I dunno how many people reading this thread have posted to my last thread about air only coming out of my top/bottom vents, no matter which setting the switch was on, but I had replaced that.

Now, I found the problem, somewhat. the vacuum "link" under the hood was shattered in pieces, broken off in all 3 vacuum hoses.

The piece I'm talking about that shattered looked like a "T" and one hose would plug into each "point." This has fixed my problem, HOWEVER, another problem has arisen, and I can't seem to get it straightened out. Now, I've got all the settings set backwards.....meaning that "Max" is my defroster, and my defroster is "Max a/c."

I've tried re-routing the vacuum hoses on the "T" under the hood, and I've also ripped the dash apart and tried connecting the "air-direction switch" I just installed upside down, and also tried re-routing the vacuum hoses that plug into the back of the "air direction switch" in different combos.

I'm stumped! What am I overlooking? What am I doing wrong?

And aside from that, I cracked the top of my dashboard trying to pop it out of its clips!

Does anyone have any ideas? Do I need to switch the vacuum lines under the hood around? There's 3 vacuum lines, and 2 of them have very small holes in them, and one has a larger hole. It's obvious that the one with the larger hole is correct, but I've also tried "trading spaces" with the smaller diameter holes.

I've probably worked on this stupid problem for about 4 hours between last night and this morning (up until 2am). Someone please help!

 

Dan,

I had that same problem. The T-valve is called the Vacuum Check Valve, or VCV. Shoebox's website has a nice diagram of the valve and the routing of hoses. Here's the link, this might help you:

Vacuum Check Valve

Cheers!

 

Bryan, thanks for the link. Unfortunately, I've already replaced the VCV, and the switch that controls the vents inside the car. I've even replaced the piece behind the switch. There are 2 pieces that mate together- the switch, then the piece that actually "turns," relocating the airflow.

I've checked to make sure that I had all of the lines hooked up in the correct order (only one order that they really fit!), and they are all correct. I am also positive I have everything facing the correct directions.

I have also replaced the VCV, and have actually notated Shoebox's photo that you provided. Everything looks ok! I don't know where I'm doing something wrong.

On the VCV, there are 3 hoses. One has a fatter hole than the other, and obviously, the VCV has one part that is fatter than the other 2, making it obvious that AT LEAST this connection is correct. I've repeatedly tried switching the other 2 connections back and forth as well, and I'm still experiencing the same problem.

I don't see where I'm going wrong. I've gotten to the point that I'm just gonna say "f*ck this sh*t" and let someone else deal with this motherf*cker. I'm just gonna slap the f*cker back together and go pay some assh*le $200 to fix the thing. I'm fed up with the motherf*cker. F*ck it. I'll just let someone else deal with it.

 

Dan,

In further thought, I suppose if the problem lied with the VCV, the selector switch wouldn't be making a difference at all. So when you use the selector switch, the 'defroster' setting is actually 'max A/C', and the 'max A/C' setting is actually defroster? Phew! I can contact my brother, he's a GM master powertrain mechanic guy or whatever, and he knows our cars pretty well. Let me talk to him and ask him what his thoughts are and I'll get back to you, unless someone beats me to the punch.

 

This may sound silly, but what it you flipped the VCV over?? Since it's a check valve, could it not possibly have a "one way" operation so to say. Meaning, that if you flip it over, the air might be getting directed in the right way, and making the switch act normally again?

 

UPDATE: The problem has been resolved! I TRIED to fix it one more time, and came out lucky.

What happened was when I re-did all of the connections, the actuator was actually set "2 steps ahead" of where it was supposed to be, therefore causing the air to come out of the wrong places.

Dumb mistake on my part. I should have definitely caught that one sooner!