Hardly any air coming out of either dashboard vents, windshield or foot

arsnova67

Some time ago my AC blower stopped working, after working on it for some time I realized it was the resistor which I changed, now the blower seems to be working fine I get it to go from the lowest to the highest speed the problem is hardly any air comes out of the vents. Anyone out there that might have dealt with the same issue?

Mr_Shiftright

You might want to check operation of the blend door actuator located under the dash, passenger side. There's a plastic cover that needs to come off first.

imidazol97

arsnova67 said:

Some time ago my AC blower stopped working, after working on it for some time I realized it was the resistor which I changed, now the blower seems to be working fine I get it to go from the lowest to the highest speed the problem is hardly any air comes out of the vents. Anyone out there that might have dealt with the same issue?

With the blower on HI, switch to heat and see if you get a strong flow of air out the vents on the floor. Then try defrost mode and see if you're getting a strong blast of air there. If you don't seem to get switching to those alternate air flow areas, your mode actuator may not be working. The defrost should be the default mode if there's a failure for safety reasons.

If you get a strong flow to floor or windshield but no flow to the dash vents then your problem may be mode actuator. Some upside down time looking at the various actuators and having someone switch the modes while you watch should let you see if the actuator is going through the proper steps. There are sketches showing the locations and I'll see if I find one to add to this post.

#8 9 and 10 look like the working parts that move the doors internally to direct the air flow. The part #8 may be a second actuator that moves another part to help change modes--sort of a two-part system with actuator #10 with part #9 being a cam system that moves part #8 at certain times to change a second door to redirect air from defroster to dash, e.g.. I've seen a two-part system in pictures before with two doors actuated from one electric actuator.

If you watch movement a determine something is broken, the actuators sometimes can be accessed and removed sliding on and off held by one bolt. The #9 and #8, I have no idea how difficult they may be to access.

http://www.wholesalegmpartsonline.com/images/parts/gm/fullsize/041022TC09-675.JPG

thecardoc3

It's not as common as it used to be but debris collecting on the AC evaporator can plug it up and prevent air from flowing through it. But before you worry about proving that the first question that needs to be asked is "which direction is the blower motor spinning"? I've seen people accidently alter the connections and reverse the polarity on the motor which makes it spin backwards and since the squirrel cage fan is directional it doesn't move any air at all.

It's very unlikely that this is a door issue, since each door only directs flow in one direction or the other, while never fully blocking air movement. Door problems will cause air to flow to the wrong vent, or the temperature of the air to be incorrect but not stop the air from moving. Depending on design and it's location if used, a cabin air filter issue can reduce air flow if it is restricted either under the "Normal" setting or on both "Normal" and "Max AC". If the cabin air filter is positioned before the recirculate door and only filters outside air, then simply switching to Max, or recirculate should result in a larger than normal difference in airflow.