Something I've noticed on my 1995 Tahoe regarding the A/C. When the fan is on with no A/C, the air will direct through the dash vents if the mode is selected as such. However, when the A/C is on, the air will direct through the floor vents and the dash vents, even with the mode in the dash-only (face) position. Is this normal or is there an issue? I don't remember it working this way on the 99 Tahoes I owned.
Normal A/C operation?
- Thread starter derekjl
- Start date
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east302
Full Access Member
There is a damper at the floor ducts that rotates depending on the vent selection (floor, panel, defrost). As the seal wears, some air will leak by into the floor duct. This shot is looking up from the floor with the floor outlet housing removed in my 98. I’d guess that it’s the same for a 95. The seal is torn in mine, but I doubt that it was ever intended to be 100% airtight to begin with.
To access, remove the screw on the floor vent and wiggle it loose. It has two clips in the back.
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Last edited:
There is a damper at the floor ducts that rotates depending on the vent selection (floor, panel, defrost). As the seal wears, some air will leak by into the floor duct. This shot is looking up from the floor with the floor outlet housing removed in my 98. I’d guess that it’s the same for a 95. The seal is torn in mine, but I doubt that it was ever intended to be 100% airtight to begin with.
To access, remove the screw on the floor vent and wiggle it loose. It has two clips in the back.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks for the input. Just to reiterate, the issue only happens when the actual A/C is ON. It doesn't occur when the blower alone is running. So, I find it kind of odd. When the A/C is on, the air direction feels 50/50 face/floor, but when I turn the A/C button off, it is 100% out of the face vents, if that mode is selected of course.
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east302
Full Access Member
Yeah that doesn’t make much sense. It shouldn’t matter if the compressor is engaged or not, so I wonder if there’s something going on in the head unit that is making the actuator adjust when the a/c button is pressed.
To test, watch the silver dial on the mode actuator by the gas pedal and press the a/c button. If it begins to rotate and the linkages adjust, then I’d say it’s something in the control panel.
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To test, watch the silver dial on the mode actuator by the gas pedal and press the a/c button. If it begins to rotate and the linkages adjust, then I’d say it’s something in the control panel.
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Yeah that doesn’t make much sense. It shouldn’t matter if the compressor is engaged or not, so I wonder if there’s something going on in the head unit that is making the actuator adjust when the a/c button is pressed.
To test, watch the silver dial on the mode actuator by the gas pedal and press the a/c button. If it begins to rotate and the linkages adjust, then I’d say it’s something in the control panel.
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What a coincidence...I believe my control panel went bad last night. The A/C would not turn on last week, but after a few minutes of messing with the knobs it finally did. I was going to the store last night and everything worked great, got in to go home and no A/C, no button light, and air only going to the floor vents. Does this sound like a control panel gone bad? I tried getting the air to direct to the other vents but turning the button did nothing. The temperature knob still works. Looks like this is pretty common and I'm pretty sure the original one is in there, so it is 25 years old. I might just order the OEM one from Amazon and give it a try.
east302
Full Access Member
Starting to sound like a bad panel. A quick check could rule it out by testing the mode actuator by the gas pedal.
This for a 98, but it may be close enough to a 95 to help, particularly when looking for the signal from the control panel to the white wire at the actuator connector. I believe 95 may have used a different connector at the panel.
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This for a 98, but it may be close enough to a 95 to help, particularly when looking for the signal from the control panel to the white wire at the actuator connector. I believe 95 may have used a different connector at the panel.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Starting to sound like a bad panel. A quick check could rule it out by testing the mode actuator by the gas pedal.
This for a 98, but it may be close enough to a 95 to help, particularly when looking for the signal from the control panel to the white wire at the actuator connector. I believe 95 may have used a different connector at the panel.
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Thanks again for the detailed info. I actually went ahead and ordered the part yesterday. I'm planning on putting it in this week, will report back. All symptoms point to a bad control unit.
Update: turns out that the control unit was in fact the issue. Put the new one in, everything back to normal, including the air direction, etc. Only hard part was getting those damn electrical connectors off the hardnesses. One clip and its mounting point did break off of the dash bezel when putting it back on, kind of a bummer. Other than that I'm glad everything works again!
east302
Full Access Member
Sounds good, thanks for the update.
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