ATC is Blowing Hot Air

[sengle1013]

Hey guys, an update, not quite sure what is going on here. Last I posted a few minutes ago, it was stuck blowing hot air through defr only.I ran the self test a couple more times for fun and only got 888 and all lights on. Kept doing it and hitting defrost to exit out of test. Anyway, i fired the car up and went around the block and it is blowing cool as a cucumber now. What gives? A very happy day but man, I sure wish I knew what this was about. Anyone have any idea?? Thanks, I think this site saved me alot of money.

[sengle1013]

another interesting tidbit. once my signals quit working and i went to a message board for tips. someone wrote to jiggle the hazards botton on steering column, that worked too! amazing.

[reekor]

DTC 25 = A/C electronic blend door actuator failure. They sell on ebay for about $20

Originally Posted by sengle1013

Hi there, really glad I found this site and thread. I have the same problem with the AC. Was fine yesterday morning on the way to work and when i went to lunch, boom, blowing way hotter than the outside air. of course, here in phoenix, its gonna get rough here very soon. i ran the self test and it came back with code 025 only. I haven't been able to find out what that particular code is. I took it to big o last night and the guy said he thought it was the entire ATC panel that cost 650 to replace since he had to do it on his thunderbird once. He said that I would have to order that part just to test and plug it in and see if it fixed and its not worth the chance because you can't return. He suggested I take it to the dreaded dealer instead, at least it didn't cost me anything. Anyway, if anyone can advise on that code 25 it would be appreciated. Interestingly, now it seems to be stuck in Defrost, ie, blowing up the front windshield and no matter what i press vent/max a/c buttons, I can't get it to blow air out of the vents. Weird. I am going to run self test again for the hell of it and see if that fixes it or if I get any new code. Thanks for any/all replies. Steve in Gilbert,AZ

[sengle1013]

Originally Posted by reekor

DTC 25 = A/C electronic blend door actuator failure. They sell on ebay for about $20

thanks for the reply. the test procedure fixed it, or did it? still confused. also, if i do end up having to buy one of those blend door actuators, are they tough to put in? Is that the one with your pics of taking whole dash out etc? man, don't think i could swing that.

[sengle1013]

well, so far so good. I am thinking that the blend actuator door, i think it is called, was kind of reset when i kept doing the self tests. now, like it used to, i can hear a door in the dash kind of click around when i either turn the car off or on, which is how it has been. my feeling is that for whatever reason, the door was stuck into the hear position and doing the self tests reset it because the code originally given back on the self test was 25, which is for that blend door. am curious if replacing that blend door is the procedure that requires taking out the whole dash, man, that looks tough. thx

[strangerinthemidst]

Hi, I have a 1995 Grand Marquis LS and I have this same problem.

It's blowing heat even when the digital display shows 60º

I went to a shop and had an AC check and everything was fine. They told me that it was probably the blend door or blend door motor.

I have someone who can fix the blend door and the blend door motor, but before I go buy the parts I was a little concerned about something. I've been told that it could be a vacuum line that's leaking or broke, but I don't know if it's vacuum or electric. Does anyone happen to know if I have vacuum lines, or is it electric?

Also, I tried the self test thing, but those self test memory chips weren't made until 01/31/95 so my car doesn't have one.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

~S

[sengle1013]

excuse my sarcasm but i wouldn't say if you have it on 60 and its blowing hotter than hell that everything is fine.... man, mechanics frustrate me. i took mine to big o and the mechanic came out and said it has to be the atc panel which will run you $650 but i can't order because if thats not it, then you are stuck with the $650. his advice take to dealer. i bet they would have raped me for $800 for absolultely no reason as well. thats why these things terrify me. you can't imagine my elation when i did the self test and it somehow magically fixed it... crazy. at least feel good in that you know someone. tell me this, the parts for the fix you describe are about 20 bucks per another post. how much is labor? is it that 8 hour 50 step process described above? if so, ouch but i hear you on vacuum hoses or something. my boss suggested this too but i have no idea..

[strangerinthemidst]

Originally Posted by sengle1013

excuse my sarcasm but i wouldn't say if you have it on 60 and its blowing hotter than hell that everything is fine.... man, mechanics frustrate me. i took mine to big o and the mechanic came out and said it has to be the atc panel which will run you $650 but i can't order because if thats not it, then you are stuck with the $650. his advice take to dealer. i bet they would have raped me for $800 for absolultely no reason as well. thats why these things terrify me. you can't imagine my elation when i did the self test and it somehow magically fixed it... crazy. at least feel good in that you know someone. tell me this, the parts for the fix you describe are about 20 bucks per another post. how much is labor? is it that 8 hour 50 step process described above? if so, ouch but i hear you on vacuum hoses or something. my boss suggested this too but i have no idea..

