Temperature control flap malfunction

[av8sky]

I was out for a drive yesterday enjoying an unseasonably warm and humid day here in Texas. I turned on my window defroster (by mistake) all of the sudden my nice cold AC was very hot. Even when I turned the air off it was throwing full heat at me. The first thing I did when I came home was look on Renntech. I saw a few things but nothing that said here is your problem, here is your fix. This is unusual because this site always has all the answers. I read my Bentley manual (great manual btw) It mentioned testing the temperature control flap motor. The Manual did not say how. The answer is Durametric or piwis is how you test. I also saw a post somewhere about somebody having a flap slip the shaft causing his ac not to work properly. Today I crawled under the dash to see if I could find this flap/flap motor. I found it and saw that spot where the actuator hooks up to the flap did not look right. I played around with it for a little while. Three pieces need to be removed and put back together so I could get the actuator to work properly. I turned the car and I have nice cold AC again. As I was buttoning it all back up it occurred to me I should have taken pictures. If what I did was just a temporary fix and I need to replace parts I will take pictures and list part numbers. I did not see any damage and it all went back together nicely. I think it was because the heat had not been used in quite a while that the flap was stuck and the actuator slipped. The car is a 2003 C2 cabriolet. I feel very fortunate that I have this site and it's members. You have all saved me lots of money. Thank You!!! :renntech:

[av8sky]

Unfortunately I am reviving this old thread. The problem is back and my ac blows warm once the car gets warmed up. My actuator seems to be working ok but the adjusting lever will not seat properly. The problem flap is the one for my feet, if I leave it off it seems to do better. The best way to fix this is to order a new ac unit $1300 and probably 10hrs of labor (wild guess) the dash needs to come out. My thought is to buy a used ac unit and use that one to figure out what a working one does and figure out if I can fix mine with the parts from the used unit. I read Logray's post about his drive motor malfunction and it looks like my problem is not as easy of a fix. My cost for a used unit would be around $100 to $300 dollars. Anybody have this problem or care to share what you would do in my situation. It is hot here in Texas and I like to supplement my top down driving pleasure with the AC.

[RRocket]

I have the opposite problem. When my heat is cranked I still get cool air coming out.

Same issue you think?

[av8sky]

I would guess it is possibly the same problem. You might be lucky and it could just be one of the actuators that has gone bad. That is and easy fix. I have ordered a used ac unit to see if I can use parts from it to fix my problem. I will post an update with my findings.

[RRocket]

You might be lucky and it could just be one of the actuators that has gone bad. That is and easy fix.

How easy? Is there a DIY for this somewhere?

[av8sky]

I have not seen a diy for it. The system is somewhat complex (ac unit) if you can figure out what flap is not fully closing or which actuator is bad you might be able to fix the problem (if that is the problem). 2 actuators are under the passenger footwell if you move the heat from full cold to full hot you will see the actuator move. The actuators have a plug and 3 or 4 screws and they look fairly simple to replace. I will take pictures of my used unit to show you what I am talking about. I picked one up a used ac unit on ebay for $75 so that I could possibly fix flap that is malfunctioning without removing my current unit.

[RRocket]

Great!! Can't wait for the pics!