Easy Driver Side "Actuator" Fix
Thread Starter
8th Gear
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 8
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Easy Driver Side "Actuator" Fix
Hi, just wanted to share my recent story about my 98' Vette....
It was the same old thing, with the A/C on, cold air was coming out of the passenger side vents, but warm air was coming out of the driver side. After reading some post here, I figured it must be the driver side actuator. So, I ordered one from GM Parts Direct and began the "tearing apart" of my car. Well, I replaced it and decided to start the car and try it out before I reassemebled the dash. It still was blowing out warm air driver side, cold air passenger side. This was confusing since with the dash open, I could see the operation of all of the damper doors. It was really quite interesting seeing how everything worked. But, still no cold air on the driver side!!!
I consulted my dad and he suggested it was possible low on freon. That made no since to me since it seemed quite cold on the passenger sied. But, I put my cheap A/C gauge on the low pressure side and it read 26psi; exactly what the shop manual said for the current weather conditions. Well, I tried putting some in anyway. After less than 1/4 of a can, both sides were blowing cold! I ended up putting in almost the whole can while my dad checked both sides of the A/C evaparator coil with an IR thermometer (remember the dash was still apart). We finally got both sides down to 38 deg. I put the car back together and it's worked perfectly ever since (about a week).
I hope this helps someone in the future before they have to go through the joy of pulling the dash.
Thanks,
It was the same old thing, with the A/C on, cold air was coming out of the passenger side vents, but warm air was coming out of the driver side. After reading some post here, I figured it must be the driver side actuator. So, I ordered one from GM Parts Direct and began the "tearing apart" of my car. Well, I replaced it and decided to start the car and try it out before I reassemebled the dash. It still was blowing out warm air driver side, cold air passenger side. This was confusing since with the dash open, I could see the operation of all of the damper doors. It was really quite interesting seeing how everything worked. But, still no cold air on the driver side!!!
I consulted my dad and he suggested it was possible low on freon. That made no since to me since it seemed quite cold on the passenger sied. But, I put my cheap A/C gauge on the low pressure side and it read 26psi; exactly what the shop manual said for the current weather conditions. Well, I tried putting some in anyway. After less than 1/4 of a can, both sides were blowing cold! I ended up putting in almost the whole can while my dad checked both sides of the A/C evaparator coil with an IR thermometer (remember the dash was still apart). We finally got both sides down to 38 deg. I put the car back together and it's worked perfectly ever since (about a week).
I hope this helps someone in the future before they have to go through the joy of pulling the dash.
Thanks,
