Hey all,
has anyone experienced a problem with the vent direction controls not working? I can turn the **** from floor setting to the dash setting and air blows out of all the vents all the time. I'm wondering if the control valves are vaccum controlled like my old mustang. If so, it seems like a line should have fallen off and I probably have a vaccum leak. The car doesn't seem to idle poorly or anything that would indicate this... but anybody's input is def appreciated!

Thanks,
Jon

 

the fan speed and temp controls work great, its just the vent location control that doesnt work.

 

I had the same problem, the crappy Delco battery leaked down on the wiring harness (and everything else) this where the plastic vacuum line also hides buried deep in among all the wires. The wires did not seem to be damaged but the plastic vacuum line was now hard and brittle.

I chased and broke the brittle line all the way back to rear of the manifold where you could touch it but no way in this world could you fit a new piece of hose on it, I understand you have to pull the manifold and pull it forward a little to get enough room to put a new hose on. Not being much of a mechanic I was off to my trusted dealership (yea right) where they informed me it would be about $1500.00 to replace the vacuum line that their piece of crap battery ruined.

I just purchased the car and really did not have another $1500.00 to throw at right than and there so I came up with a temporary cheap fix. I found a small 12 volt vacuum pump on Ebay that is used in the medical field and figured it had to be a descent pump. I bought it for $16.00 and it was new, after some searching found it could be bought online from a med supply place for about $300.00 so it must be a good one!

I mounted the pump in a weather proof plastic box next to the battery and found good line coming through the firewall and this is where I spliced in my pump line. All the duct vents now work as they should, the only problem is my temporary fix has gone on for almost two years…oh well I will get around to it some day.

 

Clever fix - did you somehow plug the manifold line?

 

Thanks for the explanation. I know the prev owner put a red top optima in there and I'm pretty sure that he didn't do it for looks. :-( I bet I have the same problem. By chance do you remember what color the vaccum line was?


Thanks,
Jon

 

It's 1/8" black nylon.
Do a search on leaking Delco batteries and the problems that can be caused by this. Fixing the vacuum leak is not hard and not expensive either. If, after reading up on this you still need some help, don't be afraid to ask.
Common problem.