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2013 Chevy Trax cabin air stuck on Vent

1K views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  GJMSKEETZ 
#1 ·
Hi everyone. I have a 2013 Chevy Trax with 90,000 KM on it. Recently ran into an issue where cabin air (warm or cold) only comes through the front vent regardless of where the switch is set - e.g. I cannot direct air to defrost or floor. The actuator knob was quite tight for some time and then it loosened up. I can still move the knob to individual settings but air still only blows through the vent. Is this a broken actuation cable and is this something that someone here has maybe fixed before and has some step by step instructions on diagnosing the problem and repairing it? I'm willing to take the dash apart.

Much appreciated!

Earle
 
#2 ·
Earle, I had this problem when I bought my 2019 Trax LT. The temperature actuator from cold to hot worked fine, the cable worked smoothly, so I knew it wasn't that one. The blend actuator from the floor to defrost was so loose, it was stuck on the floor mode. After researching on Google and YouTube I saw a video to that effect, my cable might have come loose. I preceded to take off the trim, I did not have to remove radio. There are a few bolts to remove the assembly. And to my amazement the cable was disconnected from the blend actuator pulley. The cable (it's like a double cable wrapping around a pulley) has a little spring that fits in a slot in the middle, it's a pretty tight fit. I lubed it up with some WD40 and reattached the assembly and the trim and good to go. I heard that the cable is tight and you have to move it slowly especially in winter until the car heats up, I found this to be true and it moves easily when warm.

Yes, it is bad design, but I accomplished this in 1 hour, no parts required, $ 0 cost.

Greg...
 
#3 ·
Thanks for this Greg. Good to hear that this might be an easy fix. I'll see what I can find on You Tube for videos.

As I said in my post, the knob was very tight moving between settings and then suddenly loosened up...this lead to my inability to actually move the air according to where the switch said it was supposed to go. Makes me think it is definitely a cable issue. Hopefully I get lucky and nothing is actually broken.

Cheers!

Earle
 
#4 ·
Good news, it was a case of the cable popping out of the grove on the back of the dial. I re-inserted the loops and it works again. The only thing I'm concerned with is the bit of slack in the cable when it is turned to Vent...it might pop off again at some point. You'd think these units would be sealed so the cable could not pop off. Poor design. Anyways thanks for your help on this.

Earle
 
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