Fixing the hot-as-hell heater

Almost every 944 owner will sooner or later face this problem: The heater is only providing hot air, no matter how you set the dial...

The previous owner of my car had the same problem, so he purchased a used heater regulator mechanism for the dashboard - these usually cost between 60€ and 100€. He never got time to replace it - but it would have been worthless - the issue is far more simple to fix!  The spares you need will throw you back a whooping  1,44€!
Under the dash is a servo motor which moves the heater regulator flap via a rod continuously variable between hot and cold. This rod is coupled to the flap with a plastic retainer, secured by a spring clip.

This is a really good picture which explains the problem perfectly, found on another cool blog:
crankydriver.com

This is the annoying article:

 
Over the years the clip becomes brittle and splits. Now the flap falls down to the full-on hot position and stays there. The clip is accessable easily under the dash and it takes less than 5 minutes to replace the retainer and secure it with the spring clip. You only need to synchronize the flap and dial positions. The Part numbers are: 944 572 217 00 for the spring clip and 944 572 314 00 for the plastic retainer.

 Note: Both parts were made in Japan!