£1500 for a broken heater arm!

warrenb9

warrenb9

New Member
Looking for some advice and already direct message someone who might have a solution to this book thought I would throw it out there. I’ve just been into VW as the temperature Dial on my T6 .1 no longer works. VW have quoted me £1540 Saying that they have to take the entire dash out and put a new heater box in as it’s likely that the link has broken. I am told her this is a common problem and the plastic arm costs around £15!! Has anybody got any experience of this? Is it possible to replace this without taking out the entire Dash?

Thanks all Woz
 
Greetings Woz,

A fairly well known problem. One of our members sells custom made arms that are much stronger, and it's an involved but DIYable job. Have a good search.

J

For Sale Post in thread 'VW T5 T5.1 T6 REPLACEMENT HEATER LINKAGE & INSTRUCTIONS - ENGINEER DESIGNED'

Awesome that you have done some redesigning for a better part. I have the same issue with the heater that was stuck on warm, I was able to slide the arm to the cool position by hand.
Is there a way of diagnosing weather the arm is broken or if its the motor?
I can not see any visible damage to the arms so I may have a dead motor.. thought??

I'm not sure if it differs for the 6.1 though, but someone with higher brains than me will be along soon.

Edit- it can be done without removing the entire dash on the 6.1, so I'd not use thet dealer again if that's the extent of their knowledge of these vans.


The video suggests it might the solenoid that is your problem.
 
Last edited:
Sasquatch said:
Greetings Woz,

A fairly well known problem. One of our members sells custom made arms that are much stronger, and it's an involved but DIYable job. Have a good search.

J

For Sale Post in thread 'VW T5 T5.1 T6 REPLACEMENT HEATER LINKAGE & INSTRUCTIONS - ENGINEER DESIGNED'

Awesome that you have done some redesigning for a better part. I have the same issue with the heater that was stuck on warm, I was able to slide the arm to the cool position by hand.
Is there a way of diagnosing weather the arm is broken or if its the motor?
I can not see any visible damage to the arms so I may have a dead motor.. thought??

I'm not sure if it differs for the 6.1 though, but someone with higher brains than me will be along soon.

Edit- it can be done without removing the entire dash on the 6.1, so I'd not use thet dealer again if that's the extent of their knowledge of these vans.


The video suggests it might the solenoid that is your problem.
Click to expand...
Thanks mate,I have found an independent VW garage who also say it’s a dash out but I will forward them this post and the video and see what they say. I anyone has replaced one of these arms without a dash out would love to hear how they did it
 
Hi Woz. I’ve not replaced my heater linkage but……. what I would say is (in agreement with some above) I don’t think in any way shape or form it’s an ‘ entire dash out job’. I mean… “what the actual 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️”. When, last year I got round to finishing off sound deadening and amplifier install on my (from new) 22 plate 6.1 I had all the LOWER dash off, and I’m sure from recollection that this would give more than adequate access. To remove (if you indeed had to go that far??) the glove box, gear stick surround and lower cowling and the panels above the footwell, is at best a generous 2 hours if you’ve never done it before. An hour tops once you’ve got your head round it. So where in the jivens of bejesus they get £1.5 K from??????
I’ll try and dig out some photos of when I did sound deadening as it may??? show what access I afforded. If it dies I’ll edit and post FYI.

Others will confirm but I’m sure this will be correct.

Trouble with main dealership (no disrespect at all) and many OEM service providers (I speak from experience in Electrical, Mechanical and Gas service sector, is that the ‘Manual’ is often a reverse engineer of how it was put together in the factory. Often, there are plenty of ‘hacks’ that one discovers, when you are ‘in the field’ do to speak, faced with completely dismantling said system or machine to get to a little widget. 🤦‍♂️🤣.

You will find a ‘vw specialist’ I’m sure who can do this for a fraction of MD quote or give it a go yourself. Plenty of info on here and YouTube about how to remove the interior. (I stripped down the entire cab, radio out, headlining out using exactly that👍👍).

