Symptoms-
- A/C sounds as if it is blowing at full blast but there is barely any flow out of the vents.
- You DO still have control of HOT and COLD. If you don’t, you should review the “Blend Door Actuator” thread HERE.
- A/C is properly charged and you get some cooling but just “not like it used to be”.
To confirm-
- Remove the glove box. Open the glove box then press both sides inward to flop the glovebox upside down.
Next, remove the (3) 7mm screws.
(BLUE ARROW: This is the rounded housing for the blower)
- You should see a curved housing… this is the blower housing. Above the blower housing is a plastic housing for the Recirc/Fresh Air Door. Shine a flashlight upward. You will see a plastic grid. Looking through this plastic grid, you should see a solid plastic panel. This solid plastic panel is the door that can fail/fall.
- This door should be straight from left to right. If it sits ****ed in any way, it needs to be repaired. Additionally, you can cycle from MIN COOL to MAX COOL and you should see the door move. The door should be closest to you when in MINIMUM COOL but move away from you when shifted to MAX COOL (this closes the vent where “fresh air” enters from outside)
- If you do not see the solid plastic door, you will see another side with a plastic grid when looking through the first plastic grid. That means the door has fallen.
- You can also remove the plastic grille on top of the dash (near the front windshield) where the front window defroster would blow from. Then, from the outside of the windshield, look down with a flashlight and you will see the door laying in the bottom of the housing. If the door was completely missing, you would see a screen which is to keep leaves and such out of the blower suction.
NOTE: “LEFT” refers to the driver’s side, “RIGHT” refers to the passenger’s side.
PROCEDURE
1. Remove the center console. The center console will come out in two large pieces. The upper piece is the part that has the cup holders, the power point, and the tray. The lower piece consists of the main compartment with the arm rest lid, the a/c ducts, and the rear seat ducts and cup holders.
a. Lift out the rubber tray liner. Remove the (1) 7mm screw
b. Open the center console arm rest. Pop the upper console piece upward near where the arm rest lid latches
c. Once the upper console piece has been removed, reach under it and unplug the power point and accessory point (not sure what this is for). Lift upper console piece out of vehicle.
d. Next, Remove the lower piece by removing (2) 8mm screws directly under the radio.
e. Remove the (2) 8mm screws alongside the a/c duct for the rear passengers.
f. Move both front seats forward. From the rear seats, remove the covers on each side of the lower console piece. Remove (2) 8mm screws.
g. Lift console out of vehicle.
2. Remove miscellaneous trim pieces
a. Remove the “defrost grill” using a plastic trim tool. This trim piece snaps into place. Under the defrost grill, unplug the electrical connector. Place grill outside vehicle.
b. Remove both “A”-pillar trim pieces. These snap out using a plastic trim tool if necessary. On the passenger side, the “oh ****” handle will need to be removed. Pop the screw covers off with a tiny flat head screw driver. Remove the (2) 8mm bolts holding the handle in place.
c. Remove the two outer/lower kick panels. The left panel is the plastic trim panel around the hood release. These just pop out.
d. Remove the trim piece under the steering wheel. Remove the (2) 8mm screws. Pop the panel the rest of the way.
e. Remove the DASH side panels. The panels are on each side of the dash, covered by the door when the door is shut. These pop out using a plastic trim tool exposing the main bolts that hold the dash in place.
f. Remove the soft rubber door molding from the area near the dash. LEAVE the rest in place so you don’t have to fight it later.
3. Unbolt the dash. The entire dash will NOT be removed. Only pull the dash out enough to make room for the repair.
a. Remove the NEG terminal on the battery using a 10mm socket.
b. Remove (2) 13mm bolts on the left side of the dash.
c. Remove (2) 13mm bolts on the right side of the dash.
d. Remove (1) 13mm bolt on the right side where the “defrost grill” was covering.
e. Remove (1) 10mm bolt in the middle where the “defrost grill” was covering.
f. Remove the HIDDEN dash bolt. Raise the hood. Pop up/pry up the plastic grill that surrounds the windshield wipers (cowl?) on the drivers side, just enough to fit a 10mm socket and extension (I used a 10” extension and a universal and some masking tape) to remove the hidden dash bolt.
(Notice the MagLite propping the cowl up AND providing light.)
g. Under the dash, on either side of the radio section (opposite the kick panels we removed in 2c), there are two (1 on each side) 2” vertical metal brackets. Remove the (2) 8mm screws at the top of each of these brackets.
h. Disconnect the steering shaft/spline by removing (1) 10mm bolt.
4. Swing the dash. IMPORTANT: The driver’s side of the dash will only move a small amount, maybe a couple of inches. The passenger side moves 10-12” so it can rest on the passenger seat. As you swing the dash do what you need to to relocate/disconnect wire bundles on the right side.
a. On the right side, through the large hole left by the glove box, there is a large wire bundle that is held in place by a metal bracket. I unclipped the wire bundle from the metal bracket. I also unclipped the metal box (brain?) right next to the large wire bundle. I also disconnected the antennae cable.
5. Remove all the screws that are accessible to separate the top (grill/grid section) of the recirc/fresh air door housing from the bottom. Pry it open and remove the door.
a. Familiarize yourself with the door. Notice the “nub/post” on the one side, which is the right side. The left side has a female receptacle for the actuator arm.
b. Drill a pin hole through the “nub/post”. I used a 1/16” drill bit about 1/8” from the end of the post.
c. Here I used a shop vac to clean out the leaves that had collected in the housing.
d. Remove the actuator motor by removing (2) 8mm gold screws.
e. Squeeze the door back inside the housing and into the correct position (hanging from the top of the housing). My wife had to do this part, my hands were too big.
f. As she positioned the door, I slide the actuator arm through the housing to engage the door. And then reconnected the actuator with the gold screws.
g. Reconnect the NEG battery terminal, turn on the vehicle (actually START the vehicle so you have vacuum) and test the door by shifting the a/c from MIN COOL to MAX COOL. You should see the door swing to cover the hole in the firewall (on recirculation during MAX COOL) then to swing toward the passenger seat (allowing fresh air from the hole in the fire wall during MIN COOL).
h. If the door moves properly, great. If not, you need to determine the problem, either a bad motor or a wiring issue most likely.
i. Re-disconnect the NEG battery terminal.
j. Thread a paperclip (or similar) through the hole you drilled to (hopefully) prevent that door from ever falling again.
(YELLOW ARROW: paperclip threaded through drilled hole to prevent the door from ever falling in again)
(BLUE ARROW: A put a small grommet on the end of the actuator arm shaft after I broke the plastic "shield". RED ARROW: door in the "fresh air" mode. If shifted to "recirc" the door would move toward the firewall.)
6. Put it all back together. Potential problem areas:
a. In the drivers foot well, under the dash, behind the radio, there is a white plastic drain line for a/c condensate. Before moving the dash back, get this piece into position so it is connected to the black a/c box centerline under the dash. Then, when the dash is moved back, it will click into the other white part.
b. As you move the dash back, make sure the two brackets unbolted in 3g are correctly positioned.
c. Don’t forget to reconnect the steering shaft coupler. The bolt should go in easily and be hand-tightened nearly the whole way in. If it snags right away, wiggle the two sides of the coupler until they are correctly positioned.
7. Good job. Make sure you don’t have any parts left over. Test drive the vehicle to make sure the steering is good. Enjoy you’re a/c again.
Hope this helps someone as this forum has helped me. If I come up with a solution to the stupidly overdone pressures on a plastic door in a plastic housing to control air that obviously fails more often than not, I'll post. God bless all.
