Blend Door, 1992 Caravan

Hmmmm...no answers pouring in!

I got the console off, and lubed the cable, and found a TSB describing how to 'fix' the problem, but I can't get a grasp on where to punch the hole.

ANYONE have an idea? Other than "Visit your local Dodge Dealer", of course! ;)

I did a

If you do same same, you might find something there that might be of help.

Hoot mon, I had never heard of a Blend Door before. cuhulin, the dummy

I HATE THEM!!! Seems all cars have gone to them now, which eliminates the valve in the engine compartment that opens and closes, permitting warm coolant (there's an oxymoron, eh?) into the heater core. So now, in the middle of the summer at 102F, you have hot coolant coming into the car.

The valves are gone, and have been replaced by this "blend door". The door opens and closes with the temp control, diverting airflow either through the heater core, or bypassing it and allowing cooler air into the car.

I think they absolutely suck, and have never had a problem with the 'old fashioned' valve opening/blocking the heater core.

I think I did find something about a TSB, and actually found a diagram, and after looking over the diagram (sketchy, at best) realized what they're telling me to do. I have to take a bit more of the airbox off (hopefully without breaking it) and drill a hole through what appears to be a nipple that holds the bottom shaft of the blend door in place (without drilling through the rod the door pivots on) and spray some lube in there to free it up.

Wish me luck...

Well, there were always the old Ranco "automatic" heater valves which were nice in that they compensated for the temperature inside the car and varied accordingly, but were annoying in that they could fail and dump steaming (or pretty close to it) hot coolant on your passenger's feet when they got old.

Of course Volkswagen, in a fit of nostalgia, saw fit to equip Corrados with a heater core that while not duplicating the temperature compensation function DID duplicate that old time "whiff of glycol" aromatherapy function, often followed by a hot glycol shoe conditioning treatment. How thoughtful of them!

nate

(BTDT, both times - but the only time I got a hot footbath was in an old Studebaker. That one was way cheaper and easier to fix than the Volkswagen; sometimes nostalgia isn't quite the same as the real old school stuff.)

Nate Nagel wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news4.newsguy.com:

Such nonsense wasn't limited to the Germans and the South-Benders, of course. My 1975 Toyota Corolla 1600 had its heater control valve in the passenger compartment, immediately opposite the driver's right foot. If it (the valve, not the foot) failed "just so", you'd get a wet gas-pedal shoe, at the very least.

That might have been the deal with my wife's workmate, who was hospitalized about 8 years ago with scalded legs. Bimmer. '80's model I think. A heater valve is just a glimmer in my memory. Maybe a '55 Plymouth. Other than that, never seen them.

--Vic

My stepfather got his leg scalded by a failed elbow in a Toyota truck. Second degree burns, mostly, but also some third degree.

Found out later Toyota had issued a recall for that condition. Never sued....

See above. My stepfather's truck was a 1976.

I have an old rusty South Bend accessory heater, for cars and trucks.It was like that when I bought it at a scrap iron yard about twenty five or thirty years ago. cuhulin

Good luck. I tried to get access to it for a few days, I removed a few things stopping short of removing the dashboard, knowing that I will never put it back right. Finally I took a ride to nearest Dodge dealer. I do not remember exact number (around $500+,later) the gate was working again. Mine (94)had the blend door under the heater and air cond. coil (dealer told me that they are stacked one on top of the other and the door is at the very bottom). In order to remove a piece of plastic (pieces of the passenger side dashboard vent), heating and air cond coil had to be drained and removed. Mechanics have a few shortcuts. I do not have a clue, all what they told me was true and done or not.Maybe they did maybe they did not.

Being in your shoes, I would try to remove the dashboard and you might see the cable or the blend door.

WOW!!!!!!!

It took me a bit of looking (like, THREE DAYS!) but I fanally found a diagram to go along with the TSB explaining the Blend Door kludge (calling it a 'repair' is a misnomer...)

You have to remove the center section of the dash where the radio, heater controls, storage bin, etc are located. Then remove the lower part of the heat duct 'extension'. At first it looked like you had to unsnap it, and it is NOT easy to unsnap! THEN I noticed the screws. Remove three screws and then the ductwork comes off. Then you see what looks like a nipple coming down from the box. There are two of them, a small one you just pulled the screw out of to drop the duct, and a larger one. it is the larger one you drill a hole into and lubricate.

Of course, my blend door was still moveable by the cable, it was just not moving very freely or very far. If the door is stuck then I can see why you would have to go all through that, but luckily mine was just binding and the lubrication seems to have done the trick.