Taking out the Dash for the First Time..

I posted this in the interior section as well.
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Taking out my dash for the first time. According to the GM Service Manual, since I'm not getting any heat, I need to remove the Electric Blend Door Actuator to see if it's bad or not. Since I've got to do that I was thinking I might as well replace the heater core as well as the stock radio since I've got the dash apart. I have a couple of questions about this:

What should I be expecting?
What should I watch out for?
Are the airbag sensors going to cause a problelm? The repair manual makes a big deal out of them. "CAUTION, WARNING etc."
Are there any special tools I might need?
Do I have to pull the steering wheel off or can I leave it alone?

thanks in advance, guys!

Mark

Before you do that, unplug the battery for a few minutes, then put it back on and fire up the car. At first the climate control won't react to any buttons....it's re-setting. Once it will react, use the temp button and run it to full hot, then back down to full cold. Do that a few times, and it will re-calibrate the blend door.

If that STILL doesn't get you heat check that your heater hoses are hot, both going and and coming out. Dex-Cool plugged heater cores are common.

See this thread: https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t4913-no-heat-ha

Good luck!

-Mike

this vid might help a bit if the above doesn't solve your problem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_-ECgi1_ag

Mike - I replaced the battery just after I bought the car back in July or August of last year. But I'll get reset it tonight and see if it works. I checked the hoses last week and they were both hot after about 20 minutes of the car running at idle.

Benn - Thanks for the link! I was looking for that EXACT video!

Thanks again guys!

Mark

While the climate control is resetting, don't touch it! Pressing any buttons seems to make it only blow air out the lower vents, at least on my 94.

Thanks Dave. I'll try it out when I get home tonight. We've had an EXTREMELY mild winter this year in ye ol' Chicago. It's been down into the teens & 20's at night but today it was nearly 50... so it hasn't been the typical Chicago winter... LUCKILY!!!

WELL... looks like I gotta pull the dash. Last night after a 15/20 minute drive home, both hoses were warm to the touch... not hot. I disconnected the battery waited about a minute then reconnected it. Turned it over and the CC read 60 then dropped to the ambient temp of 47. I then worked the temp up to 90 and back down to 60 about 3 times and it was still blowing cold air.

Do ya think I need to disconnect the battery longer or scroll through the temps more or... ?


It's gonna be in the 40's for the next week so it's not gonna be terrible, but I plan on pulling the dash this weekend.

thanks!

Mark

MarkH wrote:

WELL... looks like I gotta pull the dash. Last night after a 15/20 minute drive home, both hoses were warm to the touch... not hot. I disconnected the battery waited about a minute then reconnected it. Turned it over and the CC read 60 then dropped to the ambient temp of 47. I then worked the temp up to 90 and back down to 60 about 3 times and it was still blowing cold air.

Do ya think I need to disconnect the battery longer or scroll through the temps more or... ?


It's gonna be in the 40's for the next week so it's not gonna be terrible, but I plan on pulling the dash this weekend.

thanks!

Mark

Sounds like the blend door is stuck or the actuator is bad. Bummer. Keep us in the loop.

Sure will... thanks again. I'll post pics etc of the progress on Monday.

Mark

When you reconnected the battery did the climate controL count Down from 30 to zero? Someone remind me here if that is a tbi only feature. I think you may want to leave the battery disconnected for 5 minutes to make sure the climate control loses any memory... Worth a shot anyway

no it started at 60 and when down to the ambient temp... should I wait for it to go down to zero? I'll give it try when I get home tonight before I start tearing into the dash this weekend.

Mark

I think the countdown sprocket mentioned is for TBI cars, I never saw that on my RMWs. The hoses to the core should be very hot in and out to the touch. I would start with a heater core flush, LT1s plug heater cores a lot. I usually flush mine every fall. If that fails, probably gotta tear into the dash.

Thanks David, I thought it might be TBI only, Agree the heater hoses should be as hot as the rest, disconnect and try flushing it like David said.