Cold/hot air mixer control blend door actuator don't move on certain steps.

[KingK0ng]

Hello guys,

My cold/hot air mixer control blend door actuator which is located on the passenger side under the dash was making some weird noises so i decided to take it appart clean it up and re-grease with dielectric grease. Before disassembling i make sure to mark position of the main gear so i reassemble it the same position it was. Note, before removing the actuar the air mix control was on 18 ( min ).

So when i put everything togheter back and tested the weird noises where gone but i noticed that from 18 (min ) to 31 the actuator wasn't moving at all and still in full cold air position, but once i reached 32 ( max ) it moved to full hot position. Was totally confused, so i followed the instructions from the manual repair for a self-diagnose, turn key on pos II, rotate from 18 to 32, wait a minute and then when i keep pressing AUTO and then at same time pressing OFF the lcd screen turn...off. Don't know if this means there is no error or i'm doing something wrong..?

I notice that after messing with this self-diagnose now the actuator had a slighlty wider range movement, don't know why or if it had to do something with this manipulation but now it moves from 32 to 27 but from 26 to 18 nothing..

I removed the climate control fuse and reinstall but problem still there.. I read somewhere that those actuator need a reset or re-calibration after a new install but i'm not sure about that and the manual repair doesn't mention anything about any reset procedure. Can someone confirm ?

Right now don't know what is going wrong, the actuator seems fine and make no weird noises at all but don't want to move on certain steps. Any suggestions to what could be the culprit and where i should look at would be appreciated.

 

 

[PTR200S]

If I am understanding your problem correctly.....If its on full climate control and the internal temperature is at a certain level the flaps may not move anyway ????? There is no point as there is nothing to change below that level ????

I know my temperature reading on the lcd needs to read 2 degrees higher than the temperature I want....when the temperature is reached the auto operation shuts down the fan and presumably??? the flaps too ?????

Just a thought, if you switch the fan control to manual and the system to manual can you activate the flaps using the temperature control through its full 18/32 ??

[KingK0ng]

58 minutes ago, PTR200S said:

If I am understanding your problem correctly.....If its on full climate control and the internal temperature is at a certain level the flaps may not move anyway ????? There is no point as there is nothing to change below that level ????

 

To be honest i never really mess up with the climate control in general with this car and don't even know how the auto mode work haha.

About your quote, i think what you're saying make totally sense and didn't though about it that way.. When i first tested the car was outside on the sun, don't know what the temperature was inside the car but was kinda hot and then the actuator was opening full cold once i was going from 32 to 31, so if i understand correctly it means that inside the car there was 31°. Then i brought the car inside the garage where it's cooler and it's there that i made the self-diagnose and then notice that the actuator was moving to full cold from 27 which means the inside temp dropped to 27°, i am right ? 

So basically if we set a temperature on the control climate below the inside car temperature the actuator has no point to move since it's not possible to get cooler anyway..did i get it ? 

Gotta read the damn climate control instructions on the manual i guess..😅

[KingK0ng]

Yesterday i took the car out and drive it for a while and the outside temperature was 19°. Engine was at his optimal warm temperature. Wasn't in full auto and a/c was off. Below 25 the air was cold and the actuator wasn't moving. Above 25 the actuator was moving and the mix cold/hot could be feel. To me it's not normal that below 25 the actuator wasn't moving and thus not getting any warm air since outside there was 19°. Before disassembling my actuator i don't remember my climate control behaving like this... Any though ?

[PTR200S]

I think a few on here, including me , have the "problem " of incorrect temperature info on the screen, discussed briefly on this site a couple of years back I think.

On mine the normal temperature setting required for 20C is set at 23C  !!!!!!, just been juggling mine this morning,  now set at 23C with outside temperature at 18C.

The weather has changed a bit over the last couple of days to much cooler but last week with outside temperature at 23/25C I set the control at 21C and it is perfect.

I think there is a bigish discrepancy between the temp sensors and the real world on these cars.

[KingK0ng]

You're speaking in full auto mode right ? In my case i wasn't in full auto. If there was 19° outside i think it's not normal that i couldn't get any warm air under 25, do you agree ?

When you set a temperature you can hear the actuator motor buzzing. Do you hear yours all the time from 18 to 32 ? or it doesn't move under certain temperature as well depending on the set temp and outside temp ? 

