Re: [DML] climate control not funtioning properly

[Scott Arnold <scott-c-arnold@xxxx>]

The climate control switch works by means of a rubber-like disk molded into a maze-like vacuum tunnel. This disk is attached to a plastic part. Togther, they spin over top of a piece of metal. The piece of metal has holes
drilled into it, each hole for a different vacuum port. Much like mine, what probably happened is that the rubber disk broke free of the plastic part, and is no longer turning like it should, thus locking your climate controls
into a single position. You will probably need to either rebuild your switch or better yet, buy a new one (if they are available).

If you will be removing your switch -- to access it, you may be able to remove the radio which may allow for easy access to the back of the climate control switch (on mine, I just have a rectangular opening in the console for a
standard DIN style radio, so removing the radio gives me a nice opening in the console). The knobs for the climate controls will just pull off the front. Then there is a screw holding on the cosmetic dash faceplate (this
screw also helps hold on the climate control switch). Once this is removed, there will be one more screw holding the climate control switch in place. On the back of the switch, there is a single big plug for all of the vacuum
lines (do NOT remove the vacuum lines individually, otherwise you may get them confused; they all pull off together via the big plug). There are also three electrical connections that are used for the A/C. On mine, these were
just spade plugs, so be careful to note which one goes where before you unplug them. Your switch should now be free. The switch can be dismantled, so you can try to rebuild it if you like. I rebuilt mine by scoring the plastic
and then using epoxy to hold the rubber to the plastic, and then I also added a very small amount of lubricant to the metal piece. If you add lubricant of any kind, be sure that it will not corrode rubber, and also be sure that
the lubricant does not end up blocking up any of the vacuum ports. Then, reassemble and test. I'm not sure how long this fix will last -- mine is still working, but I only rebuilt it a month ago.

Hope this helps,

Scott Arnold

Cameron Putsch wrote:

> I have found that it seems I have no vacuum control of my climate control system. When I switch to defrost it still blows in my face. It seems I am getting no vacuum functions, but everything is hooked up properly. Any ideas?
>
> Casey