Doing the crappy job myself (edited)

Heya fellas. I have a crappy job I need done on my truck, and I don't have the skills or nuts to do it myself. It may sting the ego a bit, but if I touch it everything will go to hell

I need my HVAC fixed and my alarm system removed. This, I assume, requires removing the dashboard, and electrical skills. That's one thing I don't want to do, and one thing I don't know how to do.

On the HVAC side, the knob that controls hot / cold is jammed and I think something stripped. My suspicion is that something fell inside the dash and jammed up the blend door. It's stuck on cold and the knob is very hard to turn... and me trying a little extra force just did more damage to it. So that means my both my defroster and my heater don't work, there's no way to get heat in the truck. As it sits right now, my truck is undriveable in the rain due to the foggy windows that can't be cleared. I'd also like to have my heater back, I'm a Cali boy and the cold is not my friend

As for the alarm, the original owner had a Viper alarm system professionally installed, and it's a total nuisance. I've already had to disconnect its ability to lock / unlock my doors, and I cut the wire going to the screamer. Every now and again, when I unlock the door with my key, the alarm goes nuts and you hear a bunch of clicking under the dash until the unlock button on the remote is hit a few times.

Also, there is a kill switch installed in my truck. I don't know if that's its own separate deal or if it's part of the Viper system. If it's part of the Viper system then I want it gone, but if it's standalone I want it left in place.

The reason I'm being so particular here is because my dashboard is absolutely pristine and I don't want it brutalized, I'll never find a better replacement if something were to happen to it. And electrically, other than the alarm system, I have no electrical issues, there hasn't been any Bubba wiring jobs done to it so I'd like to keep it that way.

So yeah, I'm really hoping one of you guys knows a competent shop that isn't afraid of a job like this. I'm located in Monterey County, California. Travel isn't an issue for me, I'll go as far north as Sacramento, as far south as Los Angeles, or as far east as Fresno / general area around there. I'll even go to Reno if I have to, gives me an excuse to visit a buddy

Thanks in advance you guys, I always appreciate your input ♥

 

Cant help with a shop, but Ive removed a couple of those viper alarms. Its fairly straight forward especially if you can find installation instructions, you can just remove it in the reverse that it went on. Never had to remove the dash to get them out.

 

You can access the blend door by removing the glove box; you can then pull the housing that covers the heater core, reach in and check on the blend door.
You'll see where the cable attaches to it as soon as you remove the heater core.

I see nothing that would require removing the dash.

 

I thought the blend door was further inside the dash. I've pulled the glove box before and I see where the cable attaches to, but I never took the heater cover off to look deeper. If it's seriously that easy, I'll dive in tomorrow as soon as I can. I'll be happy to look stupid if it means my heater works again

 

I find a lot of aftermarket alarms in the cars I flip and all of them are wired under the dash, but I've never had to remove more than 2 trim panels, if any. I remove all of them before I sell a car.

Viper is one of the most well known and documented alarm systems and I second the suggestion to do that one yourself.

It is pretty straightforward. You're going to find the wires that they interrupt (splice/piggy back): ignition, door locks, door open signal, etc. Find the viper module, then trace the wires and you will find what you need. Make sure you reconnect all the interruptions (splices) before you pull the module out, as if you miss one, you may not be able to start the truck haha. Installers are usually able to find every splice point they need very close to the control module.

What you most likely will find is an old and falling apart splice, which will be the cause for all of your clicking and issues.

Depending on how professional the installer was, they sometimes make it looks VERY STOCK (this BMW I just sold was tricky, the aftermarket splices was snugged inside factory looms!!)

 

Alrighty. I'm inside the dash, i have the heater box cover mostly off (its out of the way, but the clip holding the cable to it refuses to be pried off so I'm ignoring that). I see the heater core, and the arm that the cable attaches to. When I reach in and move the blend door arm, I don't see anything moving and the arm won't stay in place, it almost feels rubbery.

I'm still poking around, I don't see anything obviously wrong here but it obviously doesn't work. What should I be looking for?

Edit: reaching inside the box, i can feel a vent panel. It only moves a little bit back and forth, and as soon as i feel resistance in the arm the panel stops moving entirely. I don't feel any loose objects in there, but obviously i can't see anything in there.

Edit 2: Pics and video incoming. I clearly have no clue what I'm doing, so hopefully you guys can see something that I'm missing.

Edit #1,000,000 : I can't edit the text of the original post, but I changed the title since I'm not looking for a shop anymore, you guys are a bad influence

 

Here's a video for you guys, maybe you'll be able to see what's going on. I get the feeling that I'm going to have to remove the heater core itself to get any further, am I right?

 

Hell your elbow deep now take the heater core out and get shoulder deep

 

Um......

Good luck n hope I never need to do this my hands barely fit for gp replacement n starter replacement

 

Can you in hook the cable and see if the cable slides easy if it doesn't I'd say need to replace cable also what year is your truck

 

Sounds like your cable is stuck or the blend door is stuck/broke

 

The truck is a '92 with factory AC. I wouldn't be surprised if the cable is stretched, the temperature knob used to be easy to turn but it started getting stiffer and stiffer until the day it got to the point that gorilla-force was required. I heard a "clunk" in the dash, and the heat never worked again

While the cable might be in bad shape, it's actually still intact and it was connected before I started taking things apart. I don't think the cable was the root cause here though, it might just be a casualty. You can see in the video, with the cable disconnected and moving the actuator arm by hand, the door just moves a tiny little bit before getting stiff / rubbery. Is there a spring or something in there that's supposed to keep that door closed? Like some kind of failsafe?

I was hoping to avoid removing the heater core, working under / inside the dash is my own personal hell. I'm not seeing any other options though, unless one of you guys see something I'm missing.

 

Pull it, the only “spring” is the vacuum actuator in the engine bay

 

Have you tryed spaying the joints where the door piviots with a good thinner oil for the colder weather and see how the door piviots after that also I'd hit the cable with it too I used some 3inone oil on my ilast winter the cable was sticky And it smoothed it out I also used it on the door piviots worked great I bet wd40 would work too

 

I haven't lubed anything up yet, this is my first time being this deep in the dash. I'll definitely do that while I'm in there, it never hurts.

I'll pull the heater core and see what I can see. I might not be able to get to it tomorrow, my brother got in a fender bender so I'm playing junkyard roulette tomorrow looking for a bumper and tail light for him, but I'll get to it as soon as I have time / daylight.

Once the heater core is out, if I can't find what the actual problem is, can I just ghetto-rig the door so that the heat is always on? Then I could put a bypass valve in the heater hose to shut the heat off when I don't want it. I hate to do that, I want to fix the AC and I have enough R12 to do it, but AC is worthless if the truck can't be driven when it's raining.