Another blower issue..

[Zcubed]

Astra J 2010 1.4T Elite climate air direction selection-mind of its own problem!

Hi everyone,
I have a 2010 Astra J 1.4T elite with dual zone climate control.
In AUTO mode, everything seems to work correctly, controls temp and directs air to windscreen vents, middle vents and footwell vents.
However if you manually select the air direction (the manual says all combinations are possible) by using the selector buttons, the individual buttons light up, the display shows that they have been selected but the actual air flow direction does not go where selected and is pot luck where it comes out, irrespective of your chosen route(s).In fact it is not even repeatable but the combinations seem to change every time you reselect the air direction.
This has become an issue, due to my wife's eye condition, where she mustn't let air blow on it, so generally she wants to turn the air off to the windscreen, but with the manual air direction not working this isn't easy.
Also if you put the ignition on, fan off and select the buttons and listen carefully to the actuators, the windscreen & footwell sound slick but the central vent makes a odd sort of sound-don't know if this is normal or not?
Have been reading up on some previous posts and was wondering if it could be the control module or stepper motor at fault?

Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks

[Rusty2009]

Have you tried pulling the neg for 30mins to let all systems shut down?

This may clear the problem.

[Zcubed]

Have you tried pulling the neg for 30mins to let all systems shut down?

This may clear the problem.

Thanks for the advice Rusty, no I haven't tried that but I will now! It's almost as though the movement is out of sync somehow?

[Zcubed]

Have you tried pulling the neg for 30mins to let all systems shut down?

This may clear the problem.

I have just tried pulling the neg as you suggested but sadly no cigar

If I purchased a cheap op-com interface do you know if I could pulse the direction motor etc?

Thanks for your help

[Rusty2009]

I can't answer with op-com as its very limited on the J, it may be able to help you I'm sure @lewis6317 had a issue with his.

[tucpal]

so are you saying with the vents in the forward position only
that they don't blow air out at you at all even on full

remove the glove box and you will see the motor and arms on the Hvac to the right hind side
operate the controls on the blower and see what arms and cogs moves and what does not move

[Zcubed]

so are you saying with the vents in the forward position only
that they don't blow air out at you at all even on full  

remove the glove box and you will see the motor and arms on the Hvac to the right hind side
operate the controls on the blower and see what arms and cogs moves and what does not move

Hi,
No it's more complicated than that. Each time you press one (or more) of the manual air direction buttons, you can hear something moving (presumably the air direction motor?) and when it stops the blower blows air out of the vents but not necessarily the one(s) you've selected. For example, you select feet only, but the blower blows air out of say middle and feet. You then select screen but now it blows out of the middle and screen. It never seems to be what you have asked for and is not always the same!
Hope that makes some sense!
Thanks for your help

[tucpal]

yes sounds like the gears on the Hvac are faulty or have become jammed
you need to remove the glove box and and see how they move

[Zcubed]

yes sounds like the gears on the Hvac are faulty or have become jammed
you need to remove the glove box and and see how they move

Thank you for the advice, that sounds like a distinct possibility.
I shall take out the glove box and take a look tomorrow.

[Zcubed]

yes sounds like the gears on the Hvac are faulty or have become jammed
you need to remove the glove box and and see how they move

Took the glove box out and run through the 3 three air vent position buttons.
As you said could now see the workings.
Sometimes the mechanism seemed to move freely and on other times it seems to jam and gears would chatter, and probably didn't complete its travel, which would explain why sometimes vents don't close fully.
Bit hard to see which bit is at fault, looks like a bit of a pig to get at it.

[Zcubed]

I discovered that you can move the white plastic drive wheel by hand and as such direct the air to different places- I'm assuming that points to a faulty motor?
One fixing screw is easy but the other's not much fun!

