15 seconds of heat and it's gone in 96 Bonne

[lstenger]

I am having the EXACT same scenario with my 1996 Bonneville as the one indicated on this thread, http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=344718

It reads:
“This seems to be a common theme here with the heat thing. I believe my problem is with the air-mix door actuator, but I want to run it by y'all and see if you have any input. First, I had the classic, fan is running but no air is coming out scenario. A quick cleaning of the condenser took care of that. Now I have air flow, but no heat. The weird part is, when I start the car, I'll have heat for about 15-30 seconds, then it will start to blow cold again. If I'm going down the road, just put the car in neutral, shut if off and start it again, and then I'll have heat for another 30 seconds or so. Occasionally, the heat will work for a day. All day long, no matter how many times I shut off or start the vehicle. Then, the next day, back to not working. My temperature indicator on the climate control does flash. So I'm thinking it's the actuator. Any other suggestions?”

Reply was from “randman 1” but did not relate to my 96.

Last eight of the vin# T4202380 if you need to know.
It has automated climate control.

Girlfriend is really getting cold up here when she drives it and I don’t like her driving my Mark VIII in the snowy weather or the ice cold legs when she gets into bed.
What do I do (about the car not the girl friend)? Any help would be appreciated.

I ripped the dash off to get to the Temp Valve Actuator and moved it to see if it was stuck. I have read that some times one of the gears will loose a tooth and jamb it up. It moves very free. I started the car withe the dash apart and it works just fine now.?? Go figure.
It heats the passanger compartment and the function of the tempature controll unit makes the actuator move accordingly.

I don't know if I should put this back together or did I bump something when I took the dash off.

Larry

[randman1]

You should not be able to move the actuator by hand. This indicates the plastic gears are damaged and will fail again. Since you have the dash off, replace it. They are around $65 from the dealer if I remember correctly.

Under normal circumstances, I would have recommended that you have the error code(s) read at a dealer prior to going through the hassle of removing the dash. It's not a fun job and you want to be certain that the actuator is definately the problem. 92 - 93s have the luxury of on-board diagnostics for the ECC but 94 & up need to take a trip to the dealer.