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'01 Stuck Air Flow Control Knob


tkpath2
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Hi

 

Had some transmission work done (dropped tranny). Also ball joints, belts and sparkplugs replaced.

 

Picked up the car after more than a week in the shop.. was driving away and couldn't move the air flow control knob counterclockwise past the two Defrost settings. Worked just fine going in or I would have had them fix that too.

 

Called the shop .. first thing they said was there wasn't anything they worked on that could have caused that to happen. To which I said .. well, something happened.

 

So, any idea? Maybe just a bad (for me) coincidence but I'm not sure what lies behind that hvac panel ...what connects the defrost selection to the AC .. if there's any possible way, given the work that was done, that the shop is responsible.

 

Guess they could have dropped something down the fresh air or defrost vents that may be binding things .. suppose I'll peek in there as well to be sure.

 

thanks

 

 

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should have added ...

 

i used to post here (now and then) as Tkpath .but couldn't get back in under that name.

 

also, on someone's prior advice here .. I did download the multiple pdf's of the r50 manuals (good stuff) and went thru the applicable manual but couldn't find a diagram of the vent control system. if anyone has a link to that I'm sure I could figure out then what the issue might be.

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I've had something similar happen when I do work behind the stereo. Trying to move the air divert valve to move it from feet to panel vent for example,it would bind and get difficult to move.

 

On the 96's it has a manual flap system controlled from the knob, and much of the wiring I run goes right next to the pivot arm for the valve box thingy, so it would hang up some times.

 

But I'm fairly certain all 01's and up went to a full electronic system for the HVAC. So that sorta rules that out..

 

But I seriously doubt they dropped anything down the vents big enough to cause any issues.

 

What type of model do you have, I'm on mobile so I can see it from your profile.

 

-Kyle

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yes, it has the manual (rotary dial) knobs.

 

I don't know if it's electric controlled (or thru servos) or vacuum driven or just good old cabling via some switch gearing.

 

 

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Huh, weird, I was under the impression that all 01's were free of the early Gen, ZENKI stuff, but I guess not.

 

Anyway, pull the radio bezel off, on the early dashboards there are two screws at the bottom of the bezel, and then the rest is held in with pop clasps, I have found it best to grab right between the front vents on the top of the bezel and give a nice smooth jerk and the whole thing should pop off. Disconnect the wires for the misc switches, and then start pulling the radio, it's just four screws.

 

Once that's out of the way, look toward the bottom left of the opening where the radio was. You're looking for a small, yellow, tan ish arm (move the vent select to help find it easier) and look for any obstruction in the arms range of motion. That's generally what caused my issues.

 

Again, that's how to do it for the early model dashboard. The one with two symmetrical vents in the radio bezel, if you have a triangular shape for the vents (maybe with a clock on the middle) then you have the newer style dash and I don't know to take that one apart, if it's different.

 

Hope that helps

 

-Kyle

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Bingo.

 

Thanks Kyle.

 

Luckily I'd trained myself to get the radio out for the infamours multi-disc CD changer repair.

 

Sure enough, there's a wire bundle (unrelated to the HVAC) that was pushed up into the gearing. A screw fell out as well . where it goes I'm not sure yet. Don't know why that happened .. some repair person's big foot or they had the manual shifter housing out when they were messing with the trans repair and got sloppy.

 

Appreciate the follow up from everyone.

 

Is that a Z car or an unknown to me Ferrari masquerading as one?

 

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Awesome glad you got it figured out.

 

Post a pic of the screw, see if we can figure that out.

 

And as far as the name, no don't have a Ferrari, probably never will, don't really like them (except the Daytona). But when I was about 12-13, I made it as a joke and trolled a couple people with it on RCuniverse forums. But I used for a few more forums, and I've just never got rid of it. I've been recognized on other forums as a result, so for that reason, I kept it.

 

-Kyle

 

EDIT. But they do make a Ferrari kit for the Z. Lol

Edited by ferrariowner123
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A kit? Why mess with a classic, eh?

 

Can't look at at a BRZ and not think back to those Z cars in 77-79. I had a 914 that I replaced with a Z .. and back to the 914 (a 924 was in there somewhere as well). Both fun, tossable and useful cars.

 

I'll try to remember to take a shot of the screw. Might be part of what happened or the techs just dropped an unrelated screw.

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Mine did that. The cable retainer had broken behind the knob. It was over 5 years ago and cant remember precisely what I used but I had to rig something with probably bicycle parts to fix it. Still works now though

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  • 2 years later...

Thanks Ferrari Owner!

 

I just purchased an '01 Pathfinder in great condition and 2 days later the knob got stuck. I removed the dash and sure enough the arm was blocked. It fixed the problem. Thank you!

 

JB

Huh, weird, I was under the impression that all 01's were free of the early Gen, ZENKI stuff, but I guess not.

Anyway, pull the radio bezel off, on the early dashboards there are two screws at the bottom of the bezel, and then the rest is held in with pop clasps, I have found it best to grab right between the front vents on the top of the bezel and give a nice smooth jerk and the whole thing should pop off. Disconnect the wires for the misc switches, and then start pulling the radio, it's just four screws.

Once that's out of the way, look toward the bottom left of the opening where the radio was. You're looking for a small, yellow, tan ish arm (move the vent select to help find it easier) and look for any obstruction in the arms range of motion. That's generally what caused my issues.

Again, that's how to do it for the early model dashboard. The one with two symmetrical vents in the radio bezel, if you have a triangular shape for the vents (maybe with a clock on the middle) then you have the newer style dash and I don't know to take that one apart, if it's different.

Hope that helps

-Kyle

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a June built 01 model year and it has the rotary HVAC controls. My 02 has the electronic HVAC control so I would say that the change happened in the 02 year model. That's one of the things the PO said didn't work on the 02. Yet another Roundtoit-lol.

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