Climate Control Blinking

[chr0mius]

I have a problem with my climate control, when I start the car it blinks for a bit. Recently I also noticed that the heater stopped working all the time, sometimes blowing outside/AC air (it's cold). It does work, and I checked the air mix door actuator a couple times and it completes it's full rotation. However, both times I witnessed it complete the rotation, the heater worked. It might be that it only works some of the time, is this possible? Also, the Climate Control always blinks at start, whether the heater will work or not. The car is a 97 Bonneville SE. Is there something else I should be checking? Any help appreciated...

[randman1]

It sounds like it's the begining of the end for the air mix actuator. The internal gears are nylon and wear. Depending on the amount of wear, your problem can be intermittent or constant.

When you observed the movement of the air mix actuator, you adjusted the temp from full cold to full hot and back again? Sometimes you will see it pause indicating a work area.

Since the replacement can be dificult and time consuming for a DIYer, you might want to be certain that the actuator is indeed the problem. This can only be verified at the dealer or a shop that has a GM Tech 2 scanner. It will probably cost you an hour of labor unless you have a buddy at a dealership.

[Malachias]

Originally Posted by chr0mius

I have a problem with my climate control, when I start the car it blinks for a bit. Recently I also noticed that the heater stopped working all the time, sometimes blowing outside/AC air (it's cold). It does work, and I checked the air mix door actuator a couple times and it completes it's full rotation. However, both times I witnessed it complete the rotation, the heater worked. It might be that it only works some of the time, is this possible? Also, the Climate Control always blinks at start, whether the heater will work or not. The car is a 97 Bonneville SE. Is there something else I should be checking? Any help appreciated...

When your climate control display blinks every new start, it´s showing you that you have same problem in the sistem. (It´blinks for 2 minutes and stop) You can do the self A/C test as following:
1-Turn on the key ( you don´t need to start the engine)
2-Press the temp key to higher heat
3-Press togheter the key temp and the key on and hold for a few seconds.
4-The fault # codes will blink at your display.

Take notes of this numbers. I remenber by memory that the code # 66
it´s LOW FREON.
5-Press the key on to exit of the test mode.
Ask the Pontiac dealer what means the codes that you catch.
Good luck. Keep in touch.
Malachias (Brazil)

[chr0mius]

Originally Posted by randman1

When you observed the movement of the air mix actuator, you adjusted the temp from full cold to full hot and back again? Sometimes you will see it pause indicating a work area.

Yea, it seemed to swing cleanly every time I adjusted. Just tonight I looked at it again and saw it swing but the heat did not come, or at least not very powerful (I wouldn't consider the air that was blowing 'warm').

[randman1]

Malachias, that's some good info but the error codes can not be displayed on the ECC head in 94+ model years.

This probably looks familiar to you already:


The yellowish part is the air mix door lever. It's total swing is about 90*. At full hot and full cold, the lever should roughly point to the B pillars. I just can't remember which ones. If I were to take a guess, I'd say that it will point to the driver's B pillar at full cold and the passenger's B pillar for full hot.

Heres another pic that kinda illustrates what's going on in there. The heater core can be seen to the left of the air mix door which is in the full hot position. This makes almost all of the air flow pass through the heater core thus heating the air. In the full cold position, the core will be completely covered by the door.

[chr0mius]

Thanks for the info...sorry for my absence recently, I have been busy at work and the problem went away, for a while. It had been fine for some time, until I got new speakers + amp put in...and here is my theory:
I've heard of ECC problems arise before due to battery problems. The original problem with my heater/AC had occured after battery problems had left it unplugged for an extended period of time. I took it to a dealership, who said the error was that the HVAC was not getting enough pressure (I believe they said it uses vaccums or something) and could not control the AC. The repair was more than I was willing to spend, so I decided not to go ahead with it. A couple weeks later, it fixed itself.
After having the new equipment installed (and I'm assuming they unplugged the battery to do this, as my stereo clock had been reset when I got it back), the problem arised again. It has been working intermittently since then, sometimes staying on full hot, full cold, or working fully...
Any suggestions?