Hello,
I have a 98 Caravan.. For some wierd reason, my AC is stuck on high heat.. Since there are no control cables from the panel controls to the damper or bypass/mixing doors, I can not manually move the airflow across the cooling coils.. I can not even run just outside air without it going across the heater core.

Currently unemployed so I am trying to locate the heating/cooling actuator/motor so I can manually move it to cool until I can afford to have it repaired.. Does anyone happen to know where the location of this actuator is? And can it be accessed without tearing apart the whole dash?
thanks
Bill

 

Welcome to DF
The problem could the control head. Try removing the fuse for the heater/ a/c.

 

Thanks.. I checked the fuse block to the left of the steering column and the power distribution block and could not find any fuses marked for A/C or heater. You know where I can find it at? got a hanes book and a chilton but dont see it listed there.

thanks
Bill

 

Up in the diy sticky's, I think there is a thread for recalibrating the control head. I would do that first. Do you have seperate controls for drivers and passenger temperature?

 

I had run across an article on line about recalibrating the control head. I ran the re calibration, but, it failed. Im sure as far as the failure, part of the problem is I know the compressor needs to be replaced. It is not getting to proper pressure on the high side ( it only gets to 75-90 PSI. Even so, it cooled but not as well as it could which is ok until I can afford to repair/replace it.
if I can locate the baffle/actuator that directs the air across the heater core or the condenser(?) I will just manually move it to the cool position until I can afford to have it fixed.. This Texas heat is murder without any A/C
As far as controls, it is just a single control single system for the whole van.. no zones.

Bill

 

This is a picture of the actuators, they are above the gas pedal. If you don't have dual zone, then you just have the drivers side actuator and the passenger will not be there. The actuator is probably bad.

 

Wow. Thanks. This is quite useful.. Ill take a look.. you wouldnt happen to know if it is accessible with out tearing the dash apart would you?

thanks
Bill

 

you can get to them, it's tight and swearing is involved but that's half the fun, right.

 

Sweet.. you mean I get to cuss the engineers that dreamed up such user unfreindly designs? Awesome. Although I may cuss more than normal as I am a football player sized man so I can imagine the access is extra tight

 

Thanks so much.. drawing helped me locate the actuator. removed the actuator and tested the motor inside with a 9v battery.. the motor spun up, so I guess the issue is with the control itself. I was really surprised at how simple the actuator was, a few gears, and a motor with worm gear. The motor isnt even secured with screws, the cover has a piece that holds it in place. So if the motor was the issue, it would be more than easy enough to change it out.

To resolve my issue, i moved the damper door to the full cool position, and rotated the actuator to the same position to hold the damper in place.

I think rather than spend the $500 to replace the control head, I can just make a reversible pwm circuit with toggle switch or two momentary switches to switch between heat and cool.

Thanks again for the help.. riding much cooler now..