94 Sidekick heater issue

[Suzi North]

My 94 Sidekick 4dr 4wd 1.6l 16v interior heater blows hot air no matter what temperature setting you place the climate control on. Would this be a matter of an air duct flapper not opening or closing, or how do I trace this? Driving in dusty conditions that dont allow for the windows to be down make the interior very uncomfortable in summer heat.

[TheZuke!]

Dusty conditions...

TheZuke! had its heater fan plugged by a mouse nest once.
Such an item could be blocking the ducts or preventing flappers
from opening/closing.

Does the temp control (blue-red) have any resistance when
you move the knob? You should feel the resistance of opening
and closing the valve that controls the amount of hot coolant to the heater core.

Do you have air conditioning and it is not working?

Without Air conditioning, you may experience some hot air coming
through the vents/heater ducts, because they can get hot while
your Zuke sits in the sun.

What about the Fresh/Recirculate control, what resistance do you
feel moving that?

If you don't have A/C and the control is in the Recirculate position,
you will just be recirculating the cabin air and not exchanging
it for outside air.

[Suzi North]

My Sidekick does not have A/C. Recuirulating air or outside air setting doesn't effect hot air issue, regardless of where sliding temp. lever is. Control for defrost or floor settings works fine. All is fine if its heat you want!

[jtgh]

are you saying the heater is blowing the same temperature are as in the winter.
not just outside air coming in and not warmed much.?

the dash controls have 3 cables.
all you do is this:
wiggle the hot <<<>>> cold knob, and at the same time look on the left side of the Heater Box.
there are 2 on the left side.
top cable = mode.
bottom cable = hot/cold.

this cable goes to a lever. when you move the knob the lever moves the same amount.
if it dont, the cable is detached at either end.
if the lever does move and the heat still comes, then the problem is in the heater box.
that is a big job removing that.

those levers are on the left side of heater box.
cheers

[jtgh]

boda,boom


here is the Canada made zuk heater.
if yours is japan made , it looks diff.


cable 43 is hot/cold

[Suzi North]

Started taking controls and dash apart, found stick lodged inside heater box (placed there on purpose by previous owner) keeping one of the flappers open, not sure for what purpose. It also appears that lever control for outside air/recirc doesnt move its flapper either. Does anyone have a schematic of the controls and flappers they operate that they could share with me so I can trace everything and get this working like it should? Also, does the dash pretty much need to be dismanteled to do the job properly? Help with this is much appreciated.

[Suzi North]

jtgh,

The drawing you attached is somewhat helpful, but its a bit difficult to see where the control wire go, and how the lever operation effects the valving/flappers.

[jtgh]

sorry its from the parts list, the FSM has vast number of pages on this subject.

but just wiggle the lever, does one of the 3 cable end wires move.
that is the first step.
if this step fails then the dash lever controls are bad (or cable or it just fell off ,common)
if it passes , then see if cable the moves is attached to the heater lever.
just follow it to where it goes.

and see if it is still attached, ? to the heater lever.

this is all very Rube Goldberg. stuff.

cheers.

[Suzi North]

Kind of figured that. The lever that controls defrost/floor/vent direction of flow seems to be moving things around in the heater box, however it was also here that I found the stick lodged in the flapper at the entry point into the heater box from the blower motor duct, and I cant tell if there should be something connected to this particular flapper or not. I take it I'm into the dash dismanteling portion of the program now!

[jtgh]

sorry for stating obvious ,but....(sometimes it isn't)
ok, all exterior mechs are moving and working.
the stick lodged in the flapper at ..... Stick,organic off tree or is this a suzuki stick?

this car , (by the drawings and vary by factory) show no heater water valve.?
It does isolate the heater in the big black box . with a big swingging door, FSM shows a picture of this fact.
and have flapper door that opens or closes for HEAT and Cool mode. ( and recirc)

with a flash light maybe you can look deep in side from the outside and find some
debrit stuck in there blocking the mech. action.
a confounding , thing for sure.


the cables (not obvious to manY)
rules 1 : inside of cable wire must move.
rule2: outside of cable must not move (flex a tad) but not move in the direction of the internal wire)


FSM:

on diagnositc page 11
too much heat.
it says,
key off.
move the Temperature contol full cold then hot and back.
rapidly it says.
"listen for the door to slam prior to control end of travel"
then
logic ... SLAM NO
adjust controls.

now which cable is which.
of the three,
right cable Recirc/fress
left rear = mode.
left front = temperature.

you could unhook the rear cable at the bell crank and then grab the bell crank and floop it front to rear and listen for full closure, a smark load flop sound , end to and.
if not it has and ubstruction.


that is the whole ball of wax.

cheers.

PS: fsm does have a full blow up (exploded view) of the whole unit. Nice factory drawing.