Fixing that Climate Control Tab and explaination

[datguydeni]

Hey guys, this is my first DIY on anything so bare with me as i give instructions on how to fix that Climate Control Whether it be be stuck on cold or hot. There should be no difference from 91-98 MR2s. MK1s I'm not sure about. Let's get started.

Follow Ben's guide on removing center console. should be the same way you installed the stereo.
Tip its easier to remove your stereo to access the back of the climate control. Will save a lot of time.

1. Remove the wire harness plugs from the climate control unit, and release the 2 cables from the brackets. as you will notice the 2 wires on the side move as you go hot to cold and vice versa you can remove them by taking out the black stopper at the end of the cable using pliers.
Pic of the stopper and hot & cold cable.


2.on the cold side (left) behind the unit there is a tab that is holding the cable in place. I think it was a push to get it to release the wire. on the right side it's very straight forward just push the tab outward and it'll release the cable. Keep a note where the cable lays in the tabs. You can mark it if you like, If these cables gets put back in wrong, you would feel some resistance when you move the tabs and possibly not be able to move it all the way.

Pic of the tabs used to hold the cable


3. now you have the climate control. take the unit out. remove the screws on the back and remove the on dial (thing that regulates how fast to blow) Remove the the hot/cold tab try and not to lose the clear piece that lights up. lost mine somewhere. (sorry no pictures). Shouldn't need any screwdriver to pry, just grip it with your fingers and pull out.

4. Remove the front i cleaned it up a little removed most of the grease. It gets really messy. what can you expect from 15 year old grease. You'll also (maybe) find the "infamous" ball bearing as well or at least i did in the grease.


5 remove the tab(shaped like a square). and you'll notice there's a spring in it. you can either remove it or put the ball bearing back in and it will work like new sort of. either way will work.
I removed mine, it slides easily across hot and cold. and i don't have to expect another fix ever incase the ball bearing decides to fall out again. Also removing it will cause the slider to not making a clicking noise anymore.


this is how its originally suppose to look noticed that gap between the gap and ridges and the tab.


when i was examining the cause of this ball bearing falling out it was because my tab was broken on one side
this had caused the tab to tilt cause nothing was holding it to the outside and the ball bearing shot out making the whole thing stuck. and this is why some of us are able to pull the tab outward and shift the controls.




Note that the following instructions are only if one of the sides of your tab is broken if it's not skip down to 7


6 Since i decided to remove the spring and ball bearing, i had to place a small metal piece ontop of the ridges to prevent the tab from getting stuck. It doesnt have to be metal just something flat and thin to go ontop and to fill in the gab between the tab and ridges.Just glue it down. i used a old building toy kit i had.






7. Silcone or use some type of grease even vaseline to let the tab move smoothly. Don't recommend WD-40 as it will melt plastic.

7.5 . this also would be a good time to replace those bulbs in the back of your climate control or change the color Ben has a thread on fitments of those bulbs as well.


8. Put everything back together. and enjoy that hot air or cold. Remember to align the hot and cold cables to the right positions.

Sorry again if my instructions aren't that clear, and about my lack of pictures i decided to take pictures towards the end of the project. cause i thought to myself i'll do it for the mr2board this project took me about 2 hours. Cause i was trying to find/think of how to fix the problem when it was open, with a broken tab. and also because my screws were stripped for the stereo and i was unable to unplug everything with a breeze.

If everything goes right this should only take 1 hr or even less

Remember I'm not liable for anything that i posted here, you can do what you want. I will try to answer any questions you guys may have to my best ability.

[simplesauce]

Great write up. The issue with mine was that my tab was cracked in 3 places. I just cleaned mine off and then super glued it together. I kept the ball in mine.

[PETC]

Thanks for the writeup man. Helped me out today tying up a bunch of minor problems on the two. The bigest being the climate control knob having popped off the ball bearing guide. Cheers!