Blend Door, 1992 Caravan
Hachiroku ハチロク
Grand Voyager chasing a non-existant water pump problem, I'll ask first.
The lever/cable is bound up and will only move 1/2 from Hot towards the
Cold position. So, I figure the good old Blend door is jammed. Now I have
heard a lot of lore about the door, but the main qusetion I have is:
WHERE THE HELL IS IT, AND HOW THE HELL CAN I GET TO IT?!?!?!
There. No I'll sit back and wait for the answers to pour in! ;)
Any answers appreciated, of course!
Hachiroku
Hmmmm...no answers pouring in!
I got the console off, and lubed the cable, and found a TSB describing
how to 'fix' the problem, but I can't get a grasp on where to punch the
hole.
ANYONE have an idea? Other than "Visit your local Dodge Dealer", of
course! ;)
cuh...@webtv.net
Dodge Grand Voyager Blend Door
If you do same same, you might find something there that might be of
help.
Hoot mon, I had never heard of a Blend Door before.
cuhulin, the dummy
Hachiroku ハチロク
I HATE THEM!!! Seems all cars have gone to them now, which eliminates the
valve in the engine compartment that opens and closes, permitting warm
coolant (there's an oxymoron, eh?) into the heater core. So now, in the
middle of the summer at 102F, you have hot coolant coming into the car.
The valves are gone, and have been replaced by this "blend door". The door
opens and closes with the temp control, diverting airflow either through
the heater core, or bypassing it and allowing cooler air into the car.
I think they absolutely suck, and have never had a problem with the 'old
fashioned' valve opening/blocking the heater core.
I think I did find something about a TSB, and actually found a diagram,
and after looking over the diagram (sketchy, at best) realized what
they're telling me to do. I have to take a bit more of the airbox off
(hopefully without breaking it) and drill a hole through what appears to
be a nipple that holds the bottom shaft of the blend door in place
(without drilling through the rod the door pivots on) and spray some lube
in there to free it up.
Wish me luck...
Nate Nagel
> I think they absolutely suck, and have never had a problem with the 'old
> fashioned' valve opening/blocking the heater core.
Well, there were always the old Ranco "automatic" heater valves which
were nice in that they compensated for the temperature inside the car
and varied accordingly, but were annoying in that they could fail and
dump steaming (or pretty close to it) hot coolant on your passenger's
feet when they got old.
Of course Volkswagen, in a fit of nostalgia, saw fit to equip Corrados
with a heater core that while not duplicating the temperature
compensation function DID duplicate that old time "whiff of glycol"
aromatherapy function, often followed by a hot glycol shoe conditioning
treatment. How thoughtful of them!
nate
(BTDT, both times - but the only time I got a hot footbath was in an old
Studebaker. That one was way cheaper and easier to fix than the
Volkswagen; sometimes nostalgia isn't quite the same as the real old
school stuff.)
--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel
Tegger
news:he785...@news4.newsguy.com:
Such nonsense wasn't limited to the Germans and the South-Benders, of
course. My 1975 Toyota Corolla 1600 had its heater control valve in the
passenger compartment, immediately opposite the driver's right foot. If it
(the valve, not the foot) failed "just so", you'd get a wet gas-pedal shoe,
at the very least.
--
Tegger
Vic Smith
wrote:
>Nate Nagel <njn...@roosters.net> wrote in
>news:he785...@news4.newsguy.com:
>
That might have been the deal with my wife's workmate, who was
hospitalized about 8 years ago with scalded legs.
Bimmer. '80's model I think.
A heater valve is just a glimmer in my memory. Maybe a '55 Plymouth.
Other than that, never seen them.
--Vic
Hachiroku ハチロク
My stepfather got his leg scalded by a failed elbow in a Toyota truck.
Second degree burns, mostly, but also some third degree.
Found out later Toyota had issued a recall for that condition. Never sued....
Hachiroku ハチロク
> Nate Nagel <njn...@roosters.net> wrote in
> news:he785...@news4.newsguy.com:
>
See above. My stepfather's truck was a 1976.
cuh...@webtv.net
was like that when I bought it at a scrap iron yard about twenty five or
thirty years ago.
cuhulin
Yazoo
things stopping short of removing the dashboard, knowing that I will
never put it back right. Finally I took a ride to nearest Dodge dealer.
I do not remember exact number (around $500+,later) the gate was working
again.
Mine (94)had the blend door under the heater and air cond. coil (dealer
told me that they are stacked one on top of the other and the door is at
the very bottom).
In order to remove a piece of plastic (pieces of the passenger side
dashboard vent), heating and air cond coil had to be drained and removed.
Mechanics have a few shortcuts. I do not have a clue, all what they told
me was true and done or not.Maybe they did maybe they did not.
Being in your shoes, I would try to remove the dashboard and you might
see the cable or the blend door.
Hachiroku ハチロク
WOW!!!!!!!
It took me a bit of looking (like, THREE DAYS!) but I fanally found a
diagram to go along with the TSB explaining the Blend Door kludge (calling
it a 'repair' is a misnomer...)
You have to remove the center section of the dash where the radio, heater
controls, storage bin, etc are located. Then remove the lower part of the
heat duct 'extension'. At first it looked like you had to unsnap it, and
it is NOT easy to unsnap! THEN I noticed the screws. Remove three screws
and then the ductwork comes off. Then you see what looks like a nipple
coming down from the box. There are two of them, a small one you just
pulled the screw out of to drop the duct, and a larger one. it is the
larger one you drill a hole into and lubricate.
Of course, my blend door was still moveable by the cable, it was just not
moving very freely or very far. If the door is stuck then I can see why
you would have to go all through that, but luckily mine was just binding
and the lubrication seems to have done the trick.
Bob F
> On Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:20:59 -0800, Yazoo wrote:
>
FWIW, from my earlier post in my own thread. Obviously, this won't fix a truely
binding door.
Following the procedure here:
http://www.justanswer.com/questions/1l4bf-hi-1994-dodge-caravan-3-slight
It took a #2 philips screwdriver and about 5 minutes to re-adjust the blend door
movement.