Air control lever issue

[Gat0rvean]

So, awesome morning, I have a 1995 3.slow and I go out to heat it up in this wonderful ice/snow storm we are having and the damn Heat/AC control lever (goes from low to high etc) is stuck between low and the first dash! Like I can't jiggle, force, gently maneuver it any higher and it won't blow air even on low! Any tips would be appreciated, never taken the dash apart, but looks like I might have to.

 

[giro]

So the temperature lever can't move, and the fan lever doesn't do anything? Or is it just the fan lever that doesn't move, and thus can't do anything.

Either way, is there any chance some moisture is in there, and froze with the cold temps? Or a piece of plastic or something broke with the cold temps, jamming it? The fan control is an electrical switch. The temperature control is linkage connected to things to manually open and close things.

(interesting, from the 92 FSM page AC-36 it looks like the fan control then goes to different parts on a resistor (likely a wire wound one) to determine the speed of the fan....at least that's what the electrical diagram looks like to me)

 

[Gat0rvean]

I'll try and update later today with pics, but basically it's the lever with "low" and "high" on it that is stuck. I can move the cold/hot lever and the