Blowing Hot Air

4x4orbust · October 24, 2008

soon after i departed the camp in maine this afternoon, i realized that my truck is blowing a lot of hot air. mainly out of the vents where air should be coming from, and it is HOT. so i reach over to turn down the temp control, kick it into cold, and wait a minute. but the air never cools down. i played with the knob for about ten minutes, (turning from hot to cold and back with various ammounts of pressure in all and any direction) then decided the sauna was too much, turned the fan off and switched it to in cab air, rolled down the windows and drove for another 10 minutes like that.

so i figure one more shot at this. i turn the temp. knob from cold to hot then back to cold, and turn the fan on. seems cooler than before, but still hot. i try it again and magically the air cools down!!

i have had this problem once before in this truck, but it has not come back till today. does anyone know of a possible cause for the malfunction? (malfunction being no temp control) any suggestions would be great, i will be taking the dash apart tomarrow to see what i can figure out. thanks!

phil

Alljackedup408 · October 24, 2008

weird... if it starts to happen frequently.. id go and throw a different control head in it.

4x4orbust · October 25, 2008

it happened again last night. not sure what the problem is, but i know it's rather annoying. any idea on the cost of a new control head??

bossier62guy · October 25, 2008

it happened again last night. not sure what the problem is, but i know it's rather annoying. any idea on the cost of a new control head??

It's possible the hot/cold actuator is either stuck or gone out completely. Do a search....there are many threads covering troubleshooting and replacing this actuator.

KillerKnife · October 28, 2008

I had this happen to me a couple of times and then last year it finally decided to stop letting me do anything I could change the fan speed and that was it. I went to the dealer for them to tell me that it was the control unit which i told them when i got there so I had it replaced and have yet to have anymore problems. I would replace the unit yourself it is really easy just like you are replacing your radio it has if i remember right 2 or 3 plugs that come off and just plug them in the new one and reattach.

4x4orbust · October 29, 2008

thanks for the information, i have not had a problem the past few days, if it begins to happen frequently i am going to start changing parts.

if i go to the salvage yard, what year control unit and actuator will fit my 01 1500? (are they the same from 99-02, or earlier years?)

T4RBoarder · October 31, 2008

I have this same problem....except that I changed the control unit and it did nothing to help when it would blast cold air. I am also looking for a fix to this

wgabert · November 1, 2008

I've had your problem. A new actuator may fix the problem but before you spend the money do this. remove the actuator and then insert two small washers between the actuator and the heater housing. this will lower the actuator a bit on the door shaft. The door is most likely binding at the top because the actuator is pushing it up. A new act may have a bit more push/pull and work well but this may do it. It did for me (2 yrs and still good)

T4RBoarder · November 2, 2008

how would I go about removing the actuator?

slayer305 · November 10, 2008

I would like to know how to change the position on the actuator also.

4x4orbust · November 11, 2008

i'm not even sure where the actuator is, however when i find it i am going to try the washer fix first, then re-key the actuator if the washers don't work. i did a search, but gave up after page 4 of results. if anyone has a pic of the actuator, or can describe where it is located, it would be helpful. thanks

wgabert · November 15, 2008

Dont think you can change the position. why would you want to. the actuator is in the center of the truck up underneath the heater box. There are two bolts and one centering pin. A bit hard to get to but I used a 1/4 drive socket and a short ext I think. Its been awhile. You can plug the act back in after removal and turn the tmp control and watch it move If it does it should work after the washer install. the stroke should be about 90 deg. Use a bit of silicon on the washers to keep them in place on the act when installing.

Warren