Air conditioner box

[Henry A Harper III]

My friend James has an '89 200q with a similar broken
recirc-door-motor-mount issue...he is blocking the outside door closed in
summer (to help the a/c) and open in winter (to avoid fogging) - actually if
you remove the block the spring should hold it open so you just block closed
in a/c season and remove block in heater season. As long as the vacuum line
to the motor is plugged the climate control won't really get all that
confused. I don't think that it's *impossible* to rebuild the mount without
replacing the box, but it would require a certain amount of innovation and
fabrication. If that one guy can build a Cobra Daytona coupe out of sheet
aluminium with a hammer and welder, fixing this recirc door motor mount is
cake. A good source for used a/c box if you want to go that route is
probably Chris at force5auto.com.

HTH
Henry Harper
http://www.henry-harper.com hah at alumni.rice.edu
1991 200 quattro, 120k
1988 GTI 16v, 239k

> I bought my car in Florida a year and a half ago, and it fogged
> up in cool weather and smelled musty. The mechanic found an oil
> bottle wedged down in the air conditioner box to hold the recirc
> door closed, and after it was removed the car dried out. This
> winter I noticed it did not defog as well as expected with
> passengers in the car and a different mechanic has found that the
> air motor for the outer door (slide?) on the box has been broken
> off of its mounting in such a way that it "cannot" be reattached.
> Apparently the air motor itself is OK (though disconnected and
> the lines are plugged) and the door is OK, but the mounting on
> the box is irretrievably broken so the door cannot work. Mechanic
> estimates hundreds of dollars to replace box, even if I find one
> (disconnect air conditioner, replace box, R-134 conversion,
> replace components).
>
> Anyone seen this situation? Anyone done a less expensive fix?
> Mechanic says climate control probably confused by constantly
> open outer door, but perhaps that is not so big a problem and I
> can just leave it, or perhaps fix the door in a half-open
> position? I live in Vermont (cold winter, not too hot in summer),
> so could I just fix the door in position seasonally? If so, what
> would the positions be? What is the consequence of this door not working?
>
> Lastly, does anyone have a good air conditioner box to sell me,
> if I go that route??