You’ve noticed that one of your vents is not blowing out any air. Scanning with VCDS or similar gives the “00710 – ‘xxxxx’ Flap Positioning Motor” code. In my case its the Defrost vent that blows air onto the windshield
In my case its the Defrost vent that blows air onto the windshield, but it could be any of the actuators that create this issue. Doing my Google research I discovered that a common problem is the feedback potentiometer that let the computer in the car know where the flaps are positioned can get dust or metallic particles on it which gives the car a bad reading. This makes the computer freak out and throw an error code. So cleaning the potentiometer is a likely solution to the error. Before buying a replacement I decided to find out how easy it is to clean.
Part Number for Replacement Actuators
If you want to skip this article and just go buy an actuator here are the part numbers for the actuators in a 2007 Audi A4 B7.
- Red (Violet) – temperature regulating damper – 8E1820511A
- Green – defroster damper – 8E1820511B
- White – Central flap – 8E1820511C
- Blue – recirculated damper – 8E1820511D
- Light Blue – intake damper – 8E1820511E
Disassembly of the actuator
The unit is held together with 5 plastic tabs that are built into the base of the actuator housing. I cleverly used two jewellers screw drivers to open it up. One to pull the first tab back and the other to then pry the two halves apart and hold it open till I could pull back on the second tab. I started with the tab that is narrowest. No particular reason why I did that but it worked well.
After releasing all 5 tabs pull of the lid of the actuator. You will see the 12 volt DC motor, a worm gear drive train, and the potentiometer (pot). The pot pulls out without any issue. The lid holds it in place so when thats removed it comes right out. I suggest marking the pot so that when you reassemble things you can put it together the same way it came apart. Also if you plan to drive the motor then find a way to mark its position as well.
The two outside pins of the pot measure around 4.77k ohms. The center pin is the wiper. This is where the car takes its reading. The business end of the pot is buried inside the plastic housing. I shot contact cleaner up into that area using the holes where the contacts go in. From what I read its not a good idea to try and pry the center piece of green plastic up in order to shoot the cleaner in. Its brittle and will break.
After multiple shots of cleaner, and twisting the center of the pot I dried off any excess contact cleaner. Then I checked to make sure the motor is running. To do this apply 12 Volts DC across the two leads. Reversing the polarity of the leads will reverse the direction the motor turns. Easy Peasy.
Doing my searches I found that VW, Skoda and many other manufacturers also use the same motor and possibly even the same pot in their actuators. So If the Audi branded one is too expensive its possible to scavenge parts from a VW branded one. That being said the used actuators go for fairly cheap on the eBays. In some cases I found actuators listed for cheaper than the shipping price.
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