First, I replaced the vacuum distributor. A) I was told this was the problem several years ago (dealer wanted $300 to replace it ), B) it didn't solve the problem (surprise, surprise). But, the old one made a racket and was difficult to move so the replacement wasn't a total waste. Being the curious girl I am, I took apart the old one; for anyone curious as well, here's a pic of the nifty thing:

Is that cool or what? See the holes in the bottom piece? See that one is larger than the rest? Okay, this is where Bentley is totally wrong,... EDIT: No, I was totally wrong ; a vac test revealed that the 2 hoses on the front of the distributor are correctly diagrammed in Bentley. AND, reverse the air re-circulation and vac reservoir arrows in the pic above.

During this whole escapade, I asked this question: where does the air get routed for the defrost vents? After studying all my sources I came to the revelation that Bentley, once again, needs better clarification! The "defrost servo" is really the defrost/center dash vent servo! When the flap is closed, air flows out the defrost vents; when flap is open, air flows out the center vent but never both at the same time. The servo in the rain tray is for air recirculation and is operated only when the top selector lever is on the far left setting (Max A/C). Herein lies another pic:

Okay, now here's the conclusion:
1. The footwell vent flap operates as normal (i.e. servo engages and retracts).
2. The air recirc. vent flap operates as normal ((i.e. servo engages and retracts).
3. The defrost/center vent servo retracts slightly to shut the flap but does not open the flap which leads to the presumption that a) there's not enough vacuum to open that heavily spring-loaded flap, or b) the servo is failing. My guess is "a" so now it's a matter of tracking down why there's not enough vacuum. The vac tubes (hard plastic stuff) will be replaced as well the vac connector hoses (some for the engine vac system look crappy). If it's "b" you'll be hearing a dictionary of swear words from AZ 'cuz that servo looks to be a really huge PITA to replace!

Now, my question is with this check valve. On the check valve is the word "motor" on the side and an arrow on top; which direction is the arrow to be facing? And, in checking the valve, I blew and sucked with all my might and nothing; my dad sucked on one end and said that it was functioning. Someone said this was a $3 part, but in fact, new, it's a $35 part so before replacing the stupid little thing, I want to check to make sure it doesn't work properly first. I do now have a vacuum gauge that I'll be hooking up tonight to see what it shows as well.

Oh, and before I hit submit, click here for a pic of an explanation on the HVAC controls and what/how they operate (it's too huge to post).

Modified by kamzcab86 at 11:35 AM 9-28-2004

Modified by kamzcab86 at 11:36 AM 9-28-2004

We long for the good old days when Uncle Sam lived within his income and without most of ours.

01 Golf GLS 1.8T.....4 Door "Franz" [Sold]
89 Fox GL Sport "Otto" [Sold] Founder/President, Reno Auto Werks
82 4 Door Rabbit L "Herman" [Sold]
85 Golf CL [sold before I could ever drive ]

Get a MityVac! Little dude can save you hours by letting you vacuumize the lines and solenoids to see what's working. Or pressurize where needed too!

Mine is set to recirculate interior air ONLY when in Heat setting. Warms up the car faster.

Anyone with a fully functioning A/C system wanna take a quick look at their check valve to see which way the arrow is pointing? Pleeeeeeze...

We long for the good old days when Uncle Sam lived within his income and without most of ours.

See, the HVAC controls have the wrong pics on them; 'cuz even when you have the top lever over to "Max A/C", you can move the bottom lever over to the right (heat) and it'll put out heated air from the center vent! So, the far right on the top selector is actually air recirculation not A/C but the A/C system is on when the lever is set to that position and puts out heated air from the center vents at the same time if you want it too .

We long for the good old days when Uncle Sam lived within his income and without most of ours.

Quote, originally posted by Moljinar »

Just checked my 83 GTI manual and found on page 7-29 two diagrams showing how to run the vacuum lines. ones a picture and ones a diagram. And the don't agree with each other And neither is the same as what you've come up with!

