Interior Air Vents

[Reatta Man]

Brenda, <P>In order to be sure, the best proceedure would be to put a hand-held vacuum pump on BOTH actuators. That is because, although only one may have failed completely, the other one is also 10+ years old and may be right behind it. If you have access to both, I'd test both. <P>They should both pump up and hold a vacuum. If they are both good, trace the vacuum lines back to the vacuum source. That will likely be a plastic reservior, a switch or a line almost directly off of the engine. If no vacuum is present, look for a cracked, collapsed or pinched vacuum line. <P>Good luck and stay warm!<P>Joe<P>------------------<BR>1965 Wildcat Custom Convertible<BR>1970 GS coupe<BR>1990 Reatta coupe<BR>1999 Regal GSE<BR>2002 Reatta II coupe (I wish!)

[bigrog]

defrost and floor air is default operation of the system with no vacuum from the engine. there is a check valve in the sour ce line from the engine. they usually crack and leak. should be located somewhere near the left hand frame rail

[Guest wally888]

The actuator that has failed is located behind the panel, drivers side, that has the light in it , that shines on your foot. Remove 4 screws, 2 wing nuts,lay on your back, break your neck in severals places and you can see 2 or 3 actuators. One has 1 line, orange,yellow,blue or red. Another has 2 lines.<BR>It is very important to determine if you have vacumn to actuator 1st(actually you can feel the black assembly swell and deflate by placing hand on it and changing settings)(good luck w/o a helper as you can't see crt and assembly at same time)2nd, as settings are changed you can see actuator arm move in and out unless there isn't enough vacumn or diaphram is ruptured.<BR> If the arm moves and door does not, bracket is broken off the door-don't even think about going there!<BR> The lines slip off, are easy to slip off but have a little locking ring that locks behind the elbow of the male end.(it is flimsy plastic-pull it off elbow 1st. )<BR> You can then feel vacumn by placing finger over end and for some actuators, while switching from a/c to def, etc, see the actuator arm move.<BR> Manual not handy at moment, if no one responds w/ correct line color, I will tomorrow.<BR> Some are fairly easy to replace, others very difficult as the actuator arm has an elbow on its end and must be placed thru a bracket on the door, then slip a small, round lock on the end.<BR> I replaced one and had to remove actuator in left footwell and tear a lot out of right footwell to see the door and attatch bracket.<BR> Use info above as needed, I looked in manual!<BR> It is ac/def actuator, blue hose.

[Guest]

HI All!<BR>I know, I know ... I'm usually one that gives advice, rather than asks for it .. but ... I'm not all too familiar with the heating/cooling systems inside the Reatta & was hoping to get a little info.<P>When either the heat or the a/c is run, I only have air coming through the defrost & floor vents. There are two (2) actuators for teh ducting system & I was windering which one would be the one in need of replacement: Lower actuatoer (part # 1996710) or upper actuator (part # 1996712), and also exactly where it's located.<P>Thanks in advance!<P>~Brenda<P>PS - Yes, she's up & running again with the new engine - maybe this cam-shaft'll last me more than 78k miles ....<P>------------------<BR> <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/gohighr/reatta.html" TARGET=_blank>http://members.aol.com/gohighr/reatta.html</A>

[bigrog]

betcha cruise doesn't work either. check vacuum supply first. it's the easiest to do, too!! no crawling on your back

[Guest wally888]

Bigrog may be right as both cruise and the a/c actuators rely on the same vacumn source.<BR>But, if you turn every thing off, radio......,leave key on, then simply switch settings on climate control from a/c to heater to vent to defrost , etc, vary the procedure, you can actually hear the doors that are working snap shut! Kinda of a plunk!<BR> If you hear nothing then you probably have a vac . problem.<BR> An interesting note: These doors require a much larger force to cause them to open and close, than you would imagine! I tried to reach an upper door through a lower door. Holding the lower open was like lifting 5 pounds!

[bigrog]

easy test-- disconnect the smaller vavuum line at the cruise servo, it's tapped into the same side of the check valve as the HVAC system, and check for vacuum (with the engine running) start in the engine bay ESPECIALLY AFTER AN ENGINE INSTALLATION Hey I'm registered!<p>[This message has been edited by bigrog (edited 11-09-2000).]

[Guest]

Thanks for the help boys! Ironically, the cruise control is currently not owrking, but its a seperate problem from the vents. Let me explain (before you start jumping up 'n' down ... see, I know how you guys are):<P>The vents quit working in the spring when I did ~60 miles of off-road driving near the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Cruise control remained working.<P>Last Friday I got the Reatta back from the dealership that put a new engine in the car. Unfortunately, they did a really sloppy job (and we're having 'discussions' about this) and the cruise is one of the things they neglected to put back to the original working condition. Oh yeah, did I mention they lost, broke & mis-installed a number of pieces (silly me didn't take it to my first choice dealer 'cause they had a longer waiting list ...).<P>Anyhow ... thanks for the help!<P>~Brenda<P>PS - BTW Wally, it's a 1990, so I don't need to be able to see a CRT - not ot mention I've never had a problem crawling under the steering column (actually feels kinda good on my back).<P>------------------<BR> <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/gohighr/reatta.html" TARGET=_blank>http://members.aol.com/gohighr/reatta.html</A>