Fan problem. Dashboard loose connection???

Music Man · Nov 13, 2025

Hi everyone. I have a 2006 T5 and have a somewhat strange problem I’m hoping someone can shed some light on please…

The van starts and runs ok etc, all good, but sometimes the aircon/fan cluster seems to just stop working. The display still reads fine but the actual fan stops and the orange indicator lights for screen demist/auto/feet/rear etc all go out. I’ve had it investigated by my friendly garage, they checked the connections at the back of the panel, used some anti moisture spray I think too, but they couldn’t find any actual problem. This happens fairly randomly, and when it does I can solve it by turning the engine off and restarting. All the lights are back on, and sometimes that does the trick and they stay on, but sometimes/often everything goes off again at some point. Hoping there is nothing that could be actually dangerous linked to this but I definitely need to sort it out now it’s getting colder again as otherwise I can’t demist a frozen windscreen, or even get warmth in the van, and I do actually take the van up to ski resorts in the Alps! Any help please?
Thanks!
Steve

sidepod · Nov 13, 2025

Obvious question - scanned for codes?

sidepod · Nov 13, 2025

From your description it does suggest it’s a climatronic unit internal fault.

I think these units have their own local diagnostics, accessible by pressing a combo of the buttons on the unit.
Have a wander around Google to find how to access the diagnostic codes for that climatronic unit.

That’s as good a starting point as any.

Tycho · Nov 13, 2025

Searched high and low for codes for this type of climatronic, i have the same one. If you find something, please share it. Watching this with interest.

Perfectos · Nov 13, 2025

I believe there are two thermistors, one in each foot well area.
The thermistor measure the temperature in both foot wells (independently).

If the thermistor fails it cannot sense the correct temperature and therefore the unit will not respond to temperature input etc.

This may or may not be your issue but it is worth checking here and on the T5 & T6 forums.

sidepod · Nov 13, 2025

Type this in and it seems to produce credible Intel.

Tycho · Nov 13, 2025

Did the search, most of it is about a different (later) model. Thankfully i did find some new info to try later.

Thanks

sidepod · Nov 14, 2025

Tycho said:
Did the search, most of it is about a different (later) model. Thankfully i did find some new info to try later.

Thanks

Ah that’s the same unit as my Golf.
I’ve been through some pain with that!
Its latest fit is an iffy blower speed control which I’ve yet to investigate.

That document suggests any stored errors will initially display upon startup. I’ve never seen that happen.
Also, I never knew it was possible to display vehicle speed digitally.

Music Man · Nov 16, 2025

Thanks for all your replies and suggestions. A few things for me to investigate, and then back to the garage! Cheers.

Music Man · Nov 16, 2025

I will post here if I get anywhere with it in case anyone else wants to know what it was…!

Music Man · Feb 26, 2026

A bit more on this topic…
In the end I got the auto electrician from my local garage (who is very good and does lots of work for VW main dealers too) to come to run diagnostics on my van to see if he could spot anything. He spent over an hour checking everything he could think of but no obvious faults came up, including on the actual heater/fan/ aircon control panel. In the end he/we decided to try changing the resistor that governs the fan speed, which had sorted a similar problem with 2 other VWs they’ve have through the door, and possibly also the actual fan if that didn’t help the situation. So… back to the garage. However, whilst driving on the way there all those yellow lights on the control unit went off, as they have been doing, and this time I tried turning on the headlights. This seemed to resolve the problem, everything came back on. A new way to “reset” the situation without having to turn the whole ignition off. The garage has still changed the resistor, and thought it had fixed the issue, but I’ve just been to pick it up and the heater control panel lights went off as I got in the van! Typical. They also came back on again when I tried the headlights! Same as before. So now the garage are thinking of stripping out more of the dash to see whether there’s a loose wire somewhere, and they also wondered whether there’s a “bad” earth somewhere. Anybody got any helpful thoughts on this?

Perfectos · Feb 26, 2026

Music Man said:
A bit more on this topic…
In the end I got the auto electrician from my local garage (who is very good and does lots of work for VW main dealers too) to come to run diagnostics on my van to see if he could spot anything. He spent over an hour checking everything he could think of but no obvious faults came up, including on the actual heater/fan/ aircon control panel. In the end he/we decided to try changing the resistor that governs the fan speed, which had sorted a similar problem with 2 other VWs they’ve have through the door, and possibly also the actual fan if that didn’t help the situation. So… back to the garage. However, whilst driving on the way there all those yellow lights on the control unit went off, as they have been doing, and this time I tried turning on the headlights. This seemed to resolve the problem, everything came back on. A new way to “reset” the situation without having to turn the whole ignition off. The garage has still changed the resistor, and thought it had fixed the issue, but I’ve just been to pick it up and the heater control panel lights went off as I got in the van! Typical. They also came back on again when I tried the headlights! Same as before. So now the garage are thinking of stripping out more of the dash to see whether there’s a loose wire somewhere, and they also wondered whether there’s a “bad” earth somewhere. Anybody got any helpful thoughts on this?

T5 rear lights are earthed to the chassis ,(at the rear) they are known to corrode and the corrosion extends down the factory wiring resulting in all sorts of issues.
This is a known issue DYOR

T5 forum would be a good starting point , it well documented and requires sections of corroded wire to be removed (often in inaccessible positions)

I wish you the best of luck, earthing issues can be a nightmare to diagnose properly

Pls report back to help others