Scissors

Okay, I've done search after search and I only found one post that covered this issue and all it told me is that a temperature control door motor, which is electric not vacuum, for the driver's side isn't working or else the system is undercharged. Well, I have more questions:

Where is the driver's side temperature control door so I can get to it and check?

If it is that door which isn't working, would this be enough to keep the A/C from cooling down the inside of the cabin? After all, the passenger side still blows somewhat cold.

Background info: I was going both highway speeds and stop-and-go traffic, and the A/C still wouldn't keep the car cool at all. The HVAC shows no codes in the DIC. It was about 90 degrees outside.

YO-EL

I had this problem twice...
Left temperature door actuator. Its NOT the control head. Its the actuator.
TRUST ME. Get it replaced. Tell your dealer to order a new
LEFT TEMPERATURE DOOR ACTUATOR. :yesnod:

jefffxdwg

I had this exact same problem. The system needs to be charged.

Scissors

Would the actuator not working or the system being undercharged not throw codes, becuase HVAC shows 0 errors?

unclemeat

Does it cool from the drivers side when the temp is cranked all the way down to 60 degrees? Mine would blow cold air from the passenger side and hot air from the drivers side until I cranked the temperature all the way down. My dealer screwed with this 3 separate times for a total of 6 days replacing stuff left and right. They finally decided it was the control head, replaced it and it has worked fine ever since.

Scissors

Nope.

jefffxdwg

Mine would not blow cold even at 60 deg. They replaced the control head and this did not fix it in my case. They found a leak in the compressor and repaced it. Each time they recharged the system it was fine.

JC in XTC5

It's the left door actuator as described above. The A/C plumbing has 2 separate doors above the blower fan for left (driver) and right (passenger) airflow. These doors open and close to providfe the right mix of hot (from the heater core) and cold (from the A/C core) air to maintain the desired temp. If you crank the A/C temp way down to 60, both doors should move to one extreme and allow only the cold air to flow. The passenger adjustment **** then allows the passenger to adjust the right door off the left reference position.

Since you're not getting any cold air on the driver's side, it appears that the left door is stuck in the non-cooling position. You may want to try resetting the system by pulling the fuse for the A/C system (or disconnecting the battery) since the unit performs a startup routine that moves all actuators to their extreme positions to calibrate them. If that doesn't work, then the actuator is dead and needs to be replaced. Not a major problem.

Good Luck.

michaelfellis

Hi folks.

This thread has been very helpful for me, as I am have the warm driver's side/cold passenger side AC problem.

From the descriptions here, I was dead certain that I must have a faulty left-side actuator. When pulling the AC fuse and giving the system a chance to recalibrate with the original actuator did not correct the issue, I ordered a replacement left-side actuator.

Today I installed the replacement actuator. With the trim pad (upper dash) completely removed, I am able to watch as the left and right actuators move a panel in the ductwork open and closed. Unfortunately, I am still finding that cold air is coming from the passenger duct and warm air is coming from the driver's -- just as it did before I installed the new actuator.

I am writing with the hope that somebody might have some insight here. I have a service manual, and the procedures for dealing with this problem focus on troubleshooting the left-side actuator, which of course, is brand new.

Is it possible that there's another actuator I missed? The one I installed lives behind the instrument cluster/ignition key area and is mounted to the left side of the AC ductwork. It is responsible for rotating a post that controls a door on the driver's side of the ductwork. When the AC is on, the door opens, and when it is off, the door closes.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

WOEII

This happen to me 2 weeks ago right after a battery replacement. Freezing cold to the passanger and outside air to me on top dash and door.

It started to cool down here in FL so I decided to take the car in at the end of the week to get it fixed. 3 days later all is working fine now. Have no idea of how it cleared up.

JnJ

I have the just the oposite, I get cold air on the drivers side, but HOT air only on the passengerside. Could this simply be a bad passengerside dial ****, or is it likely the actuator?
How hard is this actuator to replace?

Thanks

Bill Curlee

Man,,, this is some GREAT info!

Here are some AC pics that I took at Carlsile PA for you to reference!

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I took a SH!% load of parts pictyres like this just so I could use them for the forum explanations. PLEASE feel free to use them as necessary.

BC

YO-EL

Let me add to my earlier post about replacing the actuator..
It could also be "out of range" & not closing properly...

The fix is to INDEX THE TEETH by TWO, INSIDE THE ACTUATOR...
There is an "inside" TSB on this..
I would think by now, a few of the GM Corvette tech know about doing this..

Indexing the teeth INSIDE the actuator, was the FINAL RESOLVE to my air conditioning problems, and its something that should be done BEFORE changing out the actuator, if indeed the actuator is working/moving.....

michaelfellis

I've done some more testing on A/C with the new actuator installed.

I've confirmed that both the LH and RH actuator are opening and closing their respective baffles in accordance with their temperature *****. Looking into the duct, I can see both baffles move to allow air from the lower duct when the temperature is set to COLD, and I can see them move to allow air from the upper duct when it is set to HOT. When I have the specified temperature set to WARM, the actuators move the baffle to allow some air from both ducts.

With the master temperature set to WARM, I then set the passenger control to COLD, and I was able to watch the RH actuator resposition its baffle to allow more air from the bottom duct than from the top.

These visual tests confirm a couple things for me:
1) Wiring to the LH and RH actuators is carrying the control signals.
2) The LH and RH actuators seem to be responding to their signals.

Unfortunately, I still find that the passenger side is far colder than the driver's.

I just read the post about possibly needing to "index" the LH actuator by two. I'd love to read up on this procedure. Can somebody point me to a TSB or post that describes how to do it and determine if I need to do it? The actuator needing indexing and not closing is a possible explanation, however, is it likely that a brand-new actuator would need this?

I'm scouring the service manual looking for hints, but I'm not coming up with much at this point.

Thanks to all for any advice.

michaelfellis

Well, after replacing the left actuator and doing a whole lot of experimenting, it seems that what I actually needed was an A/C recharge.

I've verified that my original actuator works just fine, so I've returned it to the car. I also confirmed that its gears did not need to be indexed.

In my case, I was getting cold air out of the passenger vent and warm air out of the driver's. Nothing but an A/C recharge corrected it.

This suprises me somewhat, because I would have expected that a system in need of a recharge would blow warm out both the passenger and the driver's vents. Can't explain that one, but the recharge did work.

BTW -- if anyone needs a left A/C actuator, please let me know. I now have one for sale that's never been used (well, almost never). ;-)

Thanks for everybody's help with this.

STMELVIN

I hope this works. Every time i take it out of the Garage once every 3 months something else has stop working.

killerzee

Mine did this, and everyone SWORE it was the actuator. But in fact I was just a little low on refrigerant. Added half a can of R134, and then both sides were ice cold.

I knew my actuator was good, since I didn't have any DIC codes.

arkayem

I think that when you are low on Freon, the passenger side may become less cold or even warm, and recharging the system can fix it. However, when an actuator fails, it blows full hot directly from the heater core on the bad side.