[Vwdiesel] Heater question

[mikitka]

Need to ask those that have been into the AC/heater core area on an A2
Jetta.  I use to have great heat coming out of the vents but it has slowly
moved to just warm heat now with the heat lever moved all the way over to
the far right.

 

My question is, over the years foam has been blowing out of the vents. I
understand this to be the foam seal around the temp control door, right?  If
so if all that foam is missing could I now be having an issue with the cold
mixing with the heat and now allowing it to seal off the cold side 100%
which in turn is causing my heat to be warm instead of hot like it use to
be?

 

The engine is running just as always and the temp gauge is the same, running
just slightly past half way like it always has since I have owned the jetta,
which will be over four years now and about 80k miles.

 

The coolant is or at least it looks nice and clean and I replaced the head
about 20k miles ago and so the coolant is fresh from that point. I didn't
specifically flush the heater core lines. By this I mean I didn't hook a
hose up to the heater outlet line and let it flush the coolant out backwards
through the inlet line to clean out the heater core, if that is at all
possible or a good thing to do.  

 

Do I need to flush the heater core or is the missing foam my issue?

 

This 91 ECO Jetta now a true TD Jetta has been great and a big money saver
for me so I want to keep it as long as I can. It just turned over 226k miles
total on the vehicle but the engine has 80k on it since I had it rebuilt
shortly after I purchased it.

 

Thanks,

 

Nick