YamR1rider
Drag Racing Champion
- Location
- Tampa, FL
- Car(s)
- 2017 GTI Sport DSG
So, just two months after I fixed this problem on my daughters 1.8 Tsi, the exact same thing happened on my GTI, prompting me to do this horrible little job for a second time, per DAPs great Youtube how-to. What the vid doesn't show is just how truly awkward to get to these bloody things are - everything from the door sill to the service position glove box to the air vents are working against you and you feel like you might get your arm stuck at times! So I thought anyone looking to do this might glean a couple of extra tips from the below, although the way he accesses it from the bottom is really the only way to go as you'd have to have hands and forearms like a baby to clear the bracket at the top.
This is the first thing that has gone wrong at all on my '17 Sport in 5 years of ownership at 42k miles....from comments I've read it seems that this is about the mileage where they can start to play up. Same symptoms of a tapping sound under the dash when trying to open or close the fresh air/recirculation flap (although nowhere near as pronounced as in the video), which was stuck closed on GTI, stuck open on the TSi.
Wasn't as bad second time round, I had it done in about 45mins. Was much better mentally prepared for the required contortionism, and since having acquired a mini-ratchet - $13 well spent and would really recommend for anyone attempting this and I've found it really useful for a lot of other jobs on these cars as well. A 'spinner' was also a useful back-up to tighten the screws back down. Despite being a lot quicker this time round, I still ended up with the obligatory forearm bruising mind you....but what's a bit of bruising when you save hundreds of $$$!
Thought some might be interested to see how these fail, as both were broadly the same. It seems that over time the two halves of the plastic housing start to separate, which allows for some slippage of the cogs which either then become stuck, or in the case of this latest one, end up with sheared off plastic teeth (on the yellow cog - see below):
The join of the two halves at the bottom of this pic is where it was bulging apart - the previous one I took out was worse than this but you can just about see the gap has widened a bit, causing flex and the cog slippage:
Bit of a crap design, IMO, I think they could have sealed these up better as to stop it. In hindsight and if I ever have to do this again, I will probably give the seam a coating with epoxy before installing so as to better hold the halves together over time. Here's the part number (below), but like I did on my daughters car I used an el-cheapo $20 part off Amazon, being as its really a non-critical simple part and while a pain in the ass to replace, I certainly know how to do it now! Will see how they hold up, but in both cars right now, super smooth and quiet!
Part # on original (Valeo brand, made in Mexico)
This is the first thing that has gone wrong at all on my '17 Sport in 5 years of ownership at 42k miles....from comments I've read it seems that this is about the mileage where they can start to play up. Same symptoms of a tapping sound under the dash when trying to open or close the fresh air/recirculation flap (although nowhere near as pronounced as in the video), which was stuck closed on GTI, stuck open on the TSi.
Wasn't as bad second time round, I had it done in about 45mins. Was much better mentally prepared for the required contortionism, and since having acquired a mini-ratchet - $13 well spent and would really recommend for anyone attempting this and I've found it really useful for a lot of other jobs on these cars as well. A 'spinner' was also a useful back-up to tighten the screws back down. Despite being a lot quicker this time round, I still ended up with the obligatory forearm bruising mind you....but what's a bit of bruising when you save hundreds of $$$!
Thought some might be interested to see how these fail, as both were broadly the same. It seems that over time the two halves of the plastic housing start to separate, which allows for some slippage of the cogs which either then become stuck, or in the case of this latest one, end up with sheared off plastic teeth (on the yellow cog - see below):
The join of the two halves at the bottom of this pic is where it was bulging apart - the previous one I took out was worse than this but you can just about see the gap has widened a bit, causing flex and the cog slippage:
Bit of a crap design, IMO, I think they could have sealed these up better as to stop it. In hindsight and if I ever have to do this again, I will probably give the seam a coating with epoxy before installing so as to better hold the halves together over time. Here's the part number (below), but like I did on my daughters car I used an el-cheapo $20 part off Amazon, being as its really a non-critical simple part and while a pain in the ass to replace, I certainly know how to do it now! Will see how they hold up, but in both cars right now, super smooth and quiet!
Part # on original (Valeo brand, made in Mexico)
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