Hello everyone,

As it's getting toasty out I tried using the AC in my truck and noticed something rather peculiar; the air only seems to come out of either the defrost vents, the lower vents, or a combination of both depending on the setting. At one point I had the wild vents issue caused by a cracked vacuum line but I replaced everything leading into the cabin and all was okay as when I tested it several months ago it seemed to work, or so I thought. I've verified that each of the actuators (recirculation door, mode door, and heat/defrost door) all hold vacuum, and it sounds like they are all moving their respective doors. However, I noticed that the plastic clip holding the recirculation door actuator mechanism to the door itself is broken. Can you not get the vents to go forward if that door is broken? I was under the impression that the recirculation door was only for recirculation cabin air, and in the event of it failing, I'll just have outside air coming in constantly. Is this not the case, or could something else be awry here? I really want to avoid ripping my entire dashboard assembly off yet again for this, so if anyone has a suggestion I'm all ears.

I tried testing each door individually with the blower motor running but wasn't able to get the same combination of defrost/lower vents, only defrost or lower, and no front vents. Is it possible that something internally is broken in the AC Heater Control unit in the dash?

Thanks!

 

You have two check valves, One where the vac port is on the manifold and another up buy reservoir. Its possible one or both are failing. Make sure you don't have a vac leak somewhere else. Check out this thread.

 

Could be a broken door in the box too..... See if you can rent a bore scope from your local parts store, and have a look inside.

 

Borescopes to plug into cellphones are cheap on Amazon.
The purchase/rental difference might not be much.

 

Just verified that my check valves are good and that my lines are indeed installed per the diagram on the front crossmember in the engine bay. I need to run to AutoZone anyway so I’ll see if I can’t snag a rental horoscope.

Hopefully the door isn’t busted as I previously removed the air box to refurbish it several months ago and verified the operation of the doors when I did so. Just trying it again right now though, I can get full blast out of defrost when set to defrost, 90%/10% to floor and defrost when set to floor, and like 60%/30%/10% defrost/floor/front vents when set to front. If the camera confirms that the door isn’t working as it should I honestly just might force the door closed with a screw like in the video; taking this dash apart and back in doesn’t sound like a great way to spend the weekend lol

 

So upon further inspection it appears the plastic clip on the panel/defrost hinge has broken. Anyone have any ideas on how to remove this thing with the air box in the vehicle? I’m thinking once it’s off I’ll just drill a hole through it and attach a small bolt with a nut.

 

I'd use a Dremel to cut flat the protruded/broken stub 1st. Once that's done, can you possibly drill it where it sits with a small handheld battery powered drill, like a Milwaukee M12? They also make a 90 degree drill for odd & tight spaces, too.

 

I wasn’t able to fit my dremel in there but I was able to drill a hole through the stub and use a check valve and some tubing to position the arm in the right spot. I tried threading a small bolt through there but what I had was too large so I just used a heavy duty zip tie and everything is working! I’ll definitely have to make a more permanent repair but for now it should suffice!

Gotta love working with 24 year old Chrysler quality plastic 🙄

 

That's certainly an understatement! I've got to locate a replacement mist grey lower dash unit for my truck, as my existing unit cracks/breaks when I touch it. No one I can find is remaking it new yet.

 

Isn't there a company that makes them?? Or are they just 98 and up?