97 GLX/interior heat(climate control) issue

[septemberfreedom]

my car was in hawaii since it was born until this winter so I never noticed the problem.

The heat is absolutely mediocre. It doesn't get any hotter than almost bathwater. I know that the engine coolant is at like 225F normally, so the heat should be unsufferably hot. That is not the case.

I have checked the flap that is controlled by the temperature select knob on the AC/Heater control unit. The temperature flap moves from end to end (full open to full shut). I just got done replacing the AC/Heater control module (the thing with three knobs), because the fan switch failed and the heat thing didn't change. I'm not 100% sure but I think that the fresh air/recirc flap in the ventilation induction under the pollen filter is not working either. I have been told that it is spring return to fresh air and that would explain why the volume of air doesn't change when I push the recirc button. Maybe the two way valve that controls the vacuum to the flap is failed.

QUESTION?????????????????????????????????????????? ?
Is the heater core on my car always in the coolant loop, or is there a valve that controls how much coolant passes through it? Should I try getting my coolant system flushed?

[boschmann]

Hot water always flows through the core.

[septemberfreedom]

I had been searching for the 5A cruise control fuse (as stated on this and like 5 other websites) to no avail. I found a 5A fuse that was blown in the Eng. Compt. on a panel with a 20A fuse and a 50A fusable link. To my great surprise, replacing the blown 5A fuse did absolutely nothing for the cruise control. I drove the car for a week, and then yesterday, I got a wild hair up my ass to check that fuse again. Again, it was blown. I was determined to see if my cruise control module had a short or something (still thinking that that fuse was S51, since it isn't labeled, at all), so I put a 15A fuse instead of the 5A. Drove for 3 minutes (without cruise control) and started to smell an electrical fire smell. Pulled over and found that my electrical auxillary water pump (the pump that pumps coolant through the heater core because VW had to take the main coolant flow down so low to get oil temps high enough that it didn't provide enough flow to the core) was smoking like a pile of leaves was smoldering in my engine bay.

There is absolutely nothing like trial and error.