[tucpal]

It sure is a big job if it is the Hvac and it need replacing
your best bet is to take it to the dealers now and see if they can fix it
is your car under warranty at all

[Zcubed]

It sure is a big job if it is the Hvac and it need replacing
your best bet is to take it to the dealers now and see if they can fix it
is your car under warranty at all

A long story but in theory no longer under warranty.
I think the motor is replaceable if you can get a right angled Torx or whatever it is to the bolt

[tucpal]

hope so mate try and find the part
if you ask rusty nicely he may be able to find info and part number for the hvac

[Zcubed]

hope so mate try and find the part
if you ask rusty nicely he may be able to find info and part number for the hvac

Thanks for your help, will try my luck!

[Lewis6317]

Yeah I had this issue with my old astra j 1.3 ecoflex. was due to someone at trax loosing a screw down the centre blower vent for windscreen. this caused the blower directer which is in the centre of the dash, behind the dash. If you noticed some strange notice before you had this issue like bit of plastic breaking. Then this could be your problem, as the broken pieces caused the gears for the directer to jam.

[Zcubed]

Yeah I had this issue with my old astra j 1.3 ecoflex. was due to someone at trax loosing a screw down the centre blower vent for windscreen. this caused the blower directer which is in the centre of the dash, behind the dash. If you noticed some strange notice before you had this issue like bit of plastic breaking. Then this could be your problem, as the broken pieces caused the gears for the directer to jam.

I think this is a different problem.
If I rotate the control wheel by hand everything seems to work, so I'm thinking it's the motor at fault.
It's held on by 2 screws, one of which is easy to remove the other's a sod!
just ordered an offset small ratchet with a T20 bit hoping that will work, tried everything else!
Thanks for your help

[Zcubed]

Just for information.
Couldn't get to last bolt, so decided to have a fight with the warranty company (long story, will explain if someone is interested) who said my warranty had expired but I didn't agree. Anyway top and bottom of it all is that they have fitted a complete new heater box etc free of charge and this now seems to have cured the problem, fingers crossed it stays that way!

[tucpal]

glad you got it sorted out

[Zcubed]

glad you got it sorted out

Cheers

[zakarisz]

Just for information.
Couldn't get to last bolt, so decided to have a fight with the warranty company (long story, will explain if someone is interested) who said my warranty had expired but I didn't agree. Anyway top and bottom of it all is that they have fitted a complete new heater box etc free of charge and this now seems to have cured the problem, fingers crossed it stays that way!

Hi,

I've just found your post and created a membership to thank you for giving information and keeping the post up to date. 

Sadly my new Astra K has exact same problem. Service couldn't understand the problem and tried that neg for a while but it didn't solve the problem and it occurred again.

I'll inform service about your solution and hopefully they can fix it with ease. But still, having this problem with brand new car makes me sad :/

[Rusty2009]

I did have an issue where my blowers wouldn't put heat out out in the direction I chose on the heater panel.

I did a reprogram of software & a setup & config via SPS and it's been fine ever since.

[zakarisz]

I did have an issue where my blowers wouldn't put heat out out in the direction I chose on the heater panel.

I did a reprogram of software & a setup & config via SPS and it's been fine ever since.

Service tried reprogramming the car this monday but it didn't solve the issue. 
They've changed the tiny direction engine but they realized that the problem is bigger than expected. They're going to change complete hvac system.
I'm very disappointed since i'm faced such an issue after buying a brand new car.

[GAGGLE]

Have you tried pulling the neg for 30mins to let all systems shut down?

This may clear the problem.

Thanks for the advice Rusty, no I haven't tried that but I will now! It's almost as though the movement is out of sync somehow?

[GAGGLE]

Have you tried pulling the neg for 30mins to let all systems shut down?

This may clear the problem.

I have just tried pulling the neg as you suggested but sadly no cigar

If I purchased a cheap op-com interface do you know if I could pulse the direction motor etc?

Thanks for your help

Can you tell me , did pulling negative mean other things such as radio had to then be reset with code etc once reconnected as previous owner has lost or just misplaced codes and manual , in fact anything i might find useful with my problem which is no heat at all when blowers on high setting for heat .
thanks

[Rusty2009]

Everything is VIN locked on the Astra so you don't need a code after changing the battery etc.

Only time you need the security code is for when programming certain security modules.