98 lesabre hvac codes

[ryebread]

98 lesabre with ACC dual climate control. Original problem was blinking temp indicator and intermittent blower. Took to dealer and they diagnosed to bad blower control module which may or may not have taken out hvac programmer. Would be any where from $450 -$1500 to repair.
Ordered blower control module $100 and 30 minutes of my time to replace.
Now have heat and AC but still have blinking temp indicator for about 1-2 minutes. Problems:
1. when temp blinking both actuators cycle through full travel and back
2. can control temp on main selector but control on pass side intermittent
3. takes two pushes on OFF button to turn off hvac
4. When I disconnect and reconnect battery at first selection of AUTO the pass selector lites up but after you turn the system OFF and back to AUTO it will not lite again until you manually select a temp change on it
5. driver sides seem to work fine but pass side intermittent

looking for any input on above issues, car beongs to an elderly women who really can't afford the dealers cost to repair, trying to help her out

Thanks

[BNaylor]

Welcome to AF.

Your post has been moved to the regular LeSabre tech forum.

[imidazol97]

Originally Posted by ryebread

98 lesabre with ACC dual climate control. Original problem was blinking temp indicator and intermittent blower. Took to dealer and they diagnosed to bad blower control module which may or may not have taken out hvac programmer. Would be any where from $450 -$1500 to repair.
Ordered blower control module $100 and 30 minutes of my time to replace.
Now have heat and AC but still have blinking temp indicator for about 1-2 minutes. Problems:
1. when temp blinking both actuators cycle through full travel and back
2. can control temp on main selector but control on pass side intermittent
3. takes two pushes on OFF button to turn off hvac
4. When I disconnect and reconnect battery at first selection of AUTO the pass selector lites up but after you turn the system OFF and back to AUTO it will not lite again until you manually select a temp change on it
5. driver sides seem to work fine but pass side intermittent

looking for any input on above issues, car beongs to an elderly women who really can't afford the dealers cost to repair, trying to help her out

Thanks

That sounds like a somewhat normal system as far as the passenger selector is involved.

The temp flashing may be the freon charge. Mine got low a couple years ago, just from age. I rechaged with a 134a kit from Walmart with a single gauge and it worked much better.

When the passenger selector has been used and a light is on or it's center, when you push the OFF button it turns off the passenger selector. That way you can cancel it from the driver's position in the car. The passenger temp can affect stability of the temp on the driver's side so I often have to do that after the distaff member has been in the car.

If you hit OFF twice and turn the whole thing off and then operate without passenger involvement, it should turn OFF when you hit OFF one time.

The flashing can also be from calibration of the actuator motors. If yo disconncted the battery without using the key and ON to turn OFF the AC system and let it park or whatever it does, some people believe reconnecting somehow confused things and they ahve started getting the flashing light for 90 seconds. The actuator motors may strip a plastic hub or crack a gear inside with age. Then the hub slips.

If it seems to control the driver temp correctly, I'd just let it go. Otherwise you can get under the dash on the right side and watch the two motors drive the arms that control the blend door and the passenger blend door. One is near the bottom and has a threaded snapon wire rod that goes tot he programmer box that controls the vacuum as well. $450 new.

The other actuator is on top of the heater box and controls the other door. I have to do research to recall which door it controls. It can be removed with two screws.

To see these there is a plastic hush panel that comes off with a few screws. Also good is taking off the glovebox by removing about 7 screws along the bottom. Quick to do.

[HotZ28]

I would suspect the blower control module failure was what caused the fault to begin with. After you replaced the module, the fault needs to be cleared with a Tech II, or you can wait until the system has gone through about 50 ignition cycles and it should reset itself if no recent faults are found. Most of the time, when you remove the battery cable with the A/C controller ON, it will set a fault/flashing display. I would wait to see if it will reset on it's own! BTW, the pic below shows the electrical actuator on top of the heater box, that controls the blend door for the heater core. If you look at this actuator when you first turn the system ON, it should move the full stroke one direction and back to a predetermined setting based on temp control setting.