TheSamba.com :: View topic - Front Air Vents 85 Vanagon? Help? New owner.

Fri Aug 08, 2008 4:17 pm

Summertime! I can't get the air to stop coming thru the front floor vents!
All my controls and levers are off. I've turned off the rear heater valve, My door vents are closed. But I still get air coming thru the front floor vents toward my feet. When I turn on my rear A/C unit, it has to strain to cool because it's fighting the flow of outside air.

Can anybody help?

Also, when I look into the passenger side front wheel well I see an open corrugated tube hanging there inside the chassis. What is that for/where does it go to?

Thanks!

Fri Aug 08, 2008 6:06 pm

might as well do search on how to PULL DASH and heater unit to replace seals,will also give part no. of the clips u get a t dealer to put back together. common problem of seals dryrot and coming off.

Fri Aug 08, 2008 11:29 pm

Put all four levers to the left on the climate control. Then I think move either the second from the top or the third from the top to the right (I think ti's the second). That stops the flow of air in mine. I can't remember exactly which one it is, but I do know that only one lever can be to the right to shut off the floor vent air. Otherwise, you may have a broken vent or two.

Sat Aug 09, 2008 12:34 am

floggingmolly wrote: Put all four levers to the left on the climate control. Then I think move either the second from the top or the third from the top to the right (I think ti's the second). That stops the flow of air in mine. I can't remember exactly which one it is, but I do know that only one lever can be to the right to shut off the floor vent air. Otherwise, you may have a broken vent or two.
I will 2nd that! It is the 2nd from the top...move it all the way to the right, and have all of the others all the way to the left. :wink: After you get that down, play with the others on a road trip and fine the sweet spot(s)...Hope this helps and that you do not need to pull the dash as mentioned in a previous post...that would suck!
Quote: Also, when I look into the passenger side front wheel well I see an open corrugated tube hanging there inside the chassis. What is that for/where does it go to?
Passenger wheel well probably gas filler neck and crossover tubes for gas nozzle and tank ventilation when you are filling up. Common problem and best way to tell is if you get a gas odor when filling tank completely full. I just spent @ $400.00 replacing my filler neck, and crossover vent lines (2) as well as fuel lines from bow to stern of the van......Check all your fuel lines! I think I have read about three Westy fires in the past month....Oh, and get a fire extinguisher and mount it inside your slider door......I have three in mine, one in front, one inside the slider, and one under the rear cabinet in the back to the left of the pad in that wasted space......In my years of Westfalia-ing, I have never once used it on my own but twice used it for roadside assistance on treks with others....
Welcome to this fantastic resource and community!

Sat Aug 09, 2008 8:44 am

If you close your air flaps and you still have air coming from the bottom vents, it might be time for a few beers (while you fix it):

http://www.knology.net/~vw/vanagon/dash/

Sat Aug 09, 2008 10:54 pm

jjt52

I checked and its the third from the top, the second it the hot/cold lever. I checked mine today and it does stop all flow from the vents. 1,2,4 should be all the way to the left, #3 to the right.

Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:22 am

The Vanagon heat/air control panel is the best in the business as it allows you to control individual aspects of air flow independently.

Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:35 am

The lever arrangement is confusing, because VW stuck with the longstanding European convention that the most important function to be able to employ for safety was full windshield defrost. Being cold doesn't involve danger but not seeing anything sure does. To facilitate that they arranged the levers so that pushing all 4 to the right would put it in full defrost mode (and put a little diagram there above the fan switch). They did that on the older aircooleds as well, all levers slid to the top would put it in full defrost. The problem is that using other functions besides defrost gets a little confusing. I still have to stare at my panel to remember which of the lower two levers controls the footwell vents and which controls flow to the overhead cabin vents, and which way shuts them off.

The picture is a great help; the third lever from the top shuts off footwell venting when it's pushed to the right. But when the foam seals on the airbox are disintegrated from age, there will still be a bleed of air from those vents because of the single biggest design deficiency of this system, in my opinion: there's no way to close off the air being rammed into the distro box when the van is moving. Air is always coming in and you have to choose where you want it to go. Closing off all the vent levers doesn't do the job, because the ram-air is more forceful the faster you go.