I wasn't sure where to post for a/c questions.
But here it is. The AC in my car is real cold, but it just doesnt seem to blow very hard. (just bought the car)
I noticed today when i got in the car barefoot, that the AC is blowing out of the floor vents too, which is why its not blowing hard out of the vents. Do these cars have a vacuum that does that? Or is it something else? I just glanced under the hood but didnt see any vacuum lines.

Can you change the settings at all on the AC. As in where it blows out. I know on the 04 there is a wire on the back of the unit that goes to the vent selector. It's kind of like a brake cable on a bicycle . Those things can go bad, and will mess up the vent selector. A new cable is about 15-20 bucks but can be a pain to replace.

I have not tried to put on the heat or anything, but yes i can change the settings. I can change the blower speed, but no matter what speed i set the blower to, it still blows out of the floor (and face vents)

Sounds like you have a vacuum issue. Two of the doors inside the ductwork that changes the routes of the air are vacuum operated, and the other is cable operated. Off the top of my head, I don't remember which is which. I have the same problem in my 01, but I haven't had time to trace it yet. There is a door that controls how much of the air goes through the heating coil, and how much goes through the cooling coil, a door that changes which vent(s) the air comes out of, and the door that controls if you are getting fresh air in or recirculating the air inside of the car.

I think teal is right that it's going to end up being your cable, but a quick way to check is when you turn the selector between floor, defrost, and vent, is there any resistance, and do you hear the door flapping open and closed inside of the dash board? (You will probabaly have to turn the car off and make sure it's quiet to be able to hear this)

You can also open the driver side door and move that selector to where you want it. Make it blow out the main vents in teh summer for AC, and aim it at the deforster in the winter.

open the driver's side door? is there some kind of access panel there?

It's in the drivers footwell. you have to crawl up and look under the dash. It's not hard to find.

I crawled up under there today and i did see a roundish object, with what looked like vacuum lines going to it, and it had an arm-like thing on it that wasn't attached to anything, but i couldn't see where it should attach.

alex wrote:I crawled up under there today and i did see a roundish object, with what looked like vacuum lines going to it, and it had an arm-like thing on it that wasn't attached to anything, but i couldn't see where it should attach.

Sounds like you found the problem. That arm should be attached to the cable that moves the door.

This round object was not attached to anything, like it looks like it should be. It is just hanging there.

The HVAC in a 1997 is controlled by vacuum. If there is no vacuum to the unit it will blow out of all the vents at once and the selector won't work.

With that said it's hooked up via a grey tube at the main harness right above the transmission... that grey tube turns into a black vacuum tube that should be hooked up to the throttlebody.

You need to check first that your HVAC is receiving vacuum from the engine. If you pull off the dash bezel and undo the two torx/8mil screws that hold the HVAC and pull it out you'll see the vacuum lines coming out of the controls.

The vacuum lines will then go from those into the heater box behind the glove box. When you are under the passenger side dash you will see the underside of the blower fan, but not much else. You'd have to take the dash out to see if the flapper isn't working, I believe... though I could be wrong on that and maybe you can remove the blower motor and get a look up there.

Any time I've ever seen this issue come up it's because somebody cut that grey line in the engine bay or didn't hook the black vacuum part of it to the throttlebody.

-Chris-



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