AZCivic98

Hey everybody-

Sorry to jump right into these forums without an intro or anything, but I just bought a nice little '98 Civic DX 4-door from a friend a couple weeks ago. He warned me of a problem he had with the Temp Control ****/Slider and mentioned that a mechanic friend had fixed it recently but the slider was stiff because it was still breaking in.

I thought, Oh no... this will be an issue sooner or later.

A few days ago when I moved the slider from Hot to Cold and then back, I heard a snapping sound and the slider lost its full range of motion and just sort of slid back/forth sloppily, and of course no heat.

Today I started taking a look at it and poured through the Civic Forums trying to hunt down the problem.

Here's what I have found:

*The cable tension to the air mix door and the temp valve have been adjusted properly now.

*When the slider is moved from COLD to HOT, the cable tension releases as it should, but the linkage that actually closes the door in the heat box (?) doesn't move through its full range. Not knowing a whole lot about the entire system down there, it feels to me like there should be a spring involved that isn't there.

Not saying there is, just saying that it seems like the cable tension is pulling the door one direction when the slider is set on COLD, but when the cable tension is released, there is no force acting on the door in the opposite direction.

*I can manually close the door and I have heat again.

What I suspect is happening and came here to ask you fine people about who know your Civics so well is that there is some sort of plastic gear mechanism inside the Climate Control unit that is stripped out, so the cable to the door on the heat box is working but the cable to the Temp Valve in the engine compartment is not... and it seems like that second cable is the one that will allow the Air Mixture door to open/close fully when set to HOT???

The other thing I'm curious about is that if I disconnect the cable from the Temp Valve and attempt to move it through the housing back and forth, it will not move. Even if I go move the slider. I wonder if a gummed up cable/housing is what caused the gears inside the Climate Control unit to strip in the first place?

I apologize for writing so much. Congrats if you made it this far!

Please let me know what your thoughts are.

Should I just hit eBay and buy a new Climate Control unit for $40?

If I do, should I expect that 2nd cable running to the Temp Valve to move freely through its housing?

Thanks in advance.

Newfiedan

If you can move it by hand and not with the controls it sounds like something broke internally on the controls, proper adjustment on a cable controlled climate control is required and the mechanic who installed it should have known that. I would buy the new one and use that since it sounds to me like you have a broken mechanism.

AZCivic98

Thanks- I think I'll do that.