The brief
The Q2's cabin airflow had gone weak. Not on one fan setting but across all of them, which is a useful detail: a fault that affects every speed points at the motor itself rather than at one stage of the speed control.
A faint whirring had also crept in from the dash area. And the cooling felt uneven across the vents, stronger from some than others, which happens when there is not enough air being pushed through the system to reach every outlet properly.
Weak airflow on every setting, a whirr, and patchy cooling. The classic signature of a cabin blower motor near the end of its life.
The diagnosis
We checked the easy things first. The climate control module was sending the right speed commands on the scanner, so the brain was fine. The blower regulator and the control module checked out. The AC refrigerant pressure was in spec, so the cooling side itself was healthy. The scan did flag the blower circuit: an open-circuit fault on the front fresh-air blower.
Then we bench-tested the blower motor. It was spinning below its rated speed and drawing more current than spec, which is what a motor does when its bearings have started to drag. More effort in, less air out, and a whirr as the worn bearings turn.
So the fault was the motor, not the electronics around it. Motor replacement.
The work
Pulled the under-dash trim to get at the blower assembly, which on this car lives up behind the glovebox area. Dropped the failed motor out of its housing.
A new Audi-spec blower motor went in, harness reseated.
And while the area was open, we fitted a fresh cabin filter. It is the kind of job where the access is already paid for, so doing the filter at the same time saves the owner a separate visit, and a fresh filter helps the new motor breathe easier.
The outcome
Strong airflow on every fan setting, from the lowest to the highest. No whirr from the dash. Cooling even across all the vents now that there is enough air moving to reach them.
The Q2 went home with the climate control behaving the way it should. For the owner, in this climate, that is not a luxury fix: a cabin that cools quickly and evenly is the difference between a comfortable drive and a sweaty one, every day.