96 tahoe blowing hot in floor with unit off

[Ldillio]

I have a 96 tahoe 2 door 5.7 4x4 which blows warm air in the floor board with the climate control set to off. It's like a dragon blowing on my feet. I've searched multiple forums with no solution found. I've run across a hot foot fix for s10s but nothing for my tahoe. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Doubeleive]

when you start the truck try putting it on recirculation, if that doesn't work then you may have a bad actuator

 

[east302]

Do the dash and defrost settings work correctly?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Squirrelsmith]

I have noticed that my floor vents always seem to be blowing though i can controll the temperature

 

[nikinizor]

Not blowing crazy hot but warm for sure in mine....ac blows ice cold in backseat but front it is only cool due to the "mystery heat" its a 98 tahoe...I have been trying to figure this out too...

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[fastpat]

It sounds like a vacuum hose leak, I think most of the HVAC doors are vacuum actuated. We should all probably replace the vacuum hoses as a matter of course, on 20+ year old trucks.

 

[RSW1955]

It sounds like a vacuum hose leak, I think most of the HVAC doors are vacuum actuated. We should all probably replace the vacuum hoses as a matter of course, on 20+ year old trucks.

I have a 96 tahoe 2 door 5.7 4x4 which blows warm air in the floor board with the climate control set to off. It's like a dragon blowing on my feet. I've searched multiple forums with no solution found. I've run across a hot foot fix for s10s but nothing for my tahoe. Anyone have any ide

 

[RSW1955]

My guess one of your actuators has gone bad. They are not operated by cables or vacuum anymore but rather by electric
actuator. They are buried in the dash in various places depending on year and model. When I replaced them in my 04 Avalanche
the dealer quoted me an exorbitant price due to it being buried in the dash. I did it myself and saved a ton of money. If I recall a
96 is pretty easy to get to. Don't be afraid to use an aftermarket replacement, no need to spend extra for OEM. If you have access
to a Tech 2 scanner you can confirm it is bad. Look up on Youtube I'm sure somebody has posted a how too on it.

 

[Ldillio]

when you start the truck try putting it on recirculation, if that doesn't work then you may have a bad actuator

I leave recirculate on in the truck but it makes no difference if I cycle it on and off. It has all new blend doors, actuators, evaporator, heater core, blower motor, ac compressor, condenser, and ac lines installed. All modes work on the climate control, but didn't before and had to replace the unit. I had a 95 tahoe previously, and never figured out the issue. When driving with the ac on, it doesn't really cool down because the warm air is coming in. But it's ice cold when not moving.

 

[Ldillio]

It sounds like a vacuum hose leak, I think most of the HVAC doors are vacuum actuated. We should all probably replace the vacuum hoses as a matter of course, on 20+ year old trucks.

Replaced the motor when I purchased the vehicle and replaced all hoses with the engine change.

 

[Ldillio]

Not blowing crazy hot but warm for sure in mine....ac blows ice cold in backseat but front it is only cool due to the "mystery heat" its a 98 tahoe...I have been trying to figure this out too...

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

I only have front ac in the 2 door model

 

[Ldillio]

No one has any other ideas? I recently had the dash pulled to install an evaporator core, and they screwed the dash back down on the antenna wire. Not sure if that has any effect on the warm air entering the vehicle. You can't drive with the windows cracked at all or there's so much warm air entering that the ac can't cool the vehicle.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[east302]

Check the grommets at the engine-side firewall to see if they didn’t reinstall something. There should be one for the antenna and then however the heater and a/c lines are sealed as they pass through.

Can you pinpoint where the air is coming in at? Through the floor vents, the seam at the heater core...



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ldillio]

It blows in under the dash into the driver side floorboard. I'm unsure if it does also in the passenger floorboard because I can't really reach that far while driving. It's not necessarily coming from the floor vent because I can feel the cool air from the floor vent but if I move my hand towards the left a bit, it's the warm outside air coming in.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[east302]

Hmm, yeah you might need to have someone drive around while you check it out. The only thing on that side that comes to mind is the boot where the steering shaft goes through the firewall.

There’s also a big electrical connector on the firewall under the master cylinder. It comes in closer to the parking brake, but that’s another thing to look at since, depending on how they did it, that is usually disconnected if the dash is removed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ldillio]

They said they did not completely pull the dash, and that they only pulled it loose enough to get the box free. The shop however did crappy work. They stripped the threads on the accumulator and didn't inform me. Then couldn't find where freon was leaking afterwards. They also damaged the toggle switch for my light bar, lost my knob for my radio, and installed 2 of the actuators in the wrong location. Ended up having to go to a different shop to find the leak and they found the actuators were installed incorrectly because my modes had quit working right. The first shop denied it all, but all ac parts were brand new except the evaporator.

I've read on older muscle cars of some sort of valve installed to bypass the heater core during summer months to help with the heat entering the floorboards. But not really sure about it. The warm air enters with the recirculate button on or off.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[east302]

On the Tahoe/Suburban, there is a valve on the heater lines just before the firewall. A solenoid on the firewall closes this valve when the temperature dial is set to “max” to close off coolant flow to the heater core and, in theory, improve a/c performance.

There’s a plunger on the bottom of it that moves up and down to position the valve. That’s how you would know if it is working.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ldillio]

Cool I'll check that out

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[Ldillio]

Is it possible that warm air is entering around the steering column enters through the firewall? It definitely feels like that's the area the warm air is coming from. When I put my hand down there, the whole area was warm to the touch.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[east302]

Could be, I’m pretty sure the steering column goes through a rubber boot on the engine side of the firewall. It could be damaged or something.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk