Fixing the heater, how I talked myself into removing the dash

[jorge0136]

I have a 1993 VW Eurovan Westfalia conversion. I am experiencing a few issues related to the climate control in the vehicle.

* Blower fan only runs on `4`.
It seems most likely this is caused by a bad resistor pack but to my understanding, the switch is something worth investigating as well. I have a new resistor pack ready to go into the car.

* Blower fan is noisy.
My understanding is that it's time to replace it, it's likely to have been what caused the resistor to die. I have a new motor ready to go in.

* Control of the hot/ cold in the front is ineffective.
It seems to consistently blow fairly cold air all of the time regardless of what the controls say. The rear controls seem to work well. I was able to feed a endoscope camera into the vent and look at the 'blender box flap'. The one I could see did not appear to have any foam on it whatsoever. The cable seems to accurate the blender flap well. I intend to re-cover the blender box flaps but I am not sure what material to use. There is a suggestion out there for silicone foam for its heat resistance but it looks very expensive. Anyone have other suggestions?

* Turning on air in certain modes causes whistling. There is a good write up addressing this issue here. The foam they suggest is very expensive, anyone have different suggestions?

Given that I need to address the blower, the resistor and the blender box I think that means I need to bite off taking the whole dash off. What else should I be doing while I have the dash off? My current plan:

* Replace resistor pack, motor and check blower switch.
* Purchase some material to reseal all the air connections from the blower motor to prevent whistling.
* Replace the ignition switch.
* Pull the cruise control box and resolder it in the hope that I will be able to get CC working after that.

Videos that I have found useful for diagnosing issues:


Link

This video was extremely useful in the diagnosis process. I was able to remove the panel that comes off at 3:20 and then sneak a endscope camera into the vent at the bottom to see the vaccum door operating/. I was able to further forward the camera in to get a picture of the blender box's condition.

I have watched this video and it's Part II, III several times to get an idea of what sort of project I am in for.

Posts I am using for reference:

https://1705.net/dash-removal-and-foam-repair/
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=394526
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4153469
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=671233

[Joshwa]

On a 93, it’s not too big of a deal after you’ve done it once. Just a lot of screws to keep track of, and where their home is. A good time to look at the center black trim and reinforce any cracks. It only comes out from the backside of the dash.
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93 Weekender TDI conversion (AHU)
93 MV TDI conversion (1Z)
Weekender rear cot
Late model cabin air filter on 93
Euro spec bumper install on 93

[VAEV1993]

Sounds great. Keep us posted!
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1993 Weekender - Hula
2002 Golf TDI
2017 Golf Alltrack

[gakali]

Heater core replacement is a must if not already in the plan.

I see you found my post

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=671233&highlight=
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Why do it? Because you can.

1999 Eurovan
2003 A4 Avant 1.8T Quattro
1992 W201 190e 2.3 Mercedes
2006 W220 S600 V12 Twin Turbo 5.5 Mercedes

[Abscate]

I never get why people fear dash removal so much. I got lucky last summer, did the Evap core on SWMBO E83, and then did four more for people com8ng in at 1/2 of dealer price. I was making $450 an hour doing that, enough for some nice toys that summer
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.ssS!

[markcm2]

[Abscate]

If you attack jobs like this in the “ get it done this weekend “ you will never do it again.

I take any 10 hour job over two weekends, planning on 2-3 hours per day max

That gives me time to hit the Fora if I get stuck, get new parts if I find more broken, etc. you will keep an much healthier attitude broken up this way.

P80 Volvo AC Evap is a 10 hour RR, I’m down to about 4.

There aren’t hidden fasteners if you get the documentation for th job, if you are too cheap to spend 15 for an alldata, then your frustration is self induced.
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.ssS!

[Joshwa]

There’s enough online documentation to get it done. I’ve got it down to about 30 mins now to get it out. More to put it back. Never needed to pay alldata. The only gotcha with the 93 was the one bolt on the engine bay side.
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93 Weekender TDI conversion (AHU)
93 MV TDI conversion (1Z)
Weekender rear cot
Late model cabin air filter on 93
Euro spec bumper install on 93

[Abscate]

I’m down to $4 a year per car for my subscription rate. One overpriced coffee a year for a manual that never gets lost, available online, with auto updates , and I never have to read the 50% of wrongmaterial on the web to boot!