Good luck.
 
Thanks Vinyl I have just had a quote back for an independent VW specialist and even they have quoted me £1200 that’s includes £177 for the heater and £120 for the new motor. They are saying they would need to take out the dash to see if the link had snapped due to the motor or heater box seizing. That’s not much less than VW 🤦‍♂️

Not sure what to do now but I’m not confident enough to do myself on a very expensive Cali. I’m bound to f&”k it up and ended up costing more 🥹
 
warrenb9 said:
Thanks Vinyl I have just had a quote back for an independent VW specialist and even they have quoted me £1200 that’s includes £177 for the heater and £120 for the new motor. They are saying they would need to take out the dash to see if the link had snapped due to the motor or heater box seizing. That’s not much less than VW 🤦‍♂️

Not sure what to do now but I’m not confident enough to do myself on a very expensive Cali. I’m bound to f&”k it up and ended up costing more 🥹
Click to expand...
you can see the link moving/working without touching the dash, its located above the foot rest (on t6’s as t6.1 they removed the foot rest). If you open door and get out, crouch and shine a torch under the steering (there’s a small gap) towards the “foot rest” location you’ll see a white plastic arm. Start engine and a/c on , turn temp dial from coldest to hottest will make the arm move. If doesn’t move you find links on ebay for £15 like you said. Some said you can change it by removing clocks which is 20 mins job. Haven’t done the job myself but thats the info i found while i had similar symptoms with my A/C.
 
Thanks Stefan I have been getting my arm under there to move the heater from warm to air con. The arm looks intact and not broken so I’m thinking it could be the heater or motor
 
warrenb9 said:
Thanks Stefan I have been getting my arm under there to move the heater from warm to air con. The arm looks intact and not broken so I’m thinking it could be the heater or motor
Click to expand...
Well, if you as an unskilled owner managed that without removing the dash I'd go back and ask the independent VW specialist how they arrived at £1200 just to see if the linkage has snapped.

Clearly an establishment that aren't fit to claim to be a specialist.
 
Hi all, my heater on 6.1 has recently broken, out of warranty. I've looked under the drivers side dash (engine on) and moved the hot/cold dial at the same time. I cant see any movement of these black arms that apparently change hot to cold and vice versa. I can move them manually and they all seem to be joined up with nothing showing as snapped. I've read this is the solonoid. Could this be the only problem? Does anyone have a part number for this please?
 
warrenb9 said:
Thanks Stefan I have been getting my arm under there to move the heater from warm to air con. The arm looks intact and not broken so I’m thinking it could be the heater or motor
Click to expand...
Hi Warren, have you got any further with this please, I have the same problem!
 
Not the same vehicle, but I understand the cost. On my old SantaFe, all the external part was working, but connection to the diverter flap inside the box was broken. That would be a whole dash out, including breaking into the aircon pipes, as you have to split the two halves of the flap box. My plan B was to cut a hole in the box and use keyhole surgery to fix it.

In the end plan C took over, and I part-exed it for an EUp.
 
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Hi all, anyone got a link to instructions or a video on how to take the panels off to access the area under the wheel?

Cheers
 
BenSharp63 said:
Hi, I’m only trying to fix my van so going through relevant feeds, what else would you expect me to do?
Click to expand...
Generally it's taken as forum etiquette to ask your question once and give people chance to reply before going on a spam attack.
 
Literally just had this done, the little heater arm that is. And it was £400 supplied & fitted. But van was under warranty so dealer paid :)
 
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Macp said:
Literally just had this done, the little heater arm that is. And it was £400 supplied & fitted. But van was under warranty so dealer paid :)
Click to expand...
Yeah mine went under warranty a few years ago and has now gone again. I got the part of a lovely chap of eBay who made a copy to be stronger. So going to do it myself this time to avoid a steep bill

So I want to fit that but the dash for the T6.1 is a mare by the looks of it. Wish I was all just bolted or screw caps so I can see clearly where to go.
 
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