I’ve enjoyed my GTI. Mechanically, it has been problem free, mile after mile. Sure, there have been a few minor issues that were no fault of the car itself. Other than those minor issues, the car has been perfect… until now. My interior blower motor (ventilation) started making some sickly noises around the 70,000-mile mark. It was disappointing on a car that was just over two years old, especially knowing that the blower motor on my Mk3 lasted nearly 14 years and over 375,000 miles. My Mk7’s fan speed began to fluctuate until it eventually became unreliable, working only from time to time. With January’s “Polar Vortex” heading our way, I knew I wanted that fan working and blowing heat for my early morning commutes. When I shopped for the new blower, I was very pleased to discover that it is removed and installed without tools.
New blower (left) and original blower w/resistor installed…
Getting into a good working position to see under the dash/glovebox and find key blower motor parts was uncomfortable. Thankfully, removing the blower was far less tedious since it has no mounting screws. I took considerable time to discover how to remove my Mk7’s blower. I didn’t see much about how to do it online, not even in YouTube. So I decided to take photographs and shoot a video to share on my YouTube channel. Now that I’ve done the job, I’m very certain I could complete a swap in about 20 minutes, maybe less. The slowest part of the job is swapping the resistor/regulator from the old part to the new part.
Here are the steps to swap the blower (refer to the photo album for details):
- Remove the two plastic finger screws that hold the foam insulation in place beneath the glove box.
- Remove the foam insulation.
- Pull down the blower’s locking tab about 2mm to allow the blower to rotate.
- Rotate the blower ~20 degrees clockwise. The blower will fall free.
- Remove the blower; remember – it is still electrically connected to the car.
- Unplug the blower’s power cable; move the blower to a working surface.
- Unplug the resistor power cable.
- Remove the two resistor mounting screws using a T20 driver (the only tool needed).
- Remove the resistor and transfer to the new blower; install its mounting screws.
- Insert the resistor power cable until it clicks.
- Maneuver the blower into its mounting position; orient the mounting tab towards the firewall and the resistor toward the right.
- Rotate the blower slightly left or right to get it to seat, then rotate it counter-clockwise to lock it into place.
- Insert the blower power cable until it clicks.
- Test the blower. The blower will not run faster than “4” unless the engine is running.
- Install the foam insulation; make sure to align the vent holes and finger screw holes.
- Install the two finger screws.
- Go for a drive and enjoy the fresh air!
Resistor/Regulator removed…
Someone warned me that my blower’s problem might be with the resistor. After two days of commuting with a functional blower, I’m certain I replaced the correct part. Still, I think Volkswagen got the design right in that they made the parts easy to remove and separate. The fan I have is slightly louder than my original part. That’s disappointing. I’ll live with the extra rumble from the new fan. I’m inclined to think Volkswagen perfected the removal aspect of the blower because they expect them to fail relatively frequently. If that’s true, I may have a newer revision in two years. HAHA!
Well Ventilated,
Scott
Would it be the blower motor or resistor on a2007 gti ,it doesn’t work on any speed
I cannot say with 100% certainty. But I think the resistor is responsible for multispeeds. If one or more speeds are not working (but one speed is), then it’s the resistor. But if the fan simply does not work or makes noise, then it’s the fan. I’d buy a fan. But I might also learn that I’m wrong. 😉 Good Luck! -Scott
So replaced the blower motor and resistor still nothing
I made some assumptions with my first response: Did you check the fuse? I don’t know which one feeds the blower circuit. But it may have blown if/when something in the circuit overloaded. The rotary switch on the dash is another possibility, but I suspect there’s a computer involved somewhere, too. That means wizardry. You may need to take it to a pro if the fuse is good.
Scott, were you having issues with the fan randomly stopping even though the control wasn’t set to 0? Mine lately has randomly started where I’ll have it on any setting, doesn’t necessarily have to be 6, and it’ll simply stop blowing air. I scanned with OBD11 and came up with a code, B10CE00 “Blower reduction due to energy management”. I’ve been searching around but haven’t really found a fix yet. Mine’s a 17 sport as well with only 34k miles on it. In the PA cold over the past few days it keeps stopping then it’ll randomly kick back on blowing at full blast if i leave the setting at 6. It started in the summer but seems to be a lot more frequent in the past week. The only additional item I have plugged in is an ethanol gauge using an add a fuse and this started before that was installed. I’m going to post on the forum as well but it appears to be down at the moment. Any input is appreciated, Thanks. Drew
WOW! I’ve never heard of an energy management feature. I cannot help with that one. In the case of my fan, it was making noise in addition to fluctuating its air flow speeds. I hope you find an answer in the forums. Please feel free to share the solution here. Thanks for writing.
