Heater blows hot air from drivers side and cold air from passenger side of car on my 2012 Dodge Avenger. I’ve read that this could be an blend door actuator that needs to be replaced? Spoke with dealer and they thought it could be the heater core. How can the heater core be defective if it blows hot air out of the drivers side? The blend door makes more sense to me. What do you think? Can I replace this myself without having to remove the dashboard? Please advise. My car has 100000 miles. My car has an automatic transmission.
Heater blows hot air from drivers side only
You are correct in your thinking because there is only one heater core. So if one side is hot, then the heater core is fine. And the most common reason for the heater only blowing hot air from one side is a faulty actuator. Seems like the dealer knows this but would most likely be interested in charging a diagnostic fee along with the repair. Therefore if you are mechanically inclined I do not see any reason you couldn’t replace the actuator yourself. In conclusion, I’ll provide the auto repair manual procedure below.
Blend Door Description
The blend door actuator (1) for the heating-A/C system is a reversible, 12-volt Direct Current (DC) servo motor, which is mechanically connected to the blend-air door. Drivers side blend door actuator is located on the left side of the HVAC air distribution housing.
Consequently the blend door actuator is interchangeable with the actuator for the mode-air doors and the recirculation-air door. In addition each actuator is contained within an identical black molded plastic housing with an integral wire connector receptacle (2). Hence each actuator also has an identical output shaft (3) with splines that connect it to its respective door linkage and integral mounting tabs (4) that allow the actuator to be secured to the HVAC housing. Furthermore the blend door actuator does not require mechanical indexing to the blend-air door, as it is electronically calibrated by the A/C-heater control.
Blend Door Actuator Replacement
Removal
WARNING:
First of all, disable the airbag system before attempting any steering wheel, steering column or instrument panel component diagnosis or service. Disconnect and isolate the negative battery (ground) cable, then wait two minutes for the airbag system capacitor to discharge before performing further diagnosis or service. Most of all, this is the only sure way to disable the airbag system. Finally, failure to follow these instructions may result in accidental airbag deployment and possible serious or fatal injury.
NOTE:
LHD model shown. RHD model similar.
- Disconnect and isolate the negative battery cable.
- On RHD models, remove the glove box bin.
- Disconnect the wire harness connector (1) from the blend door actuator (2) located on the left side of the HVAC air distribution housing (3).
- Remove the two screws (4) that secure the blend door actuator to the air distribution housing and remove the actuator.
Installation
- Position the blend door actuator (2) onto the left side of the HVAC air distribution housing (3). If necessary, rotate the actuator slightly to align the splines on the actuator output shaft with those in the blend air door linkage.
- Install the two screws (4) that secure the blend door actuator to the air distribution housing. Tighten the screws to 2 N·m (17 in. lbs.).
- Connect the wire harness connector (1) to the blend door actuator.
- On RHD models, install the glove box bin.
- Reconnect the negative battery cable.
- If required, Initiate the Actuator Calibration function using a scan tool.