My 1997 C5 dual-zone climate car is having the evidently common problem of hot drivers side vent output with a cool passenger side output. I've tried re-indexing the actuator on the drivers side, but it didn't fix the problem. I've put gages on it, and freon looks good. I even did some experimenting with leaving the drivers side actuator off the car and manually manipulating the flapper, but either way i turn it its much hotter than the passenger side. Its 105 deg outside today. Soon after starting up, the passenger side starts blowing around 80 deg. The drivers side outputs between 100-130 deg, depending on which position I manually turn the flapper to. This is starting to make me wander if the root cause is something else.

Anyone have any ideas. Does anyone have any pictures of the air control box taken apart?

Thanks
-Justin

 

I have a 2001 and mine is doing the same thing. checked refrigerant and actuator index.

 

I just helped a friend with his today...

He was way low on charge, so we got him back within specifications. He still had problems with the drivers side, though. Hot deck to the max.

I removed the actuator and found a crack in the main gear. It had slipped on the output shaft.

I moved the gear and re-indexed the actuator, removed fuse 27 and let it sit for a while. Started it back up and she was good to go. (We still need to replace the actuator/gear though.)

When you say you have the gages on and it looks good, what pressures are you looking at on your high and low side? What was the ambient temperature? Were your radiator fans on high?

Did you take temperature readings directly from your ducts? If not, run to your local auto parts store and get an AC thermometer and place it in your ducts, then run your car down the freeway for 15 minutes or so. You should have temps a lot lower than 80 degrees. it should be closer to 60 degrees just sitting there in the driveway, and 45-50 degrees with good airflow across the condenser.

One more thing: Is your condenser clogged with weeds/leaves? Low airflow will mean higher pressures on the high side, giving you a false reading on how much charge you have and limiting the amount of heat that can be removed from the vehicle.

Good luck.

Mark

 

Do you have any codes?

Read this
http://vette.tnreeds.com/actuator/actuator.htm

Acutators can be bought from GM for about $140, or you can try these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Peter...spagenameZWDVW

Pics look like they are exactly the same...

I did mine about 4 months ago, and it fixed it. Mine happened after a cam install, and when the battery was plugged back in the actuator failed to index correctly, and threw a code.

I think it was 361 or 363. Hold fuel and press options 4 times slowly and then tell me what the HVAC codes are.

I'm in Texas, class of 2000, whoop. So let me know if you need more help.