How to fix air controls in car? (87' Firebird Formula 350)

[brandokid25]

Hello guys and gals,

 

Something strange is acting up with my airflow controls (among other air control issues). When I turn my air on, and I put the knob to either lo or hi, it shuts off my air completely, if I set the knob in between those two settings, it works fine. Why are the lo and hi settings not working correctly?

 

Another issue I am having is air conditioning. I have no idea if I even have A/C. (Sorry for inexperienced mechanical knowledge, probably one of the youngest Firebird owners on here and I'm aspiring to restore this by myself.)

 

I really would like some help, sometimes I might need a more detailed explanation. Thank you so much for the help and I appreciate any at all. If you need pictures or videos of the issues please let me know. The weather's nice today so I can easily do it.

[JUSTA6]

As Frosty has your body style, he would be able to help you in detail.  Does it have an AC setting on the dash?  Under your hood, left side of engine, back on the firewall. If you have aluminum lines and canister you have AC.  Now look for your compressor.  Can't miss, it's about a FOOT LONG and will have a pulley on your belt system on the front of the motor. Pic's are always a good thing when asking questions.  If the system is still complete, you probably need to recharge the AC. Your blower motor switch is electrical. If it works between settings...HI/LOW then your contacts are going bad in the switch. You will have to replace (when your tired of 1 setting)

[brandokid25]

Alright, here's what I have for an image of the left side of the engine, also I took a video of the airflow controls, I was also curious of the sound the fans or whatever is making, you can hear it on the video as soon as I turn the air on, I guess the low setting works, the high setting doesn't. Is there anyway to replace/fix the contact? (Since I have this engine pic up, can anyone tell me what the temperature sensor looks like too? My radiator fan doesn't spin at all at any engine temp. No idea what the fuse name is either or how to fix/diagnose the fan wiring. That's the reason why I have no engine coolant in the jar, my engine overheated once and all the coolant drained out after boiling for 20 minutes.) 

 

 

 

Embeding video:

 

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBeSeaIfw9c

Edited July 31, 2015 by brandokid25
Embed Video

[JUSTA6]

Ok, you do not have A/C.  The round motor on the far left next to the hood hinge is your fan motor for the interior.  Most of the time if your motor is going bad it starts squeelin.  Didn't hear that in your vid.  So I would be lookin at replacing the switch, sometime down the road.  1st problem would be getting your engine fan working.  Hope you didn't do any damage to your engine when it overheated.  Start by following your wiring back from the radiator to the temp sensor on the intake in the front of engine.

[brandokid25]

Ok, thanks, got the hood open now and I've been taking a look at things, I will ask any questions if the need arises, currently looking at the engine fan now. As far as damage goes nothing is wrong with the engine itself, been running the same for months now, It was only past the 260 mark for a few seconds and the car was idling. 

[brandokid25]

Tracing the wires from the radiator fan, It T-junctions off into two sections:

 

(Pic 1) Here is where the wiring starts. 

 

(Pic 2) One end of the wire hose goes to this thing, I assume it's a relay or something of sorts.

 

(Pic 3) The other end goes off into some part of the engine I can't see past.

 

I have no idea where to find the temp sensor from here or what it looks like for that matter. 

[brandokid25]

UPDATE: I just think I've found the sensor on the car, just found an engine diagram on Google, will post picture of my discovery of the sensor in a moment so people can confirm it is the sensor.

[brandokid25]

I think that's it with that blue cap. 

[brandokid25]

Another Update: Tested fan, works, fixed up the connection to the temperature switch and such, everything should be good now, only thing I need to figure out is why my air vents don't blow air through. When I turn my air on, it goes to the windshield vents on the dash, but I get no air on the other vents for some reason. Any reason why this is happening?

[JUSTA6]

You did replace the broken temp sensor shown?  Last thing you want is to be on the road and have it quit and the car overheat.  More than likely you have vacume controls that move air from defrost to vent to floor. It might have cables.  You will have to trace back from the dash switch/control to your heater core under the dash.

[brandokid25]

I didn't replace the broken temp sensor, the connecting cable that goes into the sensor was a bit ruined but it's been fixed. I've also had the fortune of going to an auto salvage yard about thirty minutes away and found a couple of third gen Firebirds to pick through. Finally replaced my cracked, junk dash speaker grilles, replaced missing screws on the dash, got a new radio/Air control plate, and seatbelt guide for the passenger side. Sadly, no rear spoilers, T-Top bags, or cup holders could be found As far as overheating goes, the car usually stays pretty cool, even in the summer. But I get what you mean, I haven't had the car heat up so I haven't been able to test to see if everything is working.

[Frosty]

Sorry for being late to this thread guys. I've been extremely busy getting the boy ready to play 16u baseball for Team USA this weekend in Canada, so I have not had time to be online as much. I agree with all the advice JUSTA6 has given you.

 

Let's talk about why you are not getting any air out of your air vents. Do you get any air when you set it to Max, Normal, Vent, Heater, or Bi-Level? If you are not getting anything at all, then I suspect the issue is the flabber door cable is disconnected. The slide bar you move is connected to a cable that opens/adjusts a directional door that directs the air to either the windshield (defroster), air vents, or to the driver/passenger feet. I suspect that this cable is disconnected from the door and it is stuck point towards defrost. The door is located under the dash on the passenger side. You will have to remove the A/C ducts to get to it.

 

Your car has a T-connection to the engine fan for a reason. One is tied to the engine temp sensor, so the computer will turn the fan on when it reaches its operating temperature. The other is when A/C comes on. A/C adds heat to the engine and therefore when A/C is switched on, the fan comes on to allow it to cool the engine. Some Firebirds had dual fans.

 

After reading this thread, are you stil having a problem with the interior fan when you turn it on, does it still shut off on the first and last setting like it does in your video? Or is it fixed?

[brandokid25]

My radiator fan in the engine should be fine now. I recently ventured to a scrap yard and fixed a few interior cosmetics I was asking about on her a year ago i think. As far as my air controls go, everything except the high setting works, when I turn the fan on High the fan just shuts off. I do get air when I set the controls on Max, Normal, etc, the only concern is the vents, the dash vent to the windshield works fine, but I feel hardly anything in the other vents on the dash on the driver side or passenger side. I will have to find some repair manuals or diagrams/schematics to start troubleshooting everything you mentioned Frosty.

 

Also, thank you for taking the time to help out, I appreciate everything