[PTR200S]

I usually run mine on auto but often knock the air con off and leave climate control auto running.

Does seem a big discrepancy,  19 to 25 but the temperature showing on the control screen is NOT correct is what I mean, in my case at least 3 degrees out.

Are you measuring the outside temperature with a thermometer and ALSO measuring the internal temperature with the same thermometer?

Or just using the displayed temperature on the screen against the external thermometer reading?

Can't remember offhand, where the cars internal temperature sensor is, on dash? Needs to be clean and unobstructed....could be a faulty sensor?  

Definitely seems to be something out somewhere,  I would have to check my manual setting to confirm what mine does..which vents are you using on your manual operation, top car and floor ?? Or just floor ?

 

[KingK0ng]

5 hours ago, PTR200S said:

I usually run mine on auto but often knock the air con off and leave climate control auto running.

 

Manual says if you disengage the air con it goes semi auto and thus the set temperature can't be maintained.

 

5 hours ago, PTR200S said:

I usually run mine on auto but often knock the air con off and leave climate control auto running.

Does seem a big discrepancy,  19 to 25 but the temperature showing on the control screen is NOT correct is what I mean, in my case at least 3 degrees out.

Are you measuring the outside temperature with a thermometer and ALSO measuring the internal temperature with the same thermometer?

Or just using the displayed temperature on the screen against the external thermometer reading?

 

Even if the lcd temperature isn't correct for around 3° from 19 to 25 it's a big gap as you just said..i can't be 6°+ off..

For the outside temperature was checking google on my phone and few minutes later when i got home i checked my outside thermometer and it was saying 19° too so it was accurate. I didn't measure the internal temperature.

5 hours ago, PTR200S said:

Can't remember offhand, where the cars internal temperature sensor is, on dash? Needs to be clean and unobstructed....could be a faulty sensor?  

Definitely seems to be something out somewhere,  I would have to check my manual setting to confirm what mine does..which vents are you using on your manual operation, top car and floor ?? Or just floor ?

 

I'll check my temperature sensor if dirty. Don't think the sensor might be faulty, as i said i didn't remember having any issue prior disassembling the actuator. I was using the dashboard vents, the icon with the single arrow pointing at the head.

Also seems to me that the temperature sensor is used only for the full auto mode not in semi auto like in my case scenario.

Have no idea how the sunlight sensor is triggering the climate control, if anyone has any clue please let me know.

What would be interesting is to try without the full auto, just auto and take note the outside temperature and try from 18 to 32 and depending the oustide temperature see if the motor actuator is still moving on all steps or not. Best to do this with the radio muted so you can hear it better. The actuator is located under the glove box on the left side, just near the central console. Usually it's very audible. 

[PTR200S]

2 hours ago, KingK0ng said:

Manual says if you disengage the air con it goes semi auto and thus the set temperature can't be maintained.

If you disengage the aircon in cannot maintain the internal temperature BELOW THE OUTSIDE TEMPERATURE but can maintain above it.

If you turn off the aircon you can still hear the pumps auto system in operation. 

It goes into semi auto when you engage any manual controls like distribution vents, fan speed etc, other than that it remains fully automatic on temperature control depending on the aircon being on or off/ outside temperature conflict.

[PTR200S]

2 hours ago, KingK0ng said:

For the outside temperature was checking google on my phone and few minutes later when i got home i checked my outside thermometer and it was saying 19° too so it was accurate. I didn't measure the internal temperature.

 

You need to check the internal temperature properly,  not just go with the lcd,  you are using two different measuring methods. 

[PTR200S]

2 hours ago, KingK0ng said:

 

What would be interesting is to try without the full auto, just auto and take note the outside temperature and try from 18 to 32 and depending the oustide temperature see if the motor actuator is still moving on all steps or not. 

Will have a go at this tomorrow if I get a chance and report back 😆

Oh, by the way if you have it on either 18C or 32C it does NOT regulate the interior temperature,  just blows hot or cold continuously. 

[KingK0ng]

36 minutes ago, PTR200S said:

If you disengage the aircon in cannot maintain the internal temperature BELOW THE OUTSIDE TEMPERATURE but can maintain above it.

You right, didn't take into account this point. Almost never used the full auto mode but i'll try.

