"Recirc" button

my recirculation button doesnt seem to be working on my 98 lesabre air conditioner. anyway of knowing for sure? some kind of test? if it doesnt work what would i have to do to fix it and about how much $ ?

Have you tried having the fan on High and then listening to the sound under the dash to see if the recirculate door opens to pull in air--it always gets noisier in my 98. The door is above the driver's foot where the noisy air intake will be pulling the air back it. It's possible the light quit but the door is still working.

Hold a piece of tissue paper above the outside cowl air intake and see if incoming air currents pull it into the cowl opening, recirc on high blower, if not the recirc is ok.

If you have your ac on Max it will not work. It should work on normal.

Have you tried having the fan on High and then listening to the sound under the dash to see if the recirculate door opens to pull in air--it always gets noisier in my 98. The door is above the driver's foot where the noisy air intake will be pulling the air back it. It's possible the light quit but the door is still working.

The light on the button works but when i switch to recirculate inside air i do not notice the noise change as i normally do with other cars which leads me to believe it may not be working. also , i can still smell cigarette smoke from the person driving in front of me?

How do I fix it or do i bring it to the shop and how much $ ?

If you have your ac on Max it will not work. It should work on normal.

Strange as every car i've had recirculate would work when set to max. when you start the car you have it on outside air and then after the hottest air has left the car you'd switch to recirculate inside air as not to let the hot air back inside the car . I do know that when you switch to defroster the car should automatically switch to outside air and the A/C compressor should kick in to dry the air and you set it to warm. same effect as holding a hair dryer to a steamed mirror after a hot shower. the hot dry air magically dries the mirror.

Strange as every car i've had recirculate would work when set to max. when you start the car you have it on outside air and then after the hottest air has left the car you'd switch to recirculate inside air as not to let the hot air back inside the car . I do know that when you switch to defroster the car should automatically switch to outside air and the A/C compressor should kick in to dry the air and you set it to warm. same effect as holding a hair dryer to a steamed mirror after a hot shower. the hot dry air magically dries the mirror.

I think you may have it backwards. MAX a/c was meant to be used until the interior cools off. Then regular a/c should be used, for a couple of reasons: to keep the evaporator from freezing, and to let fresh air into the cabin. MAX will only recirculate the stale air inside the vehicle. When you set the knob to defrost, it shuts off the outside air(because it's more humid usually) to dry the window faster, hot or cold. Do you smoke? Did a previous owner? That stale cigarette smell is coming from the evaporator coils. This smell is usually only smelled when set to MAX, because fresh air isn't entering the cabin. Hope this clears things up a bit...

I think you may have it backwards. MAX a/c was meant to be used until the interior cools off. Then regular a/c should be used, for a couple of reasons: to keep the evaporator from freezing, and to let fresh air into the cabin. MAX will only recirculate the stale air inside the vehicle. When you set the knob to defrost, it shuts off the outside air(because it's more humid usually) to dry the window faster, hot or cold. Do you smoke? Did a previous owner? That stale cigarette smell is coming from the evaporator coils. This smell is usually only smelled when set to MAX, because fresh air isn't entering the cabin. Hope this clears things up a bit...


No it normally doesnt smell like smoke in my car. only happens when the guy in front of me has his arm out the window with a smoke in his hand it comes in my vents

I think you may have it backwards. MAX a/c was meant to be used until the interior cools off. Then regular a/c should be used, for a couple of reasons: to keep the evaporator from freezing, and to let fresh air into the cabin. MAX will only recirculate the stale air inside the vehicle. When you set the knob to defrost, it shuts off the outside air(because it's more humid usually) to dry the window faster, hot or cold. Do you smoke? Did a previous owner? That stale cigarette smell is coming from the evaporator coils. This smell is usually only smelled when set to MAX, because fresh air isn't entering the cabin. Hope this clears things up a bit...
Not trying to be argumentative here, but in reading the manual and operating both a 98 and 2003 Lesabre manual ac, both systems operate by automatically setting recirc in the max position even though the light is not on.