Scott, Figured I’d give an update to this issue I was having. When i scanned my car, there were a few other codes. I had my battery tested and it tested fine at autozone but I really wondered if maybe this was the cause of my issues. I had purchased a new battery and went with a larger H6 (thanks for the vid on that as well, followed your instructions for coding) and haven’t had an issue with the blower motor slowing itself like it was with the OE battery. I changed it last Friday and it’s been in the teens in PA every morning this week and no issues at all. I cleared all codes the other day and will have to have a look again in a few days to see if any of the previous ones popped up again. So far so good but it seems like my battery was on it’s way out.
Drew – Thanks for the follow-up. Oddly enough, I replaced the blower several months before the battery. Your diagnosis has me wondering if my battery was the culprit all along. But I doubt it. If the battery was suspect at the time, then the new blower should have behaved as poorly as the old one. That’s my thought for MY car, anyway. Regardless, you’ve presented some good things to consider if I find myself suspecting the blower in the future. Thanks Again! -Scott
Hello Scott thanks for the video, I own a 2015 GTI S, I am having the same problem at 90K miles, I purchased the AC blower and was ready to follow your instructions and install my self; however my model has the CD player in the glovebox, I tried looking online on how to remove the CD player and I can’t find anything. If you know of a link or any info you can share I would be grateful. Thank You
No need to remove the MIB2 brain. I shared a video link on that page that shows how I replaced my blower. See the video at https://youtu.be/TETddDyoA-Y. Thanks for visiting.
Help…
Did you find any error in the scanner for you?
For me there are 2 errors:
– Blower Output Reduction due to Energy Management
[B10CE]
-Position Sensor for Fresh/Recirculated Flap Motor
[B109B]
Can you say what it can be? How to fix?
My blower fault may not have been substantial enough to cause a fault code. I wonder if your B109B fault caused the B10CE. You may have an issue with climate control that is NOT the blower. Your best bet is to take it to a pro for diagnosis. Good Luck!
great write up, did the same fix with same new part boom air again… definitely more rumble from new blower… also have that burnt electrical smell but i’m assuming that will go away as i smelled it when the old blower motor burnt out. Thanks again for the write up.
Thanks for the comment. I hope the article was helpful. Take Care! -Scott
Scott I’m having similar issues with my wife’s 2015 gti autobahn. The heat or fan will just randomly turn off and then eventually it usually kicks back on but no matter what speed it’s at it’ll sometimes blows softer. It’s making a noise as well that isn’t to loud but loud enough to be an annoyance. It’s winter here and I’m worried she won’t be able to defrost for her morning commutes. Is changing the blower motor the same on a 2015 autobahn gti?
It is the same. Doing it now would be less unpleasant than doing it when it’s cold outside. Of course, I offer that advice as someone who does not have a garage. LOL! Good Luck!
Hi Scott,
First off, thanks so much for all the super helpful information you’ve provided on your site and YouTube page! I had the heat/AC go out on my 2017 Golf S and have been working on figuring it out on my own.
I did order and install a new blower motor per your guidance, as I figured that was most likely the cause of my issue. However, I still have no air blowing out after the replacement. I can sometimes feel some heat coming out of the vents, so I think the system is still “producing” the hot and cold air, for lack of a better term. I’ve tried adjusting the fan speed but that doesn’t produce any different effects. For a while the fan would kick back on intermittently as I was driving, but lately it’s just not doing anything.
I did check all of the fuses that appear to be related to the air control, and as far as I can tell they all seem to be in fine shape. I guess the next logical step would be to potentially replace the resistor that I transferred over from the old blower fan?
Any additional insight or advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again!
I suspect your resistor is to blame. It stinks that there’s not an obvious way to isolate between the blower and the resistor. Good Luck!
Great, thanks for the quick reply Scott!
One last (probably dumb) question right now as I’m looking at replacement parts – are a blower motor control module and a blower motor regulator the same thing? They sure look like the same thing, but the regulator costs almost twice as much as the control module. Just want to make sure I’m ordering the correct part.
Thanks again!