Bill,
Funny you should ask this question just now. I just finished, I mean
within the last fifteen minutes, changing the heater motor on my Rabbit car.
I looked all over the Internet for directions and the ones I did find
were incorrect. Even my best VW tech bud was not exactly accurate.
The way it is done is straightforward albeit time consuming. I have a
pretty good shop and a bunch of tools but this is a job that doesn't
really require much.
From memory without detailed notes:
Disconnect battery ground.
Drain coolant by disconnecting the lower hose where it attached to the
water pump. About 1 gallon.
Remove glove box and drivers side lower panels.
Remove drivers and passenger side air ducts that lead from the heater
box to the outer dash vents.
Push button on bottom of headlight switch and remove headlight switch knob.
Unscrew and remove 'cold start; knob.
Remove instrument panel bezel.
Remove the 7mm bolts that hold the heater controls in place, move the
heater control toward you, remove the small bolts that hold the
heater switch in place, remove the switch and push it back into the
dash. Now there is enough room to move the heater controls to
the left, swing the right end into the dash, then slide the entire
heater control into the dash and away from the dash proper.
Remove dash center vent.
Remove radio (if equipped).
Remove hazard switch, cigarette lighter and its lamp, and the wiring to
the cigar lighter.
From under the drivers side, remove the speedo cable from the cluster.
Remove the cluster by removing the four screws, then tilting the top
toward you and pinching the electrical connector and
removing the harness.
Remove the 4 Phillips screws that are at the ends of the dash with a
fillips tip and a 1/4" wrench, and the two 7mm bolts in the center
under the ash tray.
Carefully remove the dash towards the passenger door making sure you do
not place stress on the wiper lever and checking to see and move the
wiring harness off of the dash itself.
Remove the 'knee bar' by removing the (6) 7mm bolts.
Now your looking at the heater box itself. By now the coolant should
have drained and you can go back out under the hood and
disconnect the 5/8" heater hose where it connects at the shut-off valve
and the factory splice just below it.
If you have a/c, you must disconnect both supply and return lines to the
evap. Use two wrenches to avoid damage to the lines.
Disconnect and remove the dash flapper and it's vacuum motor by
releasing the rubber strap. You may want to label which vacuum
lines go where.
Disconnect the two electrical connectors to the heater box.
Remove the two 10mm screws that hold the heater box to the chassis.
Pull the heater box toward you to get the heater hoses through
the firewall and move it to the left to remove it from the vehicle.
Once you have the heater box out of the vehicle, rest is
self-explanatory. Be sure to clean every bit of junk out of the heater
box while it is out and easy.
The heater hoses are standard 5/8" hose you can buy anywhere. You will
need about 4' to finish the job.
When you replace the coolant, first reconnect the hoses you
disconnected, then remove the upper radiator hose at the radiator and
fill the engine through the upper hose. When it is full, reconnect the
upper hose and refill the reserve tank.
Installation is the reverse....
Cheers.
Tom Bond
Kansas City
Tomsebooks.com
Cathy, Bill and Menace wrote:
>Well, here it is Dec. in the northeast and my heater is spewing antifreeze mist on my windshield...heavy sigh. Anyone have experience replacing this? How miserable a job is this and what kind of time frame are we talking about to disassemble, install and reassemble the dash and heater? I also have AC (it doesn't work but I have it). My temperature control cable is not functioning and is probably kinked and needing to be replaced so I am looking for one of these if anyone has saved one. I haven't checked yet but I'm guessing that VW doesn't stock them anymore. Thanks for looking. Bill
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