Climate control problems? Read This!

[Piece-it pete]

I've had t-stats bad 'out of the box'. You might want to check it.

Pete

[game over]

Do you have a temperature gauge in the car? What does it read? Is the coolant level low? Air in the system might cause this problem. Is it an automatic climate control car? Sometimes when the sensors fail, it can cause no/poor heat. Automatic climate control says so on the control unit, and it has temperature numbers on the scale. Non-automatic simply says "cool" and "warm".

coolant level is ok. there is not a temp gauge now in my car, but last autumn it was overheated in traffic jam. but the problem comes earlier. the climate is automatic

[sly]

coldy! bah... totally misread that. for automatic temperature control cars (boxes at least), if the wire breaks in the ambient temp sensor it will pull vacuum on the blend door and default cold. But if you get heat under good vacuum and loose it under load on the road, there may be junk floating around in your coolant system. If it clogs the heater core, but then gets a little more pressure and pushes it through... that could cause the problem. Also, air pockets in the coolant (not purged all the way) could also do that. This shouldn't be a problem after a few temp cycles though since the system is supposed to purge itself. The only thing I can think of is the thermostat getting stuck open and then slapping shut after getting cold. And yes... thermostats can go bad quick.

[gadget73]

open the glovebox and pull the clear vacuum line off of the gold colored can. That should force it to full hot. If it does not get hot, then you have different problems.

[game over]

trying to make conversion from auto to manual climate control. and have some questions about this. anyone did this? there is no questions about the conversion exept one.
is anybody has heater vacuum diagrams? need both - for automatic and manual cars.
thanks to all

[game over]

trying to make conversion from auto to manual climate control. and have some questions about this. anyone did this? there is no questions about the conversion exept one.
is anybody has heater vacuum diagrams? need both - for automatic and manual cars.
thanks to all

[pseudoboyfriend]

90,91 mgm

Is the ATC temp sensor actually located in the dash just above the controls? It looks different than the one you post pictures of.

[gadget73]

91 and maybe the 90 have an electronic climate control system that uses different stuff. Instead of the blue vacuum thing, they have something with 2 wires and the crinkle hose. Those have distinctly different problems, mostly stemming from an electronic blend door actuator that fails and causes the system to do stupid things.

[game over]

ok, guys, but my car is not '90 or '91
it's a '85 colony park

[gadget73]

yeah, but someone else asked about a 90-91 model

[game over]

ok. sorry. i haven't seen

[bumpassbjorn]

ATC to manual conversion

I've done this twice. Once on an 87 Colony Park and an 86 Colony Park. It is a pain in the ass to try wedge fat hands and fingers behind the dash.

[nfldfordltd]

Mine gave out blowing heat unless the outside temp was wicked cold (subzero F) so what I ended up having to do was unplug the big vacuum line from the temp blend door control motor and plug it with a pen (to prevent vacuum loss) when I wanted heat...so now I haz lots of heat or none at all. Kind of a PITA having to reach in behind the golve locker and pull the line and plug it or connect it depending on what I want the HVAC to do for me. Alas, it works. I'll have to get a sensor and get it fixed I guess...any suggestions on where to get one?

[Bigbullitt]

91 and maybe the 90 have an electronic climate control system that uses different stuff. Instead of the blue vacuum thing, they have something with 2 wires and the crinkle hose. Those have distinctly different problems, mostly stemming from an electronic blend door actuator that fails and causes the system to do stupid things.

Would those "stupid things" include making a repetetive "thunking" noise while moving the levers from off to vent to defrost? If so, what can I do to fix that? (By the way, it's not constant and may do it on vent one time, not on floor, then on defrost one day and not the next.) Weird.

[Mercury Rising]

I am going to convert mine to manual control, I know it must be possible.