See? See why we're all so friggin' confused about this damn system?! Even the gurus at Bentley can't get it straight!

We long for the good old days when Uncle Sam lived within his income and without most of ours.

Quote, originally posted by kamzcab86 »

Okee-dokee, will do Moljinar Anyone with a fully functioning A/C system wanna take a quick look at their check valve to see which way the arrow is pointing? Pleeeeeeze...

I just had a look and the motor logo in on the side of the motor. There is also an arrow which points towards the inlet manifold as well.

Hope this helps.

And the air/circulation function doesn't work because the whole mechanism "bents" when I force the slider all the way to the left. it works if I forced the distributor by hand though.

Any solution to that?

Muchas gracias! Mine's installed correctly; now, to see if it's working correctly...

We long for the good old days when Uncle Sam lived within his income and without most of ours.

The control mechanism might need lubing or is binding on something. Might check to see if the vac dist. is the problem: push down on the vac dist. while pulling up on the control arm and move the arm out of the way. Move the vac dist by hand; if it's difficult to move, there's your problem. Might just need to spray some WD-40 type of lube into the control arm pivot point and grease up the selector plate(s).

We long for the good old days when Uncle Sam lived within his income and without most of ours.

I think I have both problems.

As soon as I finish with the works in my apartment, I will dedicate myself to make the car new again

Thanks for the info!

Removing the dash is not hard, it's just time consuming. Disconnect the battery. The hardest part is getting the knee bar out. It's easier if you remove the front seats. First you need to remove the Jetronic box bolted to the kneebar on the pass side. 2 bolts and 2 nuts on each side of the kneebar and it's out. The dash comes out pretty easy after that - couple of bolts on each side, couple of screws on the bottom. You will also need to take the steering wheel off.

Once the dash is out, it's real easy to replace the servo.

As for binding controls, there also is some sort of AC thermostat connected to one of the levers. That could require some lubrication as well.

Hope this helps.

I ran a vac test on the system this morning, per Bentley's instruction; as soon as I turned the engine off it lost vacuum so there's a leak or two somewhere. The check valve appears to be functioning properly as well. So, all vac lines will be replaced and a direct vac test on that servo will be performed sometime this week.

We long for the good old days when Uncle Sam lived within his income and without most of ours.

i didn't.

i'm gonna re-engineer my controls one day using NO original parts. i'm frustrated too.

Actually I though of that some months ago. Do you know of a panel which has the same size and fits the area under the radio?

It would have worked fine - remember how the old controls had 3 sliders (one for temp)? One slider would replace the center vent servo, the other would replace the other 3 position servo.

welcome to vw poortex, where punk kids talk trash, and have no cash

Quote, originally posted by jordanvw »

bump so i can read all this later when i have more time thanks kammy for doing the investigative work and posting pics ..makes stuff easier to understand

I'm in the process of replacing all the vac lines (particularly the rubber connector hoses). This morning I discovered the tube going into the vac reservoir was loose (easy to pull out and put back in); the grommet is pretty worn on the inside (new tube will be siliconed to the grommet). Still need to test the servo which I'll do tonight.

By the end of all this, I'll know that stupid vacuum system inside and out!

PART 2 OF THIS SAGA: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1603270

Modified by kamzcab86 at 12:02 PM 9-24-2004

We long for the good old days when Uncle Sam lived within his income and without most of ours.

For the person that suggested WD-40 as a lube for the pivot, use silicone spray. Won't evaporate and is plastic friendly. WD-40 is basically turpentine and evaporates. Vaseline is pretty good too for lubing plastic parts. I think that may be - mor eor less - what VW used.

Chris

I said "WD-40 type" of spray 'cuz I had a brain lapse (I never use WD-40!); couldn't think of the name of the spray I always use: Tri-Flow (much better than WD-40 and it's a silicone spray)

We long for the good old days when Uncle Sam lived within his income and without most of ours.

Chris