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Hi guys, first post here. The vent switcher motor on my civic stopped working a while back. Its been stuck on windshield defrost and generally doesnt move, regardless of the buttons I hit (which light up). Occasionally though, when I try to switch it to, say, feet or face, it'll move in one direction, but then get stuck there again.

After reading a bit on other forums, I saw a couple posts of people saying that dropping the glove box and gently tapping it helped them. Wanting to try this myself, I did the same, but noticed that mine seems to be sticking and needs to be "pushed" in both directions to work. Even with pushing it gently, I still can't get it to direct towards "face" vents. It seems to be able to cycle from face/feet all the way right across the range to straight windshield defrost though, as long as I push it manually past the "stuck" points.

I tried to capture it on video, and am just hoping that someone can tell me if this is definitely broken and needs to be replaced.. or if its jist something "sticking" that needs lubrication, adjustment, or something. I'm not very mechanically inclined at all, but am planning on selling my car this month and didnt want to spend the money on replacing it unless I have to.

For a little bit after gently pushing it, it seemed like it was partially moving freely (between 1 or 2 of the settings. You can see it here:

And then again sticking every time I try to change it:




Thanks in advance for any help!