Recently, the damper motor that controls vent location (Defrost, Dash, Floor) froze and became inoperative. After some research I found out that the damper motor (PN# AW339321), located behind the lower dash on the Left (Driver's) Side and mounted to the heater box was inoperative.

Then after pricing a replacement ($317.53) at the local Mitsubishi Dealer I decided to do a little more diagnostics before committing to such a ridiculous price. I removed the damper motor, pinned out the connections and saw that I had continuity, then pinned out the connector to confirm that there was power going to the motor.

I thought that maybe moisture had invaded the motor, so I tried to manually move the control arm. Then I lubricated all the joints with silicon spray and re installed the motor. I turned on the climate control to give it a signal, and the motor adjusted the vents to Defrost!

Then I ran the climate control through the cold to hot cycle then observed the vents adjusting from DEFROST to DASH to FLOOR without incident. I did it about 10 more times then reassembled the dash components.

The climate control is now working as designed. So before spending all that money on a tiny electric motor, do what I did; remove, lubricate, reinstall then test. The whole procedure took about an hour and the results were priceless.

 

results were priceless ???? what does that mean priceless

 

It means that I was able to repair the HVAC and it didn't cost me any money!