Guide: MK7 climate control tips and tricks

This guide is for the standard climate control system, not the climatronic dual climate system on the higher end packages. Though some of this information will apply to any A/C system

Previously I have had some pretty bad luck with air conditioner/climate control systems on my previous cars. I have had the ac compressor blow up on me twice and mold/moisture issues in my ducts. So this time around I want to make sure that I don’t have these issues. This includes only running the ac compressor when I need to  and making sure after running the ac compressor that the ducts are clear of moisture.

How to get air though the vents without the A/C being on

A surprisingly difficult thing to do is to get fresh air from the outside of the car in through the climate control system without running the A/C. I found a way and it requires a specific order of operations to do it.

• Have the right nob is something other than defrost.
• Turn the temperature nob all the way on the cold side
• (optional if you want internal air only) Press the car button with the swoosh inside it.
• Now turn the fan nob to the desired air flow.

This is how it should look

Its important to do the air flow nob last as if you do it before the temperature nob it will turn on the AC Compressor, if that happens you can just hit the A/C button to turn it off.

How to stop vents from producing hot air when the climate system isn’t on

Something else I have noticed is when I have the windows down or sunroof open I get a surprising amount of heat out of the vents even when the system is off. I found a super simple trick for this and that’s to press the car button with the swoosh inside it. This closes the external vents and now you dont have lots of hot air due to pressure changes inside the cabin coming in.

This is how it should look

How to prevent smelly vents

Because of the way A/C Compressors work it can leave moisture in your vents/cabin air filter. This can cause mold which in return causes smells. A very good way of preventing this is after using the A/C to run air through it without the A/C on for a good few minutes. Using the “How to get air though the vents without the A/C being on” method will clear the vents of moisture.

The other thing you should do to help prevent this is replace your cabin filter often.

If you already have smelly vents replacing your cabin filter is the first step. If that doesn’t fix it products such as this work well but dont reach everywhere in your vent system http://www.1z-usa.com/products/klima-cleaner-professional.html If all else fails you will need to tear apart your dash and clean the vents manually. This is more than most people will want to deal with.

How to replace your cabin filter in the MK7 Golf/GTI

This is a pretty easy thing to do, you just need to know where to look. The part number for the “Charcoal Lined Cabin Filter” is 5Q0819653

• Open your glove box
• Empty the contents of the glove box. Seriously do this.
• Below the headunit (CD player) on the right and left side top corners of the glove box there are two tabs that need to be pressed up. Once pressed this will allow the glove box door to open down more. CAUTION: some users (me included) have noted that if they let the door fall, the door arm mechanism can explode and you will need  to put it back together. I was careful but the contents of the box caused it to fall. If it falls a gear will likely fall out and hopefully not beind the glovebox. Just put it back in and slide in the rod. Sitting in the seat helps the box not fall but makes it very hard to get at the tabs.
• You will now see a plastic cover with three tabs on top. Press each down and pull it down toward you. You should not need to touch the bottom tabs.
• With the plastic cover off you can now pull the air cabin filter out by hand.
• Reverse to put everything back together.