Dash Vents Not Flowing Much

[massivewangers]

I have noticed a bit of a weird issue with my 197 (manual air con) - the dash vents don't seem to flow much air, even with the blower turned up to four.

The blower itself seems to be working fine and changes speed for each setting. The air con blows cold too (though might benefit from a recharge). It's just that, even with the system set to blow purely out of the vents, it just doesn't flow very much. And, if I switch the setting, none of the other outlets appear to flow a massive amount either.

One thing I have noticed is that there is some consistent air flow into the passenger footwell (on the right of the car in my case!), which suggests that something is amiss with the way the air is being directed.

Is this something anyone else has come across? It touched 39 degrees here yesterday, so I'd really like to fix it

 

[R20BTG]

The air routing is controlled by movable flaps that are altered by tensioned wire cables inside the dash that are connected to the rotary dials. There is a blue, a yellow and a white sheathed cable with a ball on each end:



It sounds as though one might be stuck in the 'blow air to footwell position' - if that's the case it might be a dashboard removal job to fix it.

Take a look at around 8:40 and 15:05 in this video which shows the removal of the HVAC console, you can see the cable attachments here. You might get lucky and find a disconnected or damaged tensioned wire cable.

 

[turkie172]

is yours climate control or manual control

 

[massivewangers]

Thanks @R20BTG that's really helpful. Will try taking the control panel out and see if there is anything obvious.

is yours climate control or manual control

Manual.

 

[turkie172]

No problem the Clio 172 had a problem with the climate control the cold to hot air flap motor would split the gear wheel it only took some superglue and a cable tie to fix. but check your pollen filter for water and obstructions which would stop air entering the system here is a picture of a bare heater box if you move the dials you might be able to check if the arms are moving to save taking the dash apart. You could take the pollen filter out and run it is see if there is a difference you kind of twist the filter as its taller than the hole there is a video

 

[massivewangers]

Thanks for the info. Cabin filter is a good shout and will definitely be worth a look thinking about it, as dust is a huge problem here. That will be my first port of call I think!

 

[massivewangers]

Well a rather stupid update to this. Had a look at the cabin filter this afternoon and it wasn't clicked into place because the retaining clip is broken. When I took it off, there wasn't even a filter element in there. This means that the air has just been escaping into the foot well. With the remains of it pushed back into place, the flow through the vents is much better.

Anyway, new filter required. Hopefully that will sort it.

Thanks for the help all!

 

[turkie172]

OK

 

[Frank Perry]

Call me daft but... if there was no filter for a long time then wouldn't your blower motor be a bit clogged up with sh*te?