Yesterday I experienced what appears to be a very common problem on my 96. On the way home from a long drive I noticed I had no A/C blowing out of the dash vents... mainly from the defroster vents and some from the lower/side vents. After shutting the car off for a few minutes at a gas station... the AC output resumed to normal for most of the ride home... I did lose it for another 5 minute period, but it came back to the dash by itself.

Today I had the car out and all was fine. I've done a search of past posts and found lots of articles about this subject... some point to the vacuum T under the fuel rail cover, others point to AC controller being bad and/or loose connecter, while others to stuck doors in the ductwork.

Just wanted to get peoples thoughts on this before I dive into looking for the problem... since the problem has only happened once and has since returned to normal... it doesn't sound like it's vacuum related. I did check the T under the fuel rail cover and that was in good shape. (Which did suprise me for a car with 60K miles on it) and as I've seen in past posts, the cruise control works fine.

I've been told the controller is under the driver side dash... does anyone have any pictures of this so I know what I'm looking for?

Thanks,


Jim


[Modified by Springer's LT4, 9:06 PM 9/29/2002]

 

I hope someone can answer this question..I have had the same thing exactly happen to me in my 1991...but after a while, it has stopped blowing through the dash vents all together. I have searched, and can locate no problems (evident) on mine either. I hate to change out the controller if it is not the problem, and I have no idea where to look for stuck vent doors..Maybe someone out there can solve this mystery...

 

ttt

 

It's a pretty short diagnostic path.

Vacuum to controller? If not it's usually the "T" fitting. Long shot is a cracked line into the controller.

If you have vacuum to the controller then you need to know if it's getting out to the lines that run the motors. Usually the answer is no and you need a new controller. If, by chance, you are getting vacuum out of the controller into each attached line, then it's a cracked line or bad motor.

It's easier to check the "T" fitting and just change the controller than it is to test everything. Odds are way in favor of a bad controller.

Its the box that has one vacuum line going in and 6 or 8 in a circular pattern going out. Can't miss it. A typical failure pattern is just as you describe.

Good luck.

 

remove the driver side knee bolster and gain access to the a/c pragrammer above the accelerator. remove retaining bolt so you can drop it down ever so little to get the connector out of it. Be careful of the retaining tabs. (look at them carefully in order to not break them). Unplug jack and plug it back in. It may cure the problem as sometimes the contacts get a little glazed over with corrosion. If it doesn't work, replace the unit for about $185.00 from the Last Detail. It cured mine.