Defrost Prob

[donna_n_mike]

I have a 95 Grand Am GT and when you turn my knob to defrost or any other setting the heat comes straight out of the vents and not out of the defrost or by the feet. It was pointed out to me that my protective plastic cover that covers the motor itself on the firewall is broken and all the heat is escaping there. My question is, "is that what is causing the defrost not to work? if so, what is that part that is broken called?"

-Donna

[rixGAphx]

Originally posted by donna_n_mike
...my protective plastic cover that covers the motor itself on the firewall is broken and all the heat is escaping there. My question is, "is that what is causing the defrost not to work? if so, what is that part that is broken called?"-Donna
Mine is broken all to hell also.

But, I have heat/vent/cool wherever I want it. :D :D



oops, sorry. :slapownface:

I just meant that the plastic cover, or lack thereof, has nothing whatesoever to do with proper ducting of the fan-forced air.
At least, not on the '96, which is virtually identical to your '95 'cept for the OBD-II computer system upgrade in '96.

Yes, a little heat does escape, since the insulation is also gone, but that heat loss is pretty insignificant.
If you ever look under the hood of, say, a 60's muscle car, you'll see there is no insulation there, just metal and a motor.
GM tried to do the right thing here in the GA, but the plastic formulation is so bad that the stuff just crumbles.
If you wanted, you could re-insulate with a can of spray-foam from the home center, the kind meant for insulating cracks in door jambs.

Anywho, all the doors and flappers and such for ducting are vac-operated.
Vac goes to the control panel thru a small tube, and the selector switch re-routes the vac to open some and close others.
I don't know where the vac originates on the GA, tho I *think* it's on the right (pass) side rear of the intake manifold.

Follow the maze of vac tubes under the dash, and see if one is leaking or disconnected.
Just a little leak will:
* Prevent the controls from working; and,
* Cause your engine to run a bit lean, maybe even set a code from time-to-time.

Hope this helps.
-Rick

[donna_n_mike]

So the hubby gets the fun job of taking my dash apart...YAY LOL Thanks tho for the input! Gives him an excuse to tear apart my car!

-Donna

[donna_n_mike]

Can we just buy a plug into your cigg. lighter defroster to save some time?

-Donna

[4kQuad]

I bought one once.....They are truley a joke. thee put out a 2 inch wide wind to blow on what you want. But when you have a 48 inch window....there a joke.

save you're money and go buy a window cleaners wipe/squege (sp) thing. They work quite well.

[Matt95GT]

I would inspect your vacuum lines for leaks before tearing into the whole dash/blower area. Mine leaked near the vacuum accumulator, which is the black "egg" behind the drivers side fog light area.

[donna_n_mike]

Well Mike tore it all to hell and could not actually get into the HVAC system so he is starting to put it all together, very disappointing...

-Donna