Today I got quoted $500 for labor and that was a smaller shop. I can only imagine what it would be at a dealership or larger shop.

Basically they will have to take the entire dash off (like the pictures on page 1) Take the blend door actuator off and put it back on. Then test it to make sure it works before they put everything back together. From my understanding, there's a lot involved with taking the whole dash off.

[sengle1013]

probably a stupid question since i know nothing about this stuff except viewing those pics.... someone said you can look with a flashlight through the glove compartment and see that door actuator thing working (or not), is there anyway you can simply fix the door to be only open? sure ya wouldn't have any heat but who cares... aplogies if this is a totally stupid comment, but to save $600... in phoenix i couldn't care less about having heat but would nearly die without ac any day now....

thankfully i magically fixed my ac... crazy stuff... another funny thing, since doing those tests kind of reset my actuator door, i can hear the door shifting open or shut when i turn the car off and/or on... when it was blowing hot i heard no such noise.... i can tell thats what it is.. kinda interesting

[strangerinthemidst]

Originally Posted by sengle1013

probably a stupid question since i know nothing about this stuff except viewing those pics.... someone said you can look with a flashlight through the glove compartment and see that door actuator thing working (or not), is there anyway you can simply fix the door to be only open? sure ya wouldn't have any heat but who cares... aplogies if this is a totally stupid comment, but to save $600... in phoenix i couldn't care less about having heat but would nearly die without ac any day now....

I had a friend attempt to go through the glove box, but he didn't really know what he was looking for.

I would like to know if there is a way to manually fix it also! I could give a sh!t about having heat. I live in Texas...I NEED MY AIR!

Do you happen to know which picture actually shows this door that is not working?? I might be able to get somebody to get in there if I know what it looks like.

[sengle1013]

yeah man, prop that sucker open! (or closed, whichever) i lived in texas for 20 years so yeah, ya need it as bad as here when that humidity kicks up.... the guy that took those pics could tell you exactly how, if it were possible anyway to make it permanently open (or shut) hes your best bet i bet. someone on a different board said if you look with a flashlight and change the temp, you can see it opening or closing, wait, yours is stuck... not so easy. i bet you get an answer here though, there are helpful people on here. curious what happens..

[strangerinthemidst]

We tried to go through the glove box and under the cup holder, but there's something metal blocking my view. The part is $66 so I'm going to pick that up tomorrow. I have 3 people who say they can do it and won't charge me much, so I just have to decide who is best for the job.

Hopefully it goes smoothly.

[strangerinthemidst]

How long SHOULD it take to get the dash off??

I'm getting it done on the 15th, but they aren't sure how long it will take.

[strangerinthemidst]

got it done today, took less than 2 hours, blows great!

[techno_dude]

Hi, all

Just want to let you all know from my experience about this AC blend actuator “thingy”.
First, be aware that there is no easy way to replace this, it is as hard as any work on a car can get. That is why shops are going to quote a charge of a thousand dollars or more for the labor on this. Yes it really does take over 8 hours of labor, NOT 2 as some I have heard claim.

The picture says it all, the whole dash has to come off (I actually got by with only pulling it back far enough to gain access to the part, but I wouldn’t recommend it.) To top it off, the 2 screws in the rear of the part are crammed so tight that the only tool you can use is a box end wrench. There is total resistance on the screws so don’t fool yourself into thinking that all you have to do is brake them loose and off they go. Such is not the case it is a royal pain. Brace yourself for some cursing worn hands, wracked knuckles and more. (maybe I would rather pay someone else to do this…..hmmm……let them have the pain)

All this part does is to move the door vent one way or the other, or anything in between and it is done by a motor driven mechanism that senses where the door activator arm is at any point in the range of motion. Since PLASTIC gears are used, you can count on this thing breaking down sometime later as well, so DON”T replace those rear screws!! You won’t really need them and you will make it much easier on yourself later.

I actually broke mine off after removing the front two screws, then removed the 2 rear ones, and even after having the part gone, it STILL was not an easy thing! Oh, and that strange clicking noise? That was those stupid plastic gears giving way and grind themselves out, so if you hear such a noise, be sure to know that soon you need a new one of these “thingys”