30 minutes to get the dash out is impressive, well done. You are smokingthe book rateof 4.6 hours certainly ( that’s for heater core RR)
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.ssS!

[Joshwa]

To clarify, that’s just the dash itself and not pulling any air system components. On a 93, that’s 35 screws, 12 electrical connectors, and 23 dash components/parts/plastic. Maybe there’s something more difficult with the later dash. I have only done 93s.
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93 Weekender TDI conversion (AHU)
93 MV TDI conversion (1Z)
Weekender rear cot
Late model cabin air filter on 93
Euro spec bumper install on 93

[Abscate]

I doubt it. I've found I hit the book rate on first time, but After that, even with my slow methodical (bag and label each set of fasteners , Cross reference to a label written into paper procedure, iPhone picture) my subsequent times are about 1/2 book.

One killer tip that has saved me hours.

If I pull six M8 bolts off a housing, I label them M8x 15, qty 5....m8x25 qty 1

It's an immediate tipoff that one of these is special, and if you find a loose bolt you quickly find where it does and DOESNT belong
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.ssS!

[Zeitgeist 13]

I'm in the midst of a heater core/blower replacement, and was wondering how folks have dealt with the blend door foam. Specifically, I'm wondering how/if you pulled the heat plenum apart. I've got the clips off, but the plastic tabs are in there real good, and I can't imagine getting them out without breaking most off. I'm thinking about preemptively zipping them off with a Dremel, and then just gluing the halves back together when I'm done.

Thoughts?
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[sgirard]

No advice on the clips. I addressed the blower door foam by sticking my hand way up awkwardly in there and covering the holes with foil tape. Probably not the most correct fix, but it made a huge difference both for defrost and AC, and has held up well for a couple years. I know this because I was up there again this spring to see if it was the cause of limited/no cold air blowing, which it was not.
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95 EVC
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Previous:
64/71/72/82
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Intro

[Zeitgeist 13]

I ended up zipping them off, and then used some metal clips from the stash to hold everything back together. The clips are essentially a smaller version of the other clips, but they just fit over the sections I zipped. I think they're from a Mercedes plenum. The Febi core I used is just enough off from the original that I needed to do some creative clearancing on the plenum to get it to slide in to full depth. The blend doors were fixed with a combination of foil duct tape and a thin dense sheet of foam on both sides. Now I get the unenviable task of piecing it all back together tomorrow.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Abscate]

Nice Casey, keep up the good work.

Just imagine how much Worse Subaru’s are.
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.ssS!

[kmjunge]

I'll be pulling the dash off my 93 soon. I have the Bentley manuals but I was going to watch Thomas EXOVCDS work first. As I recall he has a 2 part video series for a heater core replacement on these vans and goes through the whole dash removal.

I certainly plan on replacing the heater core while I'm in there and possibly the resistors and switch. My fan only works on the 3 lowest settings.
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"DO NOT CHANGE THIS unless you understand what you are doing." - TheSamba.com

[Joshwa]

If speeds 1-3 work, your blower resistor is fine. Speed 4 is full 12v to the fan. I’d suspect the blower switch.
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93 Weekender TDI conversion (AHU)
93 MV TDI conversion (1Z)
Weekender rear cot
Late model cabin air filter on 93
Euro spec bumper install on 93

[Zeitgeist 13]

I pinned it up tonight. The actual dash install itself was a bear, especially fitting the plastic center section. I figure I could do it again in a third the time, but I also tidied up my wiring, and upgraded the dash speakers while I was in there
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Abscate]

One thing I would like to know is the dimensions on the AV evaporator

These are now NLA so we need to I’d a replacement that will work for us
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.ssS!

[Magion]

Hi guys,

I thought I would bring this back rather than create new thread.

I am about to pull my dash on 1995 Eurovan with 2.5 5cyl. to replace heater core and blower resistor pack.

One thing I am concerned about- A/C. I search the internet and could not find definitive answer. Could this be done without disrupting the A/C portion? If I understood correctly A/C portion would be the on the right side of the assembly. Is it possible to separate this and leave inside? I went to check an A/C store today guys said it would be $65 to discharge the system and if contaminated it would be $159. Plus the hassle of logistic around and the refiling I would prefer to leave it untouched.

Could it be done?


edit: after watching Thomas EXOVCDS it looks like it can be done....
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1975 Westfalia in Brilliant Orange
1995 Westfalia in Caribbean Green