i have an 04 with about 48k miles on it and im having a problem with heating and cooling. the defrost works fine but the heat will not blow out on the feet or hands no matter what i turn the **** to. same with the a/c except when i put it on max a/c, then it blows everywhere. i took it to the dealership and they told me i need to replace my a/c case housing and that it was not under warrenty and would cost over a thousand dollars. needless to say i drove off. lol. so i was wondering if anyone has a guide to taking the dash apart. i dont really wanna replace the part i just want it on defrost and feet. that would be perfect. i know they dont make a service manual (atleast none i could find) for this vehicle. so any help would be great. hell even if you can just tell me where to start.

 

you're talking about 6 to 8 hours worth of work. its not just the dash, but the entire HVAC system that needs to come out.

I would not recommend it to someone who doesnt even know where to start on such a job.

 

i have a few people i know who could help, i havent talked to them yet.

i just wanna see if maybe something is unplugged or something easy.

i dont know what to do if i cant get it myself, dont got the money to get it fixed

 

its not a quick and easy fix.
what do they say happened? Ill guess that the mode door sheared had its driven end sheared off.


that could happen for a LOT of reasons. Something could (and probably is) clogging it (like a pen, etc).
Or you had an electrical fault. Or any of a dozen other issues.
it really doesnt matter what did happen. What matters is that the repair is labor intensive. Its not "hard" persay, but if you dont even know where to start I can guarantee you'll screw something up and make it far worse than it was.
To do this correctly you need to remove ALL the dash. The center console, the steering column, the seats (if your smart), the "a" pillar trim, etc.etc.
And frankly, removing the dash is the easy part. Its removing the HVAC system that gets tough.

 

OK below is a pic of the heater box #86322b is the motor for the mode door #86385 is a link kit which is also moved by that motor. if you remove the glovebox and the panel behind it you may be able to move the link by hand to direct the air the way you need it until you can have it fixed properly. btw what did the dealer charge you for that $1,000 estimate? that job is labor intensive just to diagnose so if you weren't asked to pay upto 2hrs labor i'd say they didn't really diagnose your problem.
you can also goto www.mitsubi****echinfo.com pay $20.00 for 24hrs of access to all the information about your car that a mitsu tech would have. BE CAREFUL! too much info and not enough experience can lead to disaster.

 

the dealership tried to charge me 40 dollars for "looking at it" which i know they didnt do. they held on to it for a few hours and then hooked it up to a computer to see what was wrong with it. which makes me not want to get it fixed out there. they made it sound like he got in there and took the whole thing apart in the time i was gone and they had the car. then they insisted that i dont try to do it myself. for which i can understand, but the part i dont get is when i was trying to get them to explain what the part does and or is, they didnt tell me, just avoided answering it. also when i picked it up they told me the a/c case housing needed to be replaced, but gave me a paper that said something about the heating system. oh and they failed to tell me how it got the way it was.

 

in a dealership it takes a technician a 1/2hour to pull a car into his service area, hook up the computer and check for codes. that is what they charged for. instead of explaining that it would cost $160.00 to take it apart and show you whats wrong. they(they meaning the tech or the advisor) decided the computer told them nothing therfore it must have internal problem. if we tell the customer it needs a complete case,then we have all the bases covered.
the funny thing is that there are cameras available now that can snake inside and around the box to see what is not functioning properly and give you a more accurate estimate. did you have any luck moving the door by hand?

 

i have not tried moving the door yet, its quite cold, im gonna see if my wifes brother will let me use his garage to look at it. he has many tools to work on cars if i need them. not to mention it will be warmer in there.

i ordered a manual off e bay too. haynes didnt have one so i got one on cd. hopefully its decent, if not i didnt pay to much for it.

 

the mode motor has undoubted broken the case.

 

is that a common problem or something thats just totally random?