i have the same problem have you found a fix for it yet:lol:

 

Here's the deal....

Under the cabin air filter...above the glove box in the engine compartment...is the fresh air/recirculate gate valve.

Remove the cabin air filter, watch the valve as someone else toggles from fresh air to recirculate. There are two parts that flip up in recirculate mode and down in fresh air mode. When they are down (most of the time) the smaller one is free to jiggle and rattle. Man does this drive me crazy! I stuck a few pieces of insulating tape to the back side of the smaller, inside piece (you get at it by switching to recirculate and one or two seconds later turn key off so the trap door thing is not yet closed). Too much tape and recirculate becomes difficult, too little and the damn thing still rattles.

I can not tell you how happy I was to finally find the source of this noise. The previous owner had it to the dealer several times to find and squelch the noise... there were felt pads all over the dash, glove box, everywhere... but the fresh air/recirculate valve thing was definately the problem. Good luck. Enjoy the silence.

Scott

 

when you say air filter u mean pollen filter on the passenger side under the scuttle panel iv had this out and i could see a fan spinning and a big rectangular flap that was sitting flat and i could just about lift it towards me about 45 degress and no further i couldnt see or fell any other flaps i tried the recirc button but it continued the only time it goes off is when i turn it onto ECON...any pics, thanks for the previous info anyhow i doing about 2000 miles next week and wanna sort this first:crazy:

thanks

 

I have the same problem on my 2002 Passat but the noise is more a clicking/ticking noise on the drivers side....

 

What you're hearing ion the driver's side is a relay switching on and off.

 

Me Too

I have it too! Drives me mad! Have 2 days off work this week so i'm going to put the dash apart. Will let you know what i find:thumbup:

 

it is the servos for the air flaps for the climate control.
normal, if you have that feature.

 

Nar, this sound is not normal. The car has only been doing it for about while

 

I have two sounds. One has been there since the car was new....it's bzzzzzzzzzzzzz...bzzzzz...bzzzzzzzz. It's arrhythmic and sounds like a motor. My guess is that this is the Climatronic flap motor.

The newer sound is entirely separate from the motor sound but comes from behind the Climatronic controls as well. It's also arrhythmic but sounds more like a clock ticking.

The last couple of winters, 64/LO has been basically an on/off switch for my heater. My instinct tells me the ticking is something actually broken that doesn't properly open and close...but is trying to as the Climatronic is trying to regulate interior temps based on the setting. If it's ticking, I can turn the temperature selection up and it won't tick until that setting becomes the new point where it's trying to regulate the temp.

The indy shop I take my car to isn't familiar enough with the innards of the Passat dash to speculate beyond this. I despise my local dealership so I haven't gone to them for information. I may resort to the one an hour away that I used when the car was under warranty.

Anyone have any thoughts on this.

 

Scan the Climatronic for codes. It will tell you what system is not working (probably the flap motors).

http://www.passatworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92981

 

I have the codes but the list on that thread is codes numbered 1-40 and that bears no similarity to the codes I have:

256 00
4F7 00
4F8 00
4FA 00
318 00

Anyplace I can look those up?