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Air recirculation flap motor fail (again, on my other car!) with pics

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 $$$! :)

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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):

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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:

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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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tigeo

Autocross Champion
Mine failed twice both covered under warranty. Was told the second time the part had been revised. No issues since.
 

rowdyzombie

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Plano, TX
Nice, my 17 A3 Etron was making a groaning noise at startup this summer. I got a recirculation error in VCDS. I was able to get my hand in there, and put grease on the two plastic cog on both sides. I also did an adaptation on VCDS and it still groans at startup but no codes. When it starts clicking then I will replace the motor/s.

Anyone change the recirculation motor in dual zone automatic ac? Mine has a motor on both sides of the recirc flap and it’s hard to tell which motor is failing.
 

YamR1rider

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Tampa, FL
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport DSG
Mine's only the basic AC but as far as I can tell the climate control has a couple of extra motors for left and right. I guess you mean by motors on both sides of the outside air recirc flap you've got the one a bit further down on the side of the center console which you can view looking upwards from the passenger footwell? (I see on my cars there is a fitting point where it would be). The outside air recirc flap only has the one up above the right side of the glove box, the console one would be more to do with temperate air circulation. If the clicking could be coming from either one, I'd think the best way to test would be to get your hand on the recirc flap one then operate the recirc button, and then for the other one, operate the temp control for the passenger side with your hand on the motor. You should be able to feel a pulsing if the cogs seem to be slipping.
 

rowdyzombie

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Plano, TX
Hi, yes when I take out the cabin filter and look inside I can see the recirculating flap and it has gears/cogs on both sides. I have not taken out the glovebox, but it appears to have motors on both sides. They groan and sounds like a dying motor 😆.
When I ran the adaption, I carefully felt the flap moving and it was weak but working. There are definitely gears on both sides on my car since I put grease on them.
 

YamR1rider

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Tampa, FL
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport DSG
Gotcha - sounds like you have been greasing the external cogs. While I have seen on youtube that they may occasionally become unseated, the ones usually causing the failure are the ones actually inside the motors (as I pictured).
 

tdahle

New member
Location
Las Vegas
Car(s)
2015 Golf SE
Appreciate the post. Mine has been broken for a couple of years and this motivated me to finally tackle it. Grabbed the same part and tools that you recommended and had it done in 20 minutes. Slender arms definitely helped out on this one.
 
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