the exterior, and the faster I drove the more air would enter - and it was very hot. Turning the air towards the feet or glass didn't change anything.

After some reading online, I suspect it may be either a interior temperature sensor or flap motor (this should be the device that mixes hot and cold air before blowing it, am I right?) fault. Is there a way I can check without dismantling the whole dashboard? maybe sone tests I can run to determine where the problem may be?

Thanks in advance!

 

P.s. I need to try cleaning the vent before the interior temperature sensor, as I read on another topic...

1 hour ago, d3ntin said:

interior temperature sensor

Is there dust over one of the small, maybe 10mm each way, grilles near the heater controls? If so, start by cleaning that with a small brush and/or a keyboard vacuum.

 

The other possibility that springs to mind is the exterior temperature sensor; easily checked if you have a trip computer and/or Climatronic.

I'd always start with the cheap and easy and as much car servicing, maintenance and repairs just boils down to clean and lubricate (even the electronic stuff is sometimes just clean the error codes off).

 

As Ken has put start with a small soft brush and vacuum, I think I've seen on here that the cover comes off(?) so that will get more dust and debris out of you can remove the cover.  After that I'd try a hair dryer with cold blow setting as the blow can be more powerful and effective than the vacuum often but do bear in mind the blowing will just move the dust and debris so try to be very focussed with the direction and rebound effect, better distributed very thinly to the cabin than concentrated where you don't want it messing with the temperature control.

 

Tomorrow, why not to use vinegar and newspaper. 🙂

 

Thaks for the replies! Tried today removing the cover plate and blowing it (with my mouth), then tried playing with the blower and A/C. For the first ten minutes it worked quite well: the blower had only a minimum and maximum setting, and the A/C started and worked regularly. After ten minutes playing, both the blower and A/C started giving only hot air, as if they were stuck at max temperature. I also noticed that, even with everything on off, hot air continues to come through the vents as I was driving...

The external sensor seems ok, the temperature seems right.

May it be the interior sensor?

Sounds a lot like a sticking heater flap motor, V68. VCDS scan of the HVAC module will probably show a confirmation fault code.

VCDS Lite, the freeware version is adequate when used with a suitable cheap cable.

17 minutes ago, d3ntin said:

May it be the interior sensor?

Well yes, but it's much easier and cheaper to test the exterior sensor and the duct for the interior

Hi guys, sorry for the delay, had to take care of some stuff.

 

Tested yesterday with my OBDII handset, got the following errors:

- 01271 Positioning motor for temperature flap (V68)

- 01596 Motor for outside/recirculated air flap (V154)

 

I assume both motors have said goodbye, right?

is it difficult to change them?

I haven't had to do a V68 but the other one v154 isn't horrible to do. It nearly is though, and really not worth doing in my opinion unless stuck recirculating or you drive past a pig farm regularly. 

 

Pretty sure there's a how-to for v68 change on 9N polo somewhere online, and it must be largely the same.  Located somewhere to the right of the glovebox on RHD. Access and visibility are the issues, I think.

Items 27/28/31 show the location of V68 LLLParts

 

It doesn't move between LHD and RHD cars, there's just different stuff outside it in each case, pollen filter on RHD, possibly less stuff on LHD, please let us know.

 

RHD unit (possibly from Polo, can't remember). So picture where the pollen/cabin filter housing would be on a mirror-image of your car, and look just a little closer to the centreline than that.

 

 

 

Looks a real ****er to change.

I'm having similar issues, I removed my recirc flap motor and took it apart to clean the potentiometer and got that working but I'm dreading trying to get to the V68 motor.

You can split them to clean although they are not designed to be, but I'm not sure how long this would last.

Seems like it may be easier on LHD, without the pollen filter housing there. Please let us know @d3ntin. 

On 18/10/2022 at 12:53, Breezy_Pete said:

Seems like it may be easier on LHD, without the pollen filter housing there. Please let us know @d3ntin. 

Sorry, I'm not familiar with those acronyms: what does RHD and LHD mean?

 

I'm looking for spares by now, I have a local car demolisher but he doesn0t have any Fabia by now. Are those motors the same that are found on VW Polo?

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

RHD = right hand drive as we use in the UK, so LHD is obviously left hand drive as in most other places in the world like Italy.

 

Imagine standing behind your car at the boot end looking forward at it, the steering wheel is on the right in the UK and on the left in Italy.

 

HTH (hope this helps).

Edited 24 October, 20223 yr by nta16

I had the exact same symptoms in my '02 fabia. The temp would get stuck on either cold or hot - mostly hot. It was very dreadful in the summer when the car started putting out lava hot air 😅 And just as you described, even if you put the fan on 0 it would still blow out a small amount of really really hot air.

I took out the v68 motor, cleaned the potentiometer and put it back in and it has been working flawlessly for a few days now (and hopefully will continue to do so). I can adjust the temperatur in small increments and it adapts instantly.

My car is LHD and it was fairly straight forward. You have to remove the center console and i think the left side lower dash (the trim below the steering wheel). The flap motor (v68) is mounted in a plastic bracket and it is a bit fiddly to get it out and very fiddly to get it back in. 

 

Its located here:

 

I used Hatboy Harveys guides for removing the dashboard:

 

- The trim below the steering wheel: 

 

- The middle console:

 

- and then i used this video showing the motor cleaning process (its from a Polo but its the exact same motor and setup). NOTE: In the video the guy recommends using WD40 instead of contact cleaner. I did not do this and used contact cleaner instead. 

 

Additionally i read this thread: https://www.uk-polos.net/viewtopic.php?t=52145 which explains the problem and has some useful images and explanations

 

If you want to try it i am happy to answer any questions!