 

35 minutes ago, PTR200S said:

You need to check the internal temperature properly,  not just go with the lcd,  you are using two different measuring methods. 

I'll try to bring a thermometer inside the car and see if the threshold applied by the car thermometer sensor is correct and if not by how many degrees off

 

43 minutes ago, PTR200S said:

Will have a go at this tomorrow if I get a chance and report back 😆

Oh, by the way if you have it on either 18C or 32C it does NOT regulate the interior temperature,  just blows hot or cold continuously. 

Yes was aware about that. Your report would be appreciated, thanks for your time.

[PTR200S]

Ok, out in Coupe this morning for work so when the engine was hot I checked a few settings so this is where I am upto now.

I did not check the actual temperatures inside and out with a thermometer, only to determine that at 21C lcd displayed inside, the actuator flaps begin to operate...could be lower with a lower temperature but 21C was probably the internal temperature, according to the internal temperature sensor, at the time of the test.

 

In full auto, including aircon, the flap actuators operate every 1C, up or down, as displayed on the LCD screen, up and down from 21C as displayed.

In full climate auto with aircon switched off, the flaps operate every 1C up or down but not below the cabin temperature (21C ), as you would expect with no aircon cooling available.

With a vent and the manual fan selected, it switches to manual mode and there are bigger steps between the flap actuators actually doing something.

I haven't been able to determine those steps expressed as a "degree centigrade" as yet as it then rained hard onto the roof,,, can't hear a damned thing !!!....still raining too , making up for our dry spell!!

[KingK0ng]

On 8/7/2021 at 1:02 PM, PTR200S said:

With a vent and the manual fan selected, it switches to manual mode and there are bigger steps between the flap actuators actually doing something.

Thanks for the report, when testing i was on manual fan selection too so seems your actuator had the same behavior as mine which should be a good sign supposing yours is in good working condition. Still didn't tried in full auto mode as i didn't used the car since then but will try soon as i can and with the thermometer test too.

[welland99]

On 7/29/2021 at 6:02 PM, KingK0ng said:

My cold/hot air mixer control blend door actuator which is located on the passenger side under the dash was making some weird noises so i decided to take it appart clean it up and re-grease with dielectric grease. 

I have intermittent weird noises that seem to originate from the area around the glove box too.  I have suspected that it is related to the climate control,  so I may have the same issue as you.  

How easy was it to remove and refit?  Do you have any photos?

[welland99]

The weird noises I was hearing happened after the car had warmed up.  It was as if the servo was constantly adjusting itself and couldn't get to the position it wanted. If I turned the temperature up a notch,the problem would stop for a while before re-starting.  Then, if SO turned the temperature up a notch again, the noise would stop for a while before re-starting again.   Etc, etc....

I disconnected the electrical plug under the dash in early December,  and have been using it like that, until today......

[welland99]

Today, I removed the actuator. Whilst the rod was disconnected from the flap, I plugged the cables back on to see how much movement there was.  It was moving about 90 degrees in each direction without any trouble.  When it stopped moving in the hot direction,  if I unplugged it, then plugged it back in, then adjusted the temperature hotter, the actuator would move hotter, and even do a full revolution.  The same happenned in reverse when adjusting it colder.  

[welland99]

Well, I have now opened the actuator case to look inside. I was expecting to find a mechanical problem, such as a seized motor or gears. But these things all look to be fine.  The gears are glistening with grease, so I can't see a problem with them.  

So, if the problem is not mechanical, it must be electrical.  To my naked eye, I can't spot a problem with the contacts or the tracks. They are all greased and I'm assuming that is a good thing.  I must look for my magnifying glass to see if I can spot a problem like a damaged track.  

I'm not sure what to do now.  King kong, what exactly did you do Inside the actuator?

[NathanBlackburn]

I tried a lot but it ended up replacing the door actuator by a locksmith technician. It's a mechanical problem and seeking an expert is helpful for me.

[welland99]

On 4/8/2023 at 2:01 PM, NathanBlackburn said:

I tried a lot but it ended up replacing the door actuator by a locksmith technician. It's a mechanical problem and seeking an expert is helpful for me.

Is this in the wrong thread?

[welland99]

I finally got round to refitting the a.c. temperature actuator today.   I didn't do very much to it, as it looked ok inside, so baffled by the problem.   I'll try it out next week and see how it goes.