I have spent the whole past week researching this online and still haven't found anything. I have a problem with my AC where everything works, except that it won't close/change the air source from fresh/outside to closed/recirculated (max cool). I have tried to crawl underneath both sides and look up against the firewall with a flashlight, but I can't see squat and can barely move. But I also don't want to go to the trouble of removing the whole dash if I still won't be able to get to the "mode door". I don't think it is a problem with the switch, vacuum, cable or anything else, but it could be. I don't have the clicking noise either and all the positions on the vent selector work fine - except, like I wrote - no recirculated air - so the result is not adequate cold air. Before this, when changing from open vents with AC on, to closed/inside with AC on, there was a huge and obvious difference but now no change at all and it just stays on open/outside air.
Anyone have any answers?
thanks
If its a temperature issue, your manual blend door is not moving, either its a broken cable or door.. if its a vent position issue, such as stuck on defrost or floor, it is the electric blend door actuator. Easiest way to get to that is pull off the top of the dash and remove the airbag. It is on the side of the HVAC unit jammed almost all the way against the passenger door pillar. Held on with two small 5.5mm screws.
Currently #4 in Ecotec Forced Induction horsepower ratings. 505.8 WHP 414WTQ!!!
Currently 3rd quickest Ecotec on the .org - 10.949 @ 131.50 MPH!!!
Just out of curiosity, I wanted to see what I could see and/or get to by removing that defrost vent thing in the center of the top of the dash - which I had never touched before in the 13+ years I have had the car (2001 Cavalier). I figured surely you would be able to remove the big black directional type thingy in there - otherwise what would be the point of being able to unscrew the vent cover to begin with? Anyway, that turned out to be a total disaster since all of the pieces of plastic that the screws go into, and pretty much everything else under that cover were just as brittle as the the front windshield section which is already cracked in about 10 different spots along the front edge. I was so frustrated and annoyed that the piece inside the defrost vent did not seem to fit in any fashion so as to be able to pull it out the top opening, that I ended up - you guessed it - using too much force trying to squeeze it out one way after another - and ended up pretty much destroying/disintegrating everything in there. Big and small pieces of plastic kept breaking off and falling down into the abyss before I just got fed up and quit. Now the whole front, defrost segment and everything else in that whole area if fubar and looks even more half-ass than it did to start with and of course I accomplished nothing.
After that, I decided to crawl under the passenger's side again which is nearly physically impossible between my literally having to bend over backwards, with the top of my head jammed into the floorboard and holding a flashlight up towards the blower motor. I was able to see the problem for the first time. The recirculation actuator has a metal arm sticking out of it - and the white piece of plastic that it apparently is supposed to (and used to be) attach to is broken. But the location of the little white piece (about the size of a dime) is so totally impossible to get to or even touch - that I have no idea how I will ever be able to fix it or even rig something to connect that metal arm. I know the actuator is working and I know the recirc door is working because I was able to (with great difficulty) flip the tiny white plastic thing so that door opened and closed completely.
So now that I have narrowed the problem down - my question is - has anyone ever fixed/repaired/replaced this white piece that I am talking about? Does anyone even know what I am talking about? Even if I had a brand new part for whatever the hell it is called, I still don't know how to be able to get to where it attaches to. I have replaced the blower motor before, and this looks like it would require the complete removal of the much larger piece of huge black plastic that the top of the whole blower motor is part of. Holy crap what a huge pain in the ass.
Any ideas?
If it were me, I would be scouring the yards for a 95-96 uncracked dash, and change the dash and your broken blend door pieces all at once. You'll have to pull the dash to fix anyways.
Currently #4 in Ecotec Forced Induction horsepower ratings. 505.8 WHP 414WTQ!!!
Currently 3rd quickest Ecotec on the .org - 10.949 @ 131.50 MPH!!!
