Long Story Short:
This past winter, something went wrong in my '95 SSE and starting in late November I couldnt get any heat out of it anymore. I set my digital climate control unit to 90, and it would just blink and give me nice cold air. I called some friends at my local Pontiac Dealer, and they told me that if the display on the climate control unit is blinking, then that means it has found a problem and stored a code. I swung by after hours one night when the guys were still there, and they came out with their Tech II and scanned it. I had already recntly replaced the $600 HVAC Controller, thermostat, etc.. none of which didnt fix it so I knew it wasnt those. Next I swung by the dealer one night when my friends were still working, and they put a GM Tech II on it, and it read that the Drivers side air mix door wasnt fully opening/closing or working properly. The next day I got a quote from the service manager, and he told me I'm looking at a 14 hour job, and roughly a $1200-1400 labor bill (+8% tax). Anyways, since I know the dealership and some of the guys pretty well, they told me what was really involved. Basically the entire dashboard needed to be removed in order to get to the air distribution box. I do ALOT of work on my own vehicles, and I do have the $130 facotry service manuals for my car. Needless to say this past weekend I actually started the project. I removed the front seats to give myself some more room. Next I removed the Center Console, and then the transmission bracketry. Next was all of the IP trim, radio, wiring harnesses in back, and then the entire dashboard unit. After that I removed the back seats and rear deck as well, so that I can upgrade my 6x9'* and also finally tint my back window.

Anyways, its still a work in progress, but I plan on doing a write up on the whole project and submitting it to the club, along with doing write-ups on a few of my other various different mods I've done. I've taken a ton of pictures in case some of you want to see what your cars look like completely empty, and I'll have them posted on my website at Http://bonneville.flconveyors.com hopfully by the end of the day.

To be honest, it looks alot worse than it really is. Its just nuts and bolts, but alot of people think I'm nuts. I'm sure some of you probably will too, but hey, if you ever need to tear your own dash out you now know who to ask for advice

Later!

I looked at your site for the first time the other day and i am very impressed with your car. I really like some of the mods u ahve done and cant wait for a write up of them.
mainly i wanna see how u did the tail lights and the painted dash pieces. I was thining of getting some dark red and painting the grey plastic pieces like the window switch n stuff. your car loks really clean. hope to see more pics
later,
mike

Wow... that'* quite the project!

Make certain you connect all of those wires before putting everything back together!

Man that'* crazy. Talk about a bitch of a job! Hope everything goes back together real easy for ya.

That sounds exactly like what my '89 did....
I sure hope you checked the water pump? :?

Well, the pics are up now. I also ordered all of my parts this morning at the dealer (I'll post exact part numbers later when I get the reciept from them). I'm replacing (2) Vacuum motors ($13 ea) which operate the defrost / dash / floor vent doors, the A/C + Heat Mix Door Actuator ($52), (2) Air Mix door springs ($3 ea), and the fiber optic GE 558 bulb for my center console ($5), as well as the cap that goes over it ($5). I noticed a week or 2 ago that my little dot next to my transmission that tells me what gear I'm in (P, R, N, D, Etc..) didnt light anymore, and upon investigating it when I took everything apart, there are fiber-optic "tubes" that run up to each of those dots from a light source below, that moves with the gear selector. Its pretty cool actually. The bulb is a GE 558, and it looks EXACTLY like a GE / Sylvania 194, but on the top instead of it looking like a normal 194 there is almost like a magnifine glass built into the top of the bulb. I'm assuming it multiplies the output of the light, so it can follow the fiber optic strand up to the dots. Just some good info to know.

I also had to order a Park-Brake shift Interlock cable, but that one was my fault! It was the ONLY thing that I broke when removing the whole interrior (Stupid plastic clip broke off the end). This is the cable that runs from the steering column to the transmission, and A) Wont let you remove the gear selector from park or any gear, unless the keys are in the ignition and in the "run" position. B) Prevents you from removing the transmission from park unless your foot is on the brake. I was just going to leave this broke and disconnected since I am not an idiot, or an 80 year old woman who is gonna have her foot slammed down on the gas instead of the brake when putting the car in gear, however, if I leave it out that also means anyone could put the car in any gear at any time, with or without keys, etc... The cable was only ($17) so it'* getting replaced for security.

I'll keep this thread posted as things develop! Thanks for all your suggestions and comments!

Tamara - Yup, new water pump last summer, along with thermostat, etc.. The dealer told me their Tech II was saying that the driver side door wasnt fully opening and closing (bad vaccum pump I'm assuming), plus EVERY time I actually got the heat to work this past winter, it would only come on and start working after a very uncomfortable "bang" from behind the dash, so something back there was / is definetely messed up! Hopefully all this fixes it, because if I put this interrior all back together and it'* still broke, the dealership I was at this morning has a used 2000 SSEi, Jet Black on Black, Fully loaded with every option, 26,000 miles for $22,000 that has my name on it

...will you marry me?

Well, picked up all my parts at the dealer today so I'm ready to put my bonny all back together this weekend. Dont worry, I have been, and will be taking alot of pictures. So far tonight I replace the park-shift interlock cable, rebuilt the air distribution box, replaced the mix doors, vacuum pumps, and replaced the HVAC actuator as well as the HVAC Programmer. As of right now, all of the climate control stuff is back in and COMPLETE !! Tomorrow morning first thing, I can start by putting the dash back in, and wiring / hooking everything up, followed by the transmission bracketry, console, seats, etc..

Oh yea, I borrowed a friends Bissell tonight and shampooed the entire carpet as well. Turned out GREAT!! Car looks like new!

Speaking of new, while I was at the dealer today I sat in and started up that black 2000 SSEi. MAN have they shrunk the roofline!!!! Especially with the Sunroof!! I was ALOT more cramped in that newer style bonny than mine. Being 6'7" can really suck sometimes!! I also noticed the numbers in the HUD are ALOT smaller than mine in my '95. It seems like mine our bigger and bolder, where the new ones are kinda chinsey. Other than that, sweet ride, and I would definetely deal with the minor stuff on a day to day basis and still get one. Not sure sure if thats gonna happen anymore though, I think I have a pretty good chance at fixing this problem with mine, in which case I plan on keeping it for a long time yet.

Well Everyone.... IT'* DONE, and IT WORKS!!!!

Got everything put back together this weekend, and man I am so pleased with the results!! The climate control is perfect... Heat, A/C, everything, and no more blinking on the display. I completely shampooed the carpet, conditioned the leather, armor-alled everything, and vaccumed. The car is as nice as new, and it was definetely worht the $80 and all my personal time compared to the $1500 at the dealer.

Did you need to reset the climate control computer?