1999 Chevy blazer blend door stuck?

Answer 1

Having a heating or cooling issue? Is the climate control stuck on heat or cool. More than likely, it is the blend door motor or the blend door itself. The blend door move according to the hot/cold setting on your dash. It redirects the air flow from the air conditioning evap coil to the heater core depending on the setting. If it sticks on the cold side, NO HEAT. If it sticks on the hot setting, NO AIR CONDITIONING.

Just to clarify, this is on trucks with manual controls for heat and air. If you take the truck in to have it repaired, you will spend $500-$1000 for the repair. The claim is that they have to remove the entire dash assembly to fix this. With a little investigation and some inginuity...I repaired one in under 20 mins. I'll try and cover this as clear as I can. I gained access to the blend door motor through the glove box. It helps if you have long fingers or small hands to do this but IT CAN BE DONE.

1. Pull all the junk out of your glove box. On the left hand side at the top, you will see a metal "P" shaped retainer that catches the back of the glove box when you open it. Push up on the retainer to release the glove box and swing it down.

2. Looking in, you will see 2 round vacuum actuators. Locate the one on the left and carefully remove the vacuum line and drop it down out of the way. (This actuator changes the air flow from the defroster to the vents to the floor as you switch the control.) With a flat screwdriver, carefully pry up the actuator. It slides on to a mount. If you look carefully, you can see how it is mounted. Once the clip releases, slide it up and then it will swing toward you and to the left out of your way.

3. Once you have the actuator from step 2 out of your way you can see the blend door motor directly behind. This is held in place by 2 screws. This is where it gets interesting! How do you get the screws out you ask? "SPECIAL" tool needed? I got creative. The screw head is a 7/32". I took a 7/32 socket and an old Allen wrench. I ground the Allen wrench down slightly to fit into the side the socket wrench would go in. I then cut the long side of the Allen wrench down to about 1 1/2" in length. (This gives you a handle to turn the socket with and it fits up in the dash.) Loosen the two screws and then carefully pry up the motor. Once you have it out, turn the key on and try changing the setting from heat to cold. If the motor turns, it is good. No movement, needs a new motor. I got a new one from NAPA for $57.

If the motor is good, you have an issue with the blend door itself. Check and see if the stud is sticking out from where you removed the motor. If not it broke off and you need a new blend door. I found a website that sells new blend doors made out of metal. They also say that you don't have to remove the dash to put the new door in. The website is www.heatertreater.com.

Good luck...