2002 defrost not working - possibly least likely situation

[gimmea250swb]

Okay, my son's got the car and he's 2 hrs away, so difficult to trouble shoot. He's closer to the mountains (frost) than I am, so I'm concerned about it. Here's what I know:

- input and output of the heat exchanger are hot. I don't think it's heater core blockage
- the solenoid on the left and right side move when adjusted
- there's no hot air high, middle or low
- there's a minor "fart" of warm air when it goes to defrost, but it cools down to ambient quickly

So I think the flapper inside the box is broken somehow. Any thoughts on the next move? I plan to air blast behind the console to make sure there's not blockage around the core. Other than that, not sure what to do. My biggest concern from a safety perspective is to get the defrost working. I'm happy to cut into the console to direct the air if that's what it is....

Thoughts?

 

[AuSeeker]

Okay, my son's got the car and he's 2 hrs away, so difficult to trouble shoot. He's closer to the mountains (frost) than I am, so I'm concerned about it. Here's what I know:

- input and output of the heat exchanger are hot. I don't think it's heater core blockage
- the solenoid on the left and right side move when adjusted
- there's no hot air high, middle or low
- there's a minor "fart" of warm air when it goes to defrost, but it cools down to ambient quickly

So I think the flapper inside the box is broken somehow. Any thoughts on the next move? I plan to air blast behind the console to make sure there's not blockage around the core. Other than that, not sure what to do. My biggest concern from a safety perspective is to get the defrost working. I'm happy to cut into the console to direct the air if that's what it is....

Thoughts?

You posted in the 4th Gen forum, you'll get better answers by posting in the 3rd Gen forum since the 2002 is a 3rd Gen, which is a little different than the 4th Gen.