excelon969

issue: i have the luxury climate control (pre-facelift) and the directional airflow works on both sides to properly move air to the windows and to the upper vents. i did notice that the footwell airflow on both sides was always on no matter what.

so yes, i've googled and googled and i believe most people are having problems with the motor linkage. (also most posts are for w203) ok so...

ran the 'resync' on the control panel. no luck, leds keep flashing forever (let ran for several minutes) during which time i can feel the air to the footwells come and go (so something is working and not just frozen) but i really dont know what exactly the resync is supposed to do in terms of the sequence it is trying to follow. so...

began the dash removal. passenger glove box out, center console out, center stack mostly out (shifter trim, ashtray, radio bezel, climate control, radio), passenger side cover out.

so i can see the motor/arm for the passenger footwell i believe and it indeed moves and such during the resync but when i select the upper vents or window vents on that side during normal use, it does not move at all

i also noticed that after i hooked up the control panel again, now i do not get any airflow out the driver footwell when previously it had been always on.

this led to some 4 letter words and now i'm wondering if it's possible that the climate control panel is bad and everything else is ok...

i have not seen that resolution in any posts thus far. should i just get this thing to a STAR machine? if so, how much should i expect to pay for this?

i'd like to investigate this before i pull of what seems to be the rest of the dash to get at any of this.

thanks

MJ50

do u hear any noise coming from the dash?
maybe scanning with star will detect if climate control unit is bad...

excelon969

i assume any noise you refer to would be clearly audible... i dont really hear anything out of the ordinary

just trying to avoid spending the 100$ on a star diagnosis from my local shop but i guess that's where i'm headed

Rudeney

There used to be a trick where you could get the ACC panel to give you some diagnostic codes. I don't know how to do it, but I have heard others mention it. Check with Keyhole over at benzworld - he may know. If you can get the codes, then we'll know what part thas failed. Note that some of those damper servos can be a real problem, requiring the dash to be pulled along with heater core and A/C evaporator.

DanielFD

the problem with the flaps is not always that their broken, sometimes they dont normalize anymore (get in sync), so in reality they move but not at the degrees they are supposed too or sometimes not at all. When you force the resync (hold the buttons on the AC unit) they move but the headunit cant figuire out where the starting and ending position is probably because they are broken. STAR can solve your problem real fast as there are readouts of the flaps and at what degree they are at. I'd say an experienced indie is better the dealer with something like this.

excelon969

biting the bullet and paying the 95 for STAR diagnosis this afternoon. i'll update when i hear back.

praying it's just the lower ones

excelon969

got the car scanned. driver footwell flap is not responsive, interestingly enough the passenger footwell flap/control is working fine.

here is my car as it stands



glove box out, right side panel out, center console and middle stack out (in pic temporarily to take to shop) and panel under driver dash is out

they said i need to take the entire dash off as well as the metal brace behind it.

i'm at that tipping point whether or not this is worth it.

UGH!

i have the WIS documents in order to continue and i'm not really afraid of breaking anything in the process but i've never removed the entire upper dash from any car before.

indie wants 750 (5hr labor plus any parts) to fix. lolno

i could just put a blockoff plate on there... its arizona and i need upper vent air more than footwell air

i'll keep searching this forum and the internet, it would be nice to find photos other than the grainy WIS ones

Rudeney

If you can get to the servo, but can't remove it, you maybe able to rotate it around a few revolutions and fix the problem (though it also may require a re-sync with SDS after that). The sensors in the servo sometimes get dirty, so doing this can dislodge the debris or at least put it in a different radial position where the bad part isn't at the end of travel.

BTW, I posted a bunch of WIS docs for you on benzworld.

excelon969

thanks for the docs. i think i will try to get the instrument cluster pullers and tackle this

Rudeney

You can make your own puller. I use a bent wire from a coat hanger. The first few pics of this tear-down on the W203 should help:

http://benzbits.com/w203/cluster.html

excelon969

thank you, i saw that and picked up a coat hanger from my mom's today =)

excelon969

cluster out, light switch panel out.

stuck at the key trim. is there a trick to this before i go at it with a screwdriver and a small mallet?

i'll keep searching

excelon969

disregard

excelon969

regarding the upper dash panel, anything to be worried about? i assume i need to have the battery disconnected for quite some time before i disconnect the passenger airbag.

i've read about the "airbag cutout" on the dash possibly cracking?

Rudeney

Since you don't have KeylessGo, as long as you have the key out of the ignition then there is no worry about the airbag system. it is not energized at all with the igntion off.

excelon969

thanks. i will tackle this tomorrow.

TechSuperstar

Couldn't help but notice your dash.. 108deg!!!! you might want to wait for a cooler day so you don't soak the leather with sweat

excelon969

reviving from the dead...

project put on hold till just recently

motors were fine, the plastic arm had broken. ordered arms and got them put in today

ran the climate control re-sync and the lights stop flashing after the 30sec or so.

however still an issue where the footwell motors dont move at all until i put the car on defrost and then they shut

otherwise they just stay in the same fully open position. when the upper vents are open (dial at 9 o'clock) most of the air is coming out up top so just a trickle comes out the footwell

however when i put the dial to 12 o'clock, the upper vents close (nothing else seems to open) and the footwell is on full blast.

i guess at this time i need STAR to program the open and close positions of the flaps?

i still dont have the dash back on until i'm 100% sure i can start putting things together if all i need is STAR

thanks