How to repair blend doors with out removing complete dash assy.

How to repair your hvav blend doors and not completely remove the dash

Ok, first of all I wont go through the process of explaining how to remove all your dash panels etc because others on this site have done a wonderful job with that. So here goes, when you have all your panels removed and youre looking at the housing that needs to be removed to access the blend doors you will notice there are two metal supports that go from the hump up to the dash,one on the left one on the right. Remove the right one. There are 3 bolts which require a 13mm socket to remove.(Sorry some of my photos are blurred)

Notice on the lower right corner of this housing there is a "hook" molded into it, this hook is the only thing preventing you from removing the housing. This is what I did, I took the blade out of my hacksaw and used it by hand to cut this hook off in the center of the bend. This is what the hook looks like before cutting

This next photo is after I cut the hook off

.
Now you can pull out (to prevent damaging the foam on the backside)

and down and this housing with a little wrestling will come right out

. If your careful you wont even damage any of the foam. If you do just reattach it with some weatherstripping glue.
Your problem (the blend doors) are right there. I used compressed air to blow out the main hvac box to clean out all the foam etc. Next I inspected my blend doors and snap bushings all were in perfect working order so I cleaned the doors with brake cleaner and used metallic hvac tape (that can be purchased at any hardware store)to completely cover the doors. This tape is only about 1.5 inches wide so I peeled back the paper backing down the side and overlapped 3 pieces about 3/8 of an inch down the side. Your tape should be about 7 inches long. Use a small flexible tape measure and you can get pretty good measurements of your doors inside the box. Peel your tape and very carefully place the tape on your doors. If its not perfect you can use a razor blade inside the box to trim to fit. This step is very important, once you have your metallic hvac tape on the doors turn your control knobs to be sure your doors work and are not taped to something there not suppose to be. This is how mine looked [/ATTACH]
Now you are ready to reintall this housing but how we cut the hook off? This is what I did-lay the housing (that you removed) down and whats left of the "hook we cut off" is now basically a tab drill a 3/16" hole dead center of this tab. It will look like this

Do not drill a hole through the tab on the main hvac box.
Carefully reinstall your housing cover (I didnt even break any of the little plastic locks off during disassembly) and if you do it doesnt matter this housing fits up into the upper duct work it cant go anywhere. Be sure when your fitting the housing back up into place you hold out on it a bit to prevent damaging the foam on the backside. Once in place reinstall the two little gold hex screws up top but now how do we secure the hook we cut off? I used a stainless steel sheet metal screw about 3/8" long and small washer through the hole we drilled and with a little pressure the sheet metal screw made its own hole and snugged right up. Do not over tighten this screw just snug it.
This is how mine looked

. Reinstall your metal brace and all your dash panels and there you go Bobs your uncle. Now tell me how awesome that is-I just saved you alot of time and alot of money. You do not have to remove the steering wheel and instrument cluster to do this job-and you have a professional repair!

Have a great day!

Fish Head

Thanks for the pictures. I followed your instructions and the blend door is now fixed. I didn't have to take out the center console. I used a dremel to cut the hook. Heres a picture of the cover on with the sheet metal screw. I did break some clips and plastic on the drivers side lower dash panel. Ordered a new one on ebay for $40.00. That is really the only cost other than my time. Take pictures as you go.

Glad this info helped someone.

Hello all,
its been several months since I have logged on. Just received a Happy Birthday from New beetle so I thought I would check to see if my original post had helped someone and I suppose it has and that was the whole reason for signing up on New Beetle in the first place. Sorry for the poor quality photos in my original post, I was in a hurry and just wanted to get finished with the job. Took them all one handed.Its pretty cold here in Ga. now but the heat sure feels good in my little commuter but it has developed a problem. every once in while (maybe once a month)I go out at 5:30am to go to work and all she'll do is crank-will not start.I can go to work, come home and she starts right up everytime. I thought the engine position sensor was the problem so I replaced it and for about 6 months all was well. Then one day last week it did it again. I cant think of any combination I'm doing to cause this issue but I think it may have something to do with the anti theft feature. Just a thought. Oh well now I have something else to figure out.

Have a great day!

Fish Head