|
MAtt:
These 'small' problems seems to get more compicated as our cars get more sophisticated! My 1946 Chevrolet had one knob: pull for heat, turn for fan. Nothing to get screwed up there! :-)
As things progressed, buyers wanted to be able to defrost their windshields (imagine how nice that must have been!) instead of scraping the ice off the insides.
Now, most systems are operated by a spaghetti-bowl of vacuum tubing. Since most of your features seem to work, I'm guessing that you have a split or collapsed rubber hose going to the heater fresh air intake flap.
The only advice I can offer right now is to carefully go over the parts of the heater that are under the hood, looking at all the small hoses that connect to it. If you find one that has a really soft and spongy feel to it, it's probably been ruined by brake fluid or another chemical, and will need to be replaced, since any suction on it will cause it to collapse and it won't provide the vacuum you need to open that flap.
The same thing applies to hard hoses; if one of your hoses is mostly soft (like the rubber should be) but one section seems hard, you'll want to replace that one too. It may be flaking off bits of rubber on the inside, and not passing vacuum.
Also, of course, watch for hoses that aren't connected.
If you find no suspect hoses under the hood, you'll need to slide under the dash and see if you can find a problem there. Usually, the hoses inside the passenger compartment last much longer than the ones under the hood, but you may have one that's fallen off its nipple, so it's just sucking air.
You should also inspect the fresh air intake. Look at wher outside air enters it; it's possible that you've picked up some road trash or leaves that are partially blocking the intake.
Thats about all I can think of at the moment - it's been 6 years since I needed a heater in my car!
Hang in there!
Steve
Southern California Desert
Just southwest of Death Valley
|
