Hey all... been a while since i've been on here! Have picked up a mk2 caddy (that's a Polo, right?) and there are a few niggles to sort.

 

Most irritating issue (especially given the time of year) is that the heater is stuck on hot. Temperature control in cab does nothing.

 

I've had a look under the bonnet and can't see a valve there, just two hoses passing into the cab.

 

Where to look next? Hoping this isn't going to be a dash out job...

Not sure what year a mk2 caddy might be, but on most recentish models of VW, the temperature control is done by airflow direction rather than coolant flow. so the matrix always has hot coolant running through it, but the incoming cabin air will be routed through it, or bypass it depending on requested temperature.  At a guess, your heater control flap is either stuck in wrong position, or letting air through itself.  

8 hours ago, Pete1 said:

Not sure what year a mk2 caddy might be, but on most recentish models of VW, the temperature control is done by airflow direction rather than coolant flow. so the matrix always has hot coolant running through it, but the incoming cabin air will be routed through it, or bypass it depending on requested temperature.  At a guess, your heater control flap is either stuck in wrong position, or letting air through itself.  

ah, interesting... pretty sure mk2 caddy is based on 6n polo. Mine's a 2002.

It's a Seat Cordoba underneath, for all your racing hertiage..... but so's a Polo Saloon, so we'll take that 🙂

 

Yeah, there's a mixed air flap at the back of the dashboard, if you trace the (blue?) cable back, you should find it. Mine did the same thing and freed up fairly easily. The front of the dash comes out easily if you want to check it's the blue one, but I'm reasonably sure it is. 

16 hours ago, Yeti said:

It's a Seat Cordoba underneath, for all your racing hertiage..... but so's a Polo Saloon, so we'll take that 🙂

 

Yeah, there's a mixed air flap at the back of the dashboard, if you trace the (blue?) cable back, you should find it. Mine did the same thing and freed up fairly easily. The front of the dash comes out easily if you want to check it's the blue one, but I'm reasonably sure it is. 

Interesting... just bought a Polo workshop manual (haynes) as I couldn't find a Caddy one... I wonder if the Ibiza/Cordoba manual would be any more useful... but I guess all the cars are basically the same platform...and will have similarities.

 

I will have a look as you suggest. Thanks!

 

Out of interest, the Wikipedia page says, "derived from the Volkswagen Polo Mk3 (Volkswagen Caddy) / SEAT Ibiza Mk2 (SEAT Inca) platform" 

I don't think they ever did a manual for the mk2 caddy. The Polo manual should get you a fair way, particularly if it's for a 6n (96-00 ish). VAG have a way of doing things which is fairly common to most of the cars in the range, just be a little bit careful with torque settings when you're doing stuff up.

 

Wikipedia is a bit out. They're derived from the Seat Ibiza/Cordoba (typ 6k). The Inca is utterly the same thing as the Caddy apart from the clocks and some of the plastics., both being typ 9k. The Polo Saloon and Estate is a similar story, basically being a re-dress of the Cordoba and Cordoba Vario, sharing very little with the Polo Hatchback apart from looks.

 

The Caddy/Inca's are made out of a bit of everything to be fair. Mechanically, the front end is pretty much mk3 Golf but with the later SDI engine in instead of the old D, which is a lot of the reason why the wings are so wide. The 93-99 Ibiza/Cordoba manual will tell you quite a bit, but it won't cover the SDI engine specifically, although they're not a lot different to the D engine other than the pump and the throttle actuator.

 

The later bubble-shaped Ibiza/Cordoba 6L is a totally different car, based on the 9n Polo.

 

VAG were basically trying to get the mileage out of the brands they bought in the 90's (Seat and Skoda). The weirdest bit is, there was a Caddy Pickup at the same time as the mk2 caddy van, that had utterly nothing in common with the Van, being a a Skoda Felicia Pickup (Typ 797) with a VW grill on. 

Right, sort of fixed it...good enough for my purposes anyway. Having taken the fascia off there were obvious signs of previous bodgery - missing screws, cable ties etc. and the cable itself (green as it happens) was found to be loose. The plastic at the back of the controls must have broken previously - someone had attempted a repair with a jubilee clip.

 

I've re-routed the cable so that it can be adjusted manually from inside the cabin.

 

Unfortunately reassembly was a slightly disappointing experience as various bits of plastic disintegrated as soon as i touched them. Although I improved on some of the previous bodges everything the lower row of switches has ended up a little loose with only one screw holding it in place. Wondering whether it's worth replacing the dash fascia or whether anything secondhand is likely to be just as rubbish...

 

I probably won't get round to it though - the more important next job is to find out why the temperature gauge isn't working. Hoping it's just the sender!

 

 

Edited 2 July, 20206 yr by yellowstripe