abstract_alchemy Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 I have a 95 legacy with a climate control panel that does not work. Most likely culprit is spilled soda from the previous owner using that brilliant cupholder. Heat and fan speed selector work, but the air will only come out of the face vents. I live in Michigan where we have this thing called winter, and not having a defroster is a huge problem. My question is, is there some way for me to manually set the vents to go to the windshield? I remember I had a grand cherokee when i was in high school with the same issue and i was able to find the blend door and set it to defrost. The car is really rough, and I'm hesitant to put much money into it right now. However, since my Volvo (pronounced Mis-take) is out of commission, this is my only running vehicle and I'd rather not die in the winter. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 There isn't really a way to get access to the vents to force them to be set in one position without pulling the dash out to get access to the vents. A junkyard/salvage HVAC unit would be cheap and most likely the best bet. You could also pull out the HVAC unit and disassemble it so that you can clean everything but that's a little tricky and there's no guarantee it'll fix the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setnev Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 Let me guess, the selector lights for the mode selection are not lighting up no matter which setting is selected. It's a common second gen HVAC problem, one that plagues me on a regular basis. Swapping the HVAC unit doesn't fix the issue as I have had 3 different units in my car that did the same thing. The problem is in the pins of the harness that connects to the back of the HVAC selector unit. It's like a 7 pin connector. I rolled up a piece of black duct tape and stuffed it on the top of the connector. The problem is in the factory location, the connector is angled up which puts pressure on the pins. Fast forward 20+ years, and the connector has now worn out. Pushing the connector downwards makes it work again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublechaz Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 Is there something that could be done with loom or zipties in there to take the pressure off the connector? I don't remember what it looks like in there and if possible I'd like to try to keep this from happenning to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abstract_alchemy Posted December 15, 2017 Author Share Posted December 15, 2017 So this seems a little different than what you are describing. The lights for whatever button you push will turn on, but only as long as you are holding down on the button, and as soon as you let go, the button will pop back up and the light will turn off. However, no matter how long you hold down the button, it will never switch vents. The button for the face vent is sticky, like soda was spilled on it, but i was able to get it to pop up by pressing a different button down while simultaneously pulling that one up. But it remains on face vents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublechaz Posted December 15, 2017 Share Posted December 15, 2017 My first try would be to pull the panel out and soak it and work it in water and then get it 100% dry and see if anything is better. I know that isn't the greatest plan in your case as you have a time factor with the weather. You might have some luck using a whole can of electronics contact cleaner with it in place, but that means all the yuck will dribble down inside you dash onto the radio and the airbag controller and whatever else is below there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo F Posted December 15, 2017 Share Posted December 15, 2017 Abstract_Alchemy- If the buttons themselves aren't working right, I would get another climate control unit from Ebay- sounds like the problem. Setnev- I'm having a different issue with mine than you describe (you mentioned about the cable connectors in the thread I posted). In my case the buttons work fine and the correct selector light lights up, but the airflow doesn't always change. it usually gets stuck on blowing air through the dash and can't change back to floor/ defrost when you push the appropriate buttons. The climate from Ebay seems to work better when i tried it, but for how long? Can you post any pics of how you propped up the wires to take the weight off of the connector? Both my '98's are having issues with this, and I want to make sure the GT defroster is working correctly before my son takes it to college after the holidays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abstract_alchemy Posted December 15, 2017 Author Share Posted December 15, 2017 Update: I was able to take it apart, and clean it up with alcohol. In doing so, i found the root of the problem. In the back of the unit, where the main cable plugs in, there was a bad solder joint. If the unit was in the car it would be the furthest solder joint to the drivers side. I resoldered this, and a few other spots that looked like the were starting to break, and now i got it working again. It was the solder joint on the small board that connects the ribbon cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublechaz Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 Nice! Did it look like the solder failed from the tension of the wires pulling on them or did it look like the robot used the wrong temperature? I'm curious to understand as much as possible about this kind of issue in case mine starts doing it. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abstract_alchemy Posted December 16, 2017 Author Share Posted December 16, 2017 I'm no expert, but it definitely looks like it was due to tension. The pin was actually pulled about 2mm out of the solder joint with a chunk of solder still attached. However, even the solder joints that were still good looked pretty bad. Most of them look like somehow they got an air pocket that formed when it was assembled. Also, pro tip, if you take yours apart, make sure when you reassemble it that you remember to put the plastic prisms back in place. All of the lights for the buttons, the ones that are always on not the ones that turn on when you press them, run off of one led refracting through a prism. So if you forget that, you'll have two buttons illuminated and the rest dark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublechaz Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 Mine is a little older and has many filament bulbs about the size of a grain of rice. If I ever get that deep into it again I'll probably figure out a way to retro LEDs into it. But definitely sounds like the solder is slowly stretched and vibrated by the wire harness until the joints fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setnev Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 Interesting information there about the solder joint. I'll have to take a look at both of my units to see if they're the same symptom. Makes sense, considering I have the wires propped in a way that takes the tension off, thus bridging the broken solder joint. It's not perfect but it has worked so far. I haven't been back under that panel for quite a while since i fixed my radar detector wiring, so I don't quite remember how I had it mounted. I'm actually in the process of building an electronics project that will control my climate control based on input from a temperature sensor, kind of like automatic temperature controls in the JDM cars and up-trim 3rd gen models. The current system is easily manipulated without circuit boards inside the HVAC control unit, so it should be very simple to write and implement a script to control it. This also goes along with my FWD/AWD/AWD Lock selector system I am designing. It's a cool project that basically replaces the little area in the center of our cluster that tells you what door is open with a tiny 2" LCD that not only replaces that function with a digital version, but also serves as a visual representation for the AWD mode switch on screen. I am super excited to start building and testing that module. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 Mine is a little older and has many filament bulbs about the size of a grain of rice. If I ever get that deep into it again I'll probably figure out a way to retro LEDs into it. But definitely sounds like the solder is slowly stretched and vibrated by the wire harness until the joints fail. I already did the leg work on finding the right LEDs The info is at the bottom of the thread http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/diy-hvac-color-change-251981.html?t=251981 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublechaz Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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