2013 2LS Camaro No heat but frosty cold A/C

[Chevyfanatic101]

Last winter when i bought my camaro it would heat up in 3 minutes or so, good and hot air, the a/c worked great too. During the summer i have used only ac, no heat. But recently it started to make a clicking/thumping noise whenver i switch between ac and heat. i didnt think much of it until i tried to turn my heat on and even over the course of a 15 minute drive i had luke warm air at best (hotter than ambient air but not by much) Coolant temps staying around 178-182 the whole drive home. i work quite a bit and this is my daily driver. If anybody has had this problem before or knows about it please let me know, i am hoping for a cheap/easy fix but with a camaro you can never know.
Thankyou!

[Rmkuper]

Sounds like a blower motor or blending door. Is the knock coming from under the steering wheel or the glovebox?

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[joekono]

Originally Posted by Chevyfanatic101

Last winter when i bought my camaro it would heat up in 3 minutes or so, good and hot air, the a/c worked great too. During the summer i have used only ac, no heat. But recently it started to make a clicking/thumping noise whenver i switch between ac and heat. i didnt think much of it until i tried to turn my heat on and even over the course of a 15 minute drive i had luke warm air at best (hotter than ambient air but not by much) Coolant temps staying around 178-182 the whole drive home. i work quite a bit and this is my daily driver. If anybody has had this problem before or knows about it please let me know, i am hoping for a cheap/easy fix but with a camaro you can never know.
Thankyou!

Chevyfanatic101, sounds like the blend door. Do a search on this forum for "blend door" and it may be your problem. If it is, hopefully you're good with your hands because this is a $3000 fix from the dealer(they have to remove the dash) for a stupid cheap plastic piece. The blend door search will steer you to some videos on how to repair it yourself but it is involved(at least to me it is ). Good Luck.

[Rmkuper]

Originally Posted by joekono

Chevyfanatic101, sounds like the blend door. Do a search on this forum for "blend door" and it may be your problem. If it is, hopefully you're good with your hands because this is a $3000 fix from the dealer(they have to remove the dash) for a stupid cheap plastic piece. The blend door search will steer you to some videos on how to repair it yourself but it is involved(at least to me it is ). Good Luck.

I agree probably blend door or actuator. Here is a pretty good video on how to get to it without removing the dash or steering wheel. You have to mangle the plastic under your dash tho...

https://youtu.be/H-L2UBKs22Y

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[AlanRubin]

WHEN the blend door breaks, you get HEAT all the time, not COLD and no heat.
Turn A/C on, then it's mixed with the warm air. The door will never break and stick at
the cold position. Going cold (MAX) that's what breaks it. Then it falls down, and
you get blend ALL the time.

[Rmkuper]

Originally Posted by AlanRubin

WHEN the blend door breaks, you get HEAT all the time, not COLD and no heat.
Turn A/C on, then it's mixed with the warm air. The door will never break and stick at
the cold position. Going cold (MAX) that's what breaks it. Then it falls down, and
you get blend ALL the time.

Alan I'm not saying your wrong. I'm a half ass shade mechanic on my best day. But I have always been under the impression that the HVAC work the opposite of how you suggest.

I thought hot coolant was always runing to the heater core. An actuator rotates a shaft on a blend door in the heater box to control how much air passes across the heater core. e.i. If you have the temperature set to low, only a small portion of the air passes across the heater core. The rest bypasses around the heater core. Or in this case it is stuck closed and you get "Luke warm" air like the author states. It blends indoor air with hot air from the heater core. So this would point me to the actuator or blend door???

I love to learn and I learn something everyday on camaro5 so if I'm missing something here let me know. I would hate to give someone bad advice and they rip their dash up for no reason. But I guess that's a chance you take when asking for pro advice on a fourm...

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[PaulsSS]

Its pretty simple to diagnose. Pull the blend door actuator off. If the white bushing under the actuator is still there the actuator is bad. If the white bushing is gone the door has broken and the white bushing has fallen inside along with the door. Always replace the door and the actuator in pairs. After replacing both always re calibrate the HVAC doors by removing the HVAC fuse for 1 min the reinstall the fuse. System will calibrate automatically and your happy Camaro face should return almost instantly.

[redcoats1976]

its the fun of getting to it that worries me.i unplugged the actuator at 2 clicks from cold.living in florida means i can wear a coat 2 or 3 days a year...but i need my cold air.

[Chevyfanatic101]

Originally Posted by Rmkuper

Sounds like a blower motor or blending door. Is the knock coming from under the steering wheel or the glovebox?

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Alright. It's coming driver side behind the blower setting 1-12. When I turn ac on it is very cold, when i turn heat on with no ac it is Luke warm, if I turn ac on while trying trying blow heat it makes it colder

[Frankieboy]

I wonder if it could be a heater core? A thermostat could be stuck too!! Just trying to keep it simple first. I’m probably wrong because that actuator door seems to be an ongoing things with our cars. I work on big rigs and our kenworths have the same actuator problem.

[gtstorey]

Doubtful the thermostat isn't closing, the indicated temps of 178-182 should be warm enough to get pretty good heat. Doubtful it's the heater core since it would basically have to be blocked with rust build up to stop working.

[Aqua Blue RS/SS]

Heater core flow is easy to diagnose. Grab the heater hoses where they enter the firewall under the hood. Once the engine is up to temp both hoses should be hot to the touch. If not you’ve got issues with coolant flow. In this case, I’d say not as likely but could still be possible. I’d be leaning toward a messed up actuator or blend door. Although it is strange that it blows way cold, most of those failures produce heat when it should be cold.

[Chevyfanatic101]

Originally Posted by Aqua Blue RS/SS

Heater core flow is easy to diagnose. Grab the heater hoses where they enter the firewall under the hood. Once the engine is up to temp both hoses should be hot to the touch. If not you’ve got issues with coolant flow. In this case, I’d say not as likely but could still be possible. I’d be leaning toward a messed up actuator or blend door. Although it is strange that it blows way cold, most of those failures produce heat when it should be cold.

I checked the hoses, both hoses were hot to the touch once it got up to temp, that combined with the noise behind the dash leads me to believe its the blend door or actuator, i just paid off the camaro only to be hit with this lol. thanks for the advice guys, i might have to bite the bullet with winter coming along

[Frankieboy]

I was watching a video how a guy used a soldering iron to cut the part out where the actuator door is broken. Not the video with the dremel!! You could use this tool from harbor freight to weld it back together. I used this tool for my door inserts on my gen 5.