2006 Jetta - fuel flap and warm air wafting in

[guru_933]

Having owned the old Jetta for about two weeks, I noticed the following and wonder if anyone has experienced them and found a solution:

1) Fuel flap not locking - I am not sure how the fuel flap is normally locked/released. I am guessing there is a 'click' extending/retracting from where the cavity shown by the arrow below. Lately, I cannot get the flap to lock, no matter how many times I push the flap in. I believe the molding on the flap door is intact and undamaged.



2) Warm air is wafting through ventilation, even with the fan turned off.

I thought Jetta is like other European cars where air only flows into the cabin when the fan is turned on. However, I can distinctly feel warm air wafting through once the engine comes up to temperature even when the fan is off. While it's good in winter, the air-con will be working overtime in summer, having to cool both the cabin air and the hot air from the engine. I wonder if this has something to do with the bonnet lining coming off as shown below.

[piper26]

Hey mate,
Fuel flap lock actuators are a fairly common concern. Relatively cheap and fairly simple repair.

The air wafting. The insulation is only a noise and heat insulation for te firewall. If your recirculation flap is open then naturally air will feed into the car. Obviously without seeing/ feeling the airflow there is not much else I can say

[guru_933]

Thanks, piper26. Hopefully, the mechanic will share your view about the actuator during my next service.

As to the airflow, I thought the Jetta recirculation flap is by default closed if the climate-control unit is not turned on, like other European cars. The warm air flow wafting through my car does increase a bit if I speed up, but no where near as much as in Japanese/Korean cars. In my experience, their design seems to allow fresh air flow into the cabin if the fan is off. The faster you drive, the faster the fresh air would rush in. Contrast this to my old 318i, if the fan is off, there is no air-flow at all through the vents regardless of the speed the car is moving.

[piper26]

You may have a stuck flap or faulty flap motor. If you have access to vcds or a v.a.s tester you can carry out an ouptut test on the flap to see if the flap is functioning correctly.