03 climate control questions??

moregrip · December 4, 2003

The other night I was driving down the highway with the heater on. My side (drivers) was set like in the middle. my wifes side (passenger) was on full hot or up position. Then my wife tries to lower her sides temp, but it was still on hot as h&ll, even after she put it all the way down, coldest setting, it was still blowing max heat. I had to close out the vents to keep the hot air from coming through. My side was good the whole time, hot when selected, cold when selected. Also the stereo head unit was really hot.

And I also notice when I have recurculated air selected in the cab I still get some fresh air, exhaust fumes, in the truck, but not as much as when its on fresh air.

Is this normal?

2xtreme · December 4, 2003

Over at silveradoss.com there has been some guy's complaining of this. As far as I know this has only been a problem on trucks with the manual controls (slide bars). The only thing I have heard is it has stopped and gone back to normal when the ignition is turned off and back on I would make an appt. with the service dept.

lrymal · December 5, 2003

As far as I know this has only been a problem on trucks with the manual controls (slide bars).

So far, no problem with mine........... I really love the climate control on my '03. I really haven't had any problems with those sliders and their functions.

moregrip · December 5, 2003

thanks for the info, I didn't have a problem in the morning when I started the truck again, so that seems to fall in place with what the guys on the SS board are saying.

lrymal · December 5, 2003

Weird, I dug around on the SS site and the last message posted regarding this was dated September 23rd...

2xtreme · December 5, 2003

It's been a while, but I do remember it being brought up......

Not everyone who has the manual controls have complained of this. My dad has them in his 03 Z71 and has never had a problem.

blacksierra2002 · December 9, 2003

I have a question for you guys, has anyone else noticed that the A/C comes on when you hit the recirculation button without the A/C button being engaged? I noticed this the first spring after owning the truck, there are times the air is plenty cool and the truck doesn't get hot but one would like some air movement in the truck without A/C and without letting outside air in. It I hit recirc with fan on the A/C kicks in and will freeze you out, even does so during the winter unless it cold enough out for temp switch to not cycle compressor.

Well I am due to go in to have horns replaced, steering clunk remedied, rear end clunk/click diagnosed and remedied, horns replaced and rear speakers (again) replaced. But I still love my truck even if the quality of some components are less than desirable. I'd drive a Ford before I drove something foreign and I would never ever ever ever drive a Ford.

Wingnut · December 9, 2003

I have a question for you guys, has anyone else noticed that the A/C comes on when you hit the recirculation button without the A/C button being engaged? I noticed this the first spring after owning the truck, there are times the air is plenty cool and the truck doesn't get hot but one would like some air movement in the truck without A/C and without letting outside air in. It I hit recirc with fan on the A/C kicks in and will freeze you out, even does so during the winter unless it cold enough out for temp switch to not cycle compressor.

Well I am due to go in to have horns replaced, steering clunk remedied, rear end clunk/click diagnosed and remedied, horns replaced and rear speakers (again) replaced. But I still love my truck even if the quality of some components are less than desirable. I'd drive a Ford before I drove something foreign and I would never ever ever ever drive a Ford.

The recirc button works like the old "max A/C" button used to.

Yes, it will kick on the compressor. It's normal.

If I were you....I would replace the rear speakers with aftermarket..... You will thank me in the morning.

lrymal · December 9, 2003

Oh, just a little quick response here on the other stuff. The drivetrain clink/clank is probably normal. You gotta lot of stuff on a 4WD that has to mesh in, assuming you are getting the normal clink/clank.

The horns possibly do not need to be replaced. A quck spray with WD-40 of the connectors will usually solve the horns kicking in and out. Solved mine, anyway. My service manager sprayed mine back in Spring and they have sounded off fine ever since. He didn't even write up paper work, he just walked out to my truck as I was talking, crawled underneath and did a spray-spray, and that was THAT. He told me to give it an hour and sure enough, they worked fine.

Can't recall if you are in an extended cab or not, but if you don't want to mess around with replacing those dinky back speakers and have a bit of $$$, get an Infinity BassLink and placed it under the exented cab seat. Gives you some amazing bass and lets your factory speakers work at the mids and highs, where they do quite well.

When or if it is time in a few years to trade/sell the truck, you just unplug in the BassLink and you are back to factory specs. The BassLink isn't designed to get the THUMP, but it gives you that low end bass we don't have with the OEM set up.

dweebus · January 7, 2004

Does anyone know if the manual climate controls can be replace with the autmatic controls by simply plugging the module in? I see the auto controls selling pretty cheap on eBay...would be a nice upgrade...heck it was only a 195 list option in the first place...got everything else don't know why I didn't get this!

lrymal · January 7, 2004

One of the members of this site tried and if memory serves correctly, one of the computers wouldn't accept it and I think he had to replace a harness component. In short, I don't think he succeeded.

BlackSilver · January 7, 2004

Does anyone know if the manual climate controls can be replace with the autmatic controls by simply plugging the module in?

If the wiring exists, at a minimum you'll need to have the BCM reflashed, and need sensors installed (the left hand sensor is a little grill with a suction fan behind it located in the headliner above the drivers head).

SalvageZR2 · January 12, 2004

The other night I was driving down the highway with the heater on. My side (drivers) was set like in the middle. my wifes side (passenger) was on full hot or up position. Then my wife tries to lower her sides temp, but it was still on hot as h&ll, even after she put it all the way down, coldest setting, it was still blowing max heat. I had to close out the vents to keep the hot air from coming through. My side was good the whole time, hot when selected, cold when selected.

Was there ever a solution to this one? I was just made aware of this problem in my'03 1500HD this weekend. It doesn't bother me, but makes the front passenger somewhat uncomfortable.

PFarkas · January 12, 2004

I've noticed that sometimes when I change the temperature selector on my truck (manual, one zone) the temperature of the air doesn't change.

The first time I noticed it, I turned off the truck and turned it back on - this took care of the problem for the duration of the trip.

Since then, I have found that if I turn the blower motor off and back on that I can get the temperature of the air coming out the vents to match the setting of the knob. This is much less hassle than turning off the truck.

It hasn't been inconvenient enough for me to see if there are any TSBs regarding this. I suspect it is a software issue and could be corrected with a re-programming of the BCM.

chevy4x4trucks · January 12, 2004

Does anyone know if the manual climate controls can be replace with the autmatic controls by simply plugging the module in? I see the auto controls selling pretty cheap on eBay...would be a nice upgrade...heck it was only a 195 list option in the first place...got everything else don't know why I didn't get this!

Swapping in the new controls won't work. I believe JP Customs said that the set up is completely different so it would take a lot more work than just installing new controls.