AC vents won't blow air

all!

I've gotten into a fix. My dad was playing with the buttons on the climate screen, and now the air will only come from the outside dash vents, the round vents, and the windshield vents. I didn't see clearly, but I think it happened when he cycled the front defroster button on and then off. Now, whenever I press one of the airflow buttons, I can hear the air change like it diverting the flow, but air does not go anywhere else. I can have it set to floor only, and have air coming out of the afore mentioned vents only. I have tried everything I can think of to get the thing to work correctly again, to no avail. And yes, I have checked the little vent open/close sliders. They are fully open. Anybody have any idea how to get my AC back to normal?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eagle33199 @ Oct 6 2006, 08:56 AM) [snapback]328858[/snapback]</div>

Yeah, I've cycled the front defrost, the rear defrost, the AC, the fan, the recirculation, and the auto function from the screen and from the wheel (where applicable). The yellow bars over the defrosts will turn on and off (they are off at the moment). I didn't wait to see if they did anything as it's way to hot for them to be on. The bar over the AC cycles, and I can feel the temperature difference when it is off. The auto and the recirculation icons cycle correctly on the screen and by the speedometer. The fan will shut off and change speeds, by my command or according to the computer when set to auto. It will simply not change the vents. By the way, this is an '05 with nav and I'm in Phoenix, so you can probably guess why I really want all the vents to blow cold air again. I'll go see if I can get a decent picture.

Ugh, I'm really hoping for the first option. I have no problem hiding in a corner for a while, but trying to get a dealer to troubleshoot this sounds like a hole-in-the-pocket just waiting to happen.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eagle33199 @ Oct 6 2006, 02:12 PM) [snapback]329043[/snapback]</div>

I wish. I drive a LOT and am already past the 36k mark and, probably unwisely, didn't get an extended warranty.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rick Grahn @ Oct 6 2006, 05:03 PM) [snapback]329159[/snapback]</div>

Well, unless it was something really hidden, no. I was able to see it was on the climate screen both before and after it stopped working right. None of the servece menus activated. I just didn't see exactly which button was pressed at the exact moment. I suppose there could be some sort of testing function, but if so, there were no visual or audio clues that it had been activated.

 

Okay, here are a couple of pics. In the first, the fan is on, and the vents are set to face only, but you can see the dash mat lifted under the windshield showing airflow there. The second picture had the fan off so you can see the dashmat sitting normally under the windshield.


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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Beryl Octet @ Oct 7 2006, 04:59 PM) [snapback]329513[/snapback]</div>

I have no problem taking the whole dash apart myself if its likely to be a servo. Anybody got an idea where I should look for whatever controls the airflow? Or, just point me to the section of the tech manual that covers it. That pile of files is such a disaster, I could look for days and never see what I need.

Failing to "defrost" makes sense. It's the setting that, should it be unavailable, could cause a hazard.

 

Progress!!!

Today, now that it's starting to get properly hot, I decided that enough was enough. The dash is coming apart and I am going to find the problem. So, off came everything I ccould get to, dash panels, MFD, radio. Unfortunatly, I still couldn't get to anything that looked like a servo or an air diverter or anything else usefull. Finally, I stuck my head under the drivers side dash and saw a group of actuator arms. (Why didn't I look there to start with!? ) I could look at and mess with these with the dash together, so I reassembled everything and started up the car. I couldn't tell by looking what each did, and they didn't move with gentle pushing, so I pushed the MFD button to change the air flow. I was rewarded by a little piece of plastic that fell from behind the dash. When I got back under the dash, I found a loose part with an arm on it. The end of the arm held the remainder of the broken piece. Once I wiggled this out, I saw it connected to three little arms. These moved easily and I found that each opened one of either the defrost, floor, or dash vents. Yeah!!!!! I set them to dash only, so now I have air flowing the way I usually want it. Now I just have to find a replacement for the little plastic part, and it should work as it is supposed to again.

As it is Sunday, I can't go order it from the dealership, so I thought I'd ask if anyone knew the probable price, and whether the dealer would be apt to have it in stock or would need to order it.
Here is a picture of it. The little broken arm looks like it should come off the longer arm, so with any luck, that's all I'll need to get.

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