Bad odor (Wire sheathing?) from vents when fan is on. We definitely have an intermittant (3 or 4 times in past year) driver side actuator problem. Cannot tell if odor is coming from all vents or not. Nothing obvious under the hood and all gages remain unchanged after 10 minutes or so driving. We think maybe it only happens when the heater is on. Any ideas? Thank you Ryan

You have actuators which direct the air in the heater/vent/AC system. My first cars used metal cables, then came along vacuum line control and most now use electric control actuators. They control things such as how much air from outside the car come inside, air flow to windshield/floor or dash, control mix of air for temperature adjustment. Your problem more than likely actuator issue. You can try google vehicle year, make, model temperature different from ac vent, when search you can change wording. If vehicle is older and used vacuum lines could have line leak, my 2000 GM van once had vacuum line laying on engine melted line and leaked. My 13 Chrysler, I have changed 2 actuators they are controlled by electric and started clicking when they went bad.

DODGE DART, CHRYSLER 200 CAR BLOWS HOT ON DRIVER SIDE COLD ON PASSENGER OR COLD ON DRIVER SIDE - YouTube

Douglass, Your A/C may have lost it's programming, blend door actuator could be faulty or A/C could be low on refrigerant. You may have to take in and have a good Tech. diagnose and estimate repair.
Check the attached links,instruction and guides, Good luck
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Dual climate controls drivers side hot passengers side cold have 2004...
hot on driver side
Drivers side vents will blow hot air while is turned on but passenger side...

so find out which vent is dead,?
before 5 gallon LYSOL flush an a week long GAG !
make sure first never to use RECRIC, when wanting to defog.
and is the A/C running in dash defrost mode (compressor main shaft spins)

if a vent is dead, its a bad damper valve, (not saying a part, a function)
the book is free, you can read it, HVAC. see venting and dampers.
its very simple in concept, a fan, a damper and dry air. hot.
the heater core makes heat the non recirc, damage gives you fresh air, the A/C makes that air dry. and the dampers the supply all vents work work.
so make sure the controls are set right,
then see if the upper vents all blow, with hand waved on them.
see? that is easy, and not reporting a dead vent ,makes help harder.
the FSM is on line, ill look for you.
but first HVAC 101

1. does blower work on high?
2. does the recirc turn to fresh are,and you get fresh air with blower off moving, at all top vents. y/n
3. do you have full heat? 180F + engine heat (scan tool shows this as ECT)
4. do all vents top work , blower on?
5. is the A/C compressor working in A/c mode (cold) and Defrost?
6. more... below.

Rule one, dont work in dash until air bags are DEFEATED (injury) (pull battery neg lug, and wait 1hour)

got fsm page open, ill state some facts needed to fix this.

first ill prove the dash system does not need total dismantle
for all jobs. Does NOT.
Air /mix blend door
Single Zone/Dual Zone Driver's Side(FSM)

1. Disconnect and isolate the negative battery cable.
2. Remove the instrument panel silencer from the driver side of the instrument panel.
3. Remove the three screws that secure the blend door actuator to the driver side of the HVAC air distribution housing .
4. Remove the blend door actuator from the air distribution housing and disconnect the HVAC wire harness connector from the actuator.
5. Remove the blend door actuator from the vehicle.

next page, is blend door 2, type.
has vacuum servos.
we move the controls and make sure all servo vacuum motors
work

this car has driver side and passenger side seperate blend doors.
so,,, we are getting close here>
?
if the defroster fails,(seems not) then that is electric motor drive
and very hard to test . (if not door jam)

in any case, we need to know what part is failing,
if the passenger blend is dead.
seen below,
we then must find out why
1: just stuck.
2: servo actuator failure
3: controls to #2 above bad, or connections to each.



login to alldata.com see HVAC chapter, read how it works and the tests.

never post a car with no year, they make changes every year.
1990 to 2002 , ? and is a Toy Corolla in Snake skins(geo)
geo was 90-97/ only. 1.6L or 1.8L?
like heater water valves, or heater damper only heat controls.
ok.
so the fan runs at full speed?
the engine gets to 180F and holds?
ok not knowing year, ever see the 2 hose from engine side, to
cab side heater core. the that pass thru? well that is the cab core.
and you get engine hot and touch both hoses. are they both hot
yes, good, if not we work that.
this take like 1 min to do , after engine is hot and works on all cars.
1996 major changes. so?

here is a no year, answer on the controls
when you move each lever, it move a cable (does it) and if does
does the end of each cable move an object.
1: a water valve.
2: a blend door.

the cable has 2 end, either end can fail.
the cable has sheath, just like a bicycle and works the same way.
the sheath is has clamps if broke the cable is rendered useless.
use tie warp to clamp this floating sheath to any near object.
done many.
on old cars, i back flush all coolant paths and test the water valve if found. then when all together I have full flow through the heater core.
one guy had mouse nest in core, blocking it.
the system is real simple
hot water must flow thru the heater core. at 180F or more.
and air must flow through the out side of this core and past
all the way through it, and arrive at the vents
if the core is hot, then the flow is bad.
bad damper ,mouse nets. or some pack with leaves.
you now have all you need to fix it.

read this, they mostly bounce off walls but find it.
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/134-6th-generation-1988-1992/373126-no-heat-1991-corolla-2.html

yes you need to check 3 things
the actuator for that should be above the throttle peddle
not real hard to get to
should be 3 small bolts and a wire clip with 3
if you have a multi meter and a wire diagram you can check to see if it is the dash control or if it is in the actuator
you need to find out if you have positive negative and the control
you turn the dash control you put more power to the control wire.
the dash control does tend to go bad on the 96 to 99 a lot
they are not cheap and if u get on from a junk yard you will probably find something else doesnt work on that. like heat control. and they changed them a lot over a few years so u would also need to make sure its the same.
so check to see if it is the wire, the dash, control , or the actuator.
the actuator is the best place to start since you can rule it out easy if you dont have power ground or different voltage depending on where the control is set.
hope this helps
good luck

The vent actuator my need to be reset, this can be done by removing the HVAC fuse from the fuse panel for 5 min or disconnecting the battery. If the vent actuator does not correct it self, then it's most like going to have to be replace due to internal parts have broke in the actuator.
Thank you for using fixya and it's common for the vent actuators to go bad after a few years, the internal parts are made of plastic and get brittle after time.

The vent actuator door may have gone bad and needs to be replaced. The common problem is not the motor but the actuator gears crack and break, but try to reset the actuator buy disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it first, but make sure the radio is turned off before you do that. If the actuator lost it's position, this procedure will reset the actuator's position if it's lost and don't know where to turn the vent doors.

This is how to replace drivers side or the passenger side actuator. Passenger side difference is noted at end of this letter. My 2000-2005 Chevy Impala driver side climate control was stuck on cold, no matter where I switched it to. The light on the panel was also out. Resetting by disconnecting the battery did not work. I had to buy and replace the drivers side actuator (Part Number 15844096 - $38.46 at Chevy dealer). The passenger side actuator is also the exact same part number. They are both located under the dash, about equal height as the climate control knobs. Make sure you disconnect the positive cable on the battery before removing the switch. Drivers side actuator is accessed by removing the bottom dash cover on the drivers side. Two easy clips to disconnect the dash cover, remove the floor courtesy light by twisting, and the cover comes right out. The drivers side actuator is harder to work on than the passenger side, due to room. But I replaced my actuator with only having to take off the bottom dash cover. There are two screws holding the actuator on. I used a 1/4 hand driver with a 3" extension, a 1/4 universal joint for the 1/4 socket (and the universal is needed), and a 7/32" socket. These were the only tools I needed. After unscrewing the two screws, I pulled the actuator off of a small arm it is connected to which switches the flap for the climate control system between hot or cold. I then was able to let it hang down, and disconnected the wire running to the actuator. Room was an issue, and I did some of this by feel. Now comes the tricky part. The new actuator has to slide back on the small arm, but it is flat on two sides, with rounded ends. The new actuator has to match the flat ends to the same position as the old actuator. I hooked the wire onto the new actuator, and let it hang down. I held the old actuator up by it, and had my wife hold the battery connector to the battery to get power. The new actuator will rotate when the connection is made, and stopped rotating when I had my wife pull the connector from the battery. It took a couple tries, but I finally got it to stop at the same position as the old actuator. I then lined up the new switch, and got it on the control arm. This took a few minutes and tries, as I had to do it by feel. I then put the two screws back in and tightened them down. Again, tricky due to room. Once done, I put the cover back on, reconnected battery, and warmed up the car. Was very happy to find that I now had heat on the drivers side, as Canadian weather is cold this time of year.
The whole job took me about an 1 1/2 hour to do.
Also, note if you have to replace the passenger side actuator, you need to remove the passenger side bottom cover on the dash. You then remove the glove compartment door by removing the five screws on the bottom of the door. Slide the whole glove compartment door out of the car. You will be happy to know you have much more room to replace the passenger side actuator, so it should be much easier and quicker than the drivers side.

Good luck and you may want to inspect the passenger side actuator also.

You could have a bad wire harness to the electric actuator motor to the transfer case, or you could have a bad electric actuator which is causing your fuse to blow. The wire harness is on the drivers side by the transfer case, disconnect the harness from the electric actuator motor and push the button and see if the fuse blows. If the fuse does not blow, then it's going to be a bad electronic actuator and you can pick one up at the Salvage yard from the years between 1995 to 2001. Dealer Number 15636696 And 8-15636-696-0 / Rectangular 7 Pin Plug Connector / Also Called Encoder Motor Good luck and hope this helps.

there is a blend door actuator for the laredo and if is bad the air wont come out here is a pic of what it looks like and how to get to it


The single zone heater-A/C system is equipped with a single blend door actuator. The dual zone system has two blend door actuators, one for the driver side blend-air door and one for the passenger side blend-air door.

1. Disconnect and isolate the negative battery cable.
   
2. Remove the glove box from the instrument panel.
3. Remove the three screws that secure the blend door actuator to the passenger side of the HVAC air distribution housing .
4. Remove the blend door actuator from the air distribution housing and disconnect the HVAC wire harness connector from the actuator.
5. Remove the blend door actuator from the vehicle

to instal

1. Position the blend door actuator into the vehicle.
2. Install the blend door actuator onto the passenger side of the HVAC air distribution housing . If necessary, rotate the actuator slightly to align the splines on the actuator output shaft with those on the blend door cam .
3. Install the screws that secure the blend door actuator to the passenger side of the air distribution housing . Tighten the screws to 17 inch lbs. (2 Nm).
4. Connect the HVAC wire harness connector to the blend door actuator.
5. Install the glove box into the instrument panel.
6. Reconnect the negative battery cable.

i was a GM mechanic for many years, the problem you are having is one of your mode door actuators has gone bad, most of the time it is the actuator on the drivers side that causes the problems, i have seen this many times, sometimes you can take it to the dealer and they can hook the computer up to it and recalibrate it but most times it has to be replaced , it is located under the dash in the area above your gas pedal.