Annoying clicking every 7-8 minutes
 

Arrrhgg....drives me mad. Must be 25-35 clicks in quite quick succession from behind the centre of dash and sometimes it seems behind/below steering column (RHD UK spec D2 2000MY)
Also noticed the centre vents have very little (almost none at all) air coming out even when fan is on max. Sometimes flipping to AUTO the centre ones seem to work some more but when next in car its back to nothing. (the very middle vent with the hot/cold slider works, tho is never hot)

So am guessing that maybe the centre flaps dont open properly and the clicking is related....though why it does it every 8 mins is a mystery.
Its done this ever since i got the car !...any ideas?

Does sound like the centre flaps are stuck. Clicking could be a relay?

Have you scanned with VCDS? I'm in Chelmsford if you need a scan but haven't got it +++

Cheers for speedy reply.....i one have the cable/software so be great if you could plug yours in. Heading to south of France in it next Friday so would be brilliant if I could stop it before then !!

Would it be this http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1624

It's a common problem, it's one of the stepper motors for the air vents, they click every 7 minutes when they're stuck or broken.
It should throw a fault in the system if you have it scanned, if I remember correctly there are about five little motors, VCDS should tell you which one is making the clicking sound, and that needs replacing.

The manual says

Re - Would it be this http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1624

Thanks for that...So happens a mate had one of those relays in his garage so after a bit of fiddling we have just swapped the one highlighted in the picture as the "most common cause" . Same issue, so either a) its not that relay or b) the relay we put in is also faulty !

Does the VAGCOM thing tell you which relay it is...and if so, how do you then know which relay is which ?

Sorry...i wrote relay....and meant motor....we swapped that little black thing circled in the pic !!

Yes, those are stepper motors / servos.
As I wrote, there are several of those that can break.

VCDS will give an error like ...

Left Footwell Flap Positioning Motor (V108)

or

Rear Footwell Vent Positioning Motor (V112)

...that should tell you what motor is causing the issue.
The manual has a description of each motor, how you get it to etc. Some are harder to get to than others.

Cheers Adeneo...is the "manual" you refer to something that is publicly available ?

It probably is, someplace, otherwise Bentley Publishers sells it.