Mukiwa
Well-Known Member
- Posts
- 472
- Location
- Winsford, Cheshire, near Oulton Park
Hi all,
I have a spare heater box and decided to look at why after managing to get all but the top 2 flaps out, sanded back and now smoothly running, that after reassembly it jammed up again.
I sanded back all the ends of the shafts (plastic) with wet and dry and took my time. They are all now freely moving and little finger turnable - except those top 2, which turn but have some drag. I still can't work out how to remove them. Does anyone know how? It isn't the rubber trim that binds them it's the flap interference fit that is too tight to start with on all of them.
If you do the same it really isn't that complicated but take pictures and mark your cogs with datum points and mark those top flaps as well as your cog datum points - or you will have fun afterwards on reassembly (have a guess how I know that).
Now your mileage may vary but this is my spare box which I'm preparing to fit in very soon.
Excuse my kitchen!
1. These are the flaps I can't get out without damaging something. They move with some drag but nothing too hard when the box is in pieces. Cog with driving rod shown, it goes through both flaps so they turn together at the same rate (demisters I think), this is the one that gets pinched and jams the flaps.
2. This is the view from inside the car if you remove the dash. This is the bugger that causes the problems as you will see. I have marked where I have inserted self tapping screws (ST's) on the pic. Top one circled, the bottom one is out of view but the arrow points to it.
There are 6 screws holding this cover on, 2 top, 2 middle and 2 bottom. It fits in a channel with some pressure required to seat it. Enough force that it clamps the top flaps.
3. I realised that after reassembly the top flaps were almost jamming and I was baffled. So time to reverse the steps, at what point did it go tight? So after some head scratching and tea drinking it was after this last panel was fitted.
Ok lets undo the screws on one side and see what happens. Well, this happens...
That gap is quite a few mm. So what to do?
Plan A was just cut it in half, so I had a look inside - can't cut it down the centre as there is a baffle to separate driver and passenger climate control.
Plan B - cut to one side, I chose the left hand side for no particular reason. The white tape was where I was going to cut.
4. Five minutes later after using the trusty jigsaw and this is the result after putting the cover back on.
This is how much the box was being clamped by that cover and it directly jams the 2 top flaps, it doesn't affect any of the other flaps on my heater box, again YMMV.
7.5mm at the top
4.5mm at the bottom
I have sealed the gap with some harry black masking tape (HBM to some of us ;-). I'd like to fill the gap with either putty, filler or a sliver of plastic before I fit it properly as I'm sure the heat whilst in the car might be a bit much as I've felt how hot the space behind the radio gets!
The top blend flaps move without much drag now, but I would like to be able to remove them and finish the job properly.
I do have more pictures but didn't want to overwhelm the server.
I hope that helps others as I did change out my blend motors and the matrix o-ring 4 years ago and I'm really not looking forwards to removing the dash all over again. It has to be done though or I'll never get that bloody book off my HEVAC and I finally want to get the A/C working. But as they say in Hammy Hamster and the tale's from the river bank, that's another story.....
I have a spare heater box and decided to look at why after managing to get all but the top 2 flaps out, sanded back and now smoothly running, that after reassembly it jammed up again.
I sanded back all the ends of the shafts (plastic) with wet and dry and took my time. They are all now freely moving and little finger turnable - except those top 2, which turn but have some drag. I still can't work out how to remove them. Does anyone know how? It isn't the rubber trim that binds them it's the flap interference fit that is too tight to start with on all of them.
If you do the same it really isn't that complicated but take pictures and mark your cogs with datum points and mark those top flaps as well as your cog datum points - or you will have fun afterwards on reassembly (have a guess how I know that).
Now your mileage may vary but this is my spare box which I'm preparing to fit in very soon.
Excuse my kitchen!
1. These are the flaps I can't get out without damaging something. They move with some drag but nothing too hard when the box is in pieces. Cog with driving rod shown, it goes through both flaps so they turn together at the same rate (demisters I think), this is the one that gets pinched and jams the flaps.
2. This is the view from inside the car if you remove the dash. This is the bugger that causes the problems as you will see. I have marked where I have inserted self tapping screws (ST's) on the pic. Top one circled, the bottom one is out of view but the arrow points to it.
There are 6 screws holding this cover on, 2 top, 2 middle and 2 bottom. It fits in a channel with some pressure required to seat it. Enough force that it clamps the top flaps.
3. I realised that after reassembly the top flaps were almost jamming and I was baffled. So time to reverse the steps, at what point did it go tight? So after some head scratching and tea drinking it was after this last panel was fitted.
Ok lets undo the screws on one side and see what happens. Well, this happens...
That gap is quite a few mm. So what to do?
Plan A was just cut it in half, so I had a look inside - can't cut it down the centre as there is a baffle to separate driver and passenger climate control.
Plan B - cut to one side, I chose the left hand side for no particular reason. The white tape was where I was going to cut.
4. Five minutes later after using the trusty jigsaw and this is the result after putting the cover back on.
This is how much the box was being clamped by that cover and it directly jams the 2 top flaps, it doesn't affect any of the other flaps on my heater box, again YMMV.
7.5mm at the top
4.5mm at the bottom
I have sealed the gap with some harry black masking tape (HBM to some of us ;-). I'd like to fill the gap with either putty, filler or a sliver of plastic before I fit it properly as I'm sure the heat whilst in the car might be a bit much as I've felt how hot the space behind the radio gets!
The top blend flaps move without much drag now, but I would like to be able to remove them and finish the job properly.
I do have more pictures but didn't want to overwhelm the server.
I hope that helps others as I did change out my blend motors and the matrix o-ring 4 years ago and I'm really not looking forwards to removing the dash all over again. It has to be done though or I'll never get that bloody book off my HEVAC and I finally want to get the A/C working. But as they say in Hammy Hamster and the tale's from the river bank, that's another story.....
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