1999 SAAB 9-5 heat is not blowing on driver side, only cold

PETERMARCZAK

MEMBER
1999 SAAB 9-5
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
85,000 MILES

I have dual heating/ac system, on driver side heat is not working, passenger side is working corectly, AC is working on both side. This got to be electric motor problem what open and closed the vent. Where is that motor located. I dissasamble radio and I cant find nothing behind, I also get under the hood, dissasamble blastic cower under the whindshield, I see electric blower- is working corectly, I dont know how to get to that part (vent electric opener or door what open and closed that vent), please help.

Saturday, January 17th, 2009 AT 3:26 PM

1 Reply

KIWI06

MEMBER
6 POSTS

The motor and blend door control mechanism can be found above the "knee kick panel" under the left side dash.

I doubt you have a motor problem though, it is probably a broken heater blend door. You can verify by pressing and releasing the climate control "Auto" and "Off" buttons simultaneously which will run the self-check. The computer display will show the number of faults on the left and the fault codes on the right. "08" indicaters a broken left blend door ("11" for the right).

Hopefully, it's either the common "broken shaft" or "broken stop arm" issue, as there are fixes that are relatively inexpensive and not too difficult. (The Saab dealer will go with replacing the heater box - which is about 8 hours of labor and ends up being about $2000!) Do a web search for "Saab broken heater blend door, " and you should find good pointers.

If you are not so lucky (I am not), it will be internal to the heater box or the shaft is broken right at the heater box. The only solution I know of is replacing the heater box. (Or you can stuff foam or rags or something in the driver's side heat path - that doesn't address the defrost, which still blows cold on the driver's side, but at least you don't end up with frost bite on your toes.)

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Thursday, September 10th, 2009 AT 9:22 AM