Hello all, I have a 1996 ssei that has intermittent heat. The heat works & works great, about 10% of the time, then the rest it only blows cold air. Ice cold below zero air as I live & shiver my butt off in Iowa. Sometimes after I restart the car it works, but usually not. I looked at other posts with great pics & all about the vacuum block with the violet hose & how the inside of that block gets aged hoses, mine all look GREAT. That block does have an open connection with no loose hose around to attach to it, so I put a vacuum plug over the end of it just in case. After I removed the glove box liner, there was still no way to see the actuator arm at all. I used an angle grinder to cut out a healthy slot from that steel part, without damaging anything but my right ear when hot slag bounced into it. You should have heard the noises I made. My nephews who were holding the light are still laughing now I am sure. The actuator arm moves to allow the warm stuff to circulate, then it goes the other way. Sometimes the climate temp will blink when this happens, sometimes it wont. When I disconnected that arm, the flap made a strong thump to the heat option, and it stays there very well. I have left it like this so I will not freeze my tuckus off any more. Does anyone have any real advice I can use to fix this issue? I don't know if it is tied to the issue that started last spring with my a/c not working also causing my cooling fans not to come on ever -until I put in a switch to turn them on. I would really just like to fix the whole mess at once since it all seems connected somehow. Now, I imagine some of you may ask about these things, so I will clear the air now. I replaced my radiator recently & bled the air out very well, also added new thermostat at that time as insurance. The hoses on both top & bottom (too & from) of the heater core get warm, so it is not clogged at all. I did take pics of the mess, but I can not figure out how to post them here. Someone please help!

You problem is not with the vacuum diaphragms. Those control which direction the air flows through the box.

Your problem is the actuator that'* electric that sits on top of the heater box. One poster rigged what he called "redneck fix" with a coathanger through a hole in a support piece that allows view of the arm for the blend door that you found. He could move the coat hanger to modulate the position of the door. I cannot find that but I see references to it on this forum when I search for those two words.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k1...17f925-1-1.gif

The actuator gear is likely split so that it slips on the hub. I glued mine back to the hub with 5-min epoxy. I slipped it up slightly, glued, and pressed down. Be sure the index tab that sticks out of the hub on the outside of the case that moves in a groove about 180 deg stays in that groove.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k1...uator015-1.jpg

That is an interesting thought. What baffles me, is that when I undid the arm from the actuator, it moves around with what seems like no problem but it does it'* own thing without me telling it to change anything. Could a cracked gear cause that? If not, what do you think would? I am okay for now with the arm off it, the heat flows freely. I still wonder if this issue is also what caused my a/c & cooling fans to simultaniously fail last spring?

Okay, that box is making grinding noises & I am no longer in denial that i need to repair that gear or replace the unit. Do you have any good advice for removing the old 1 as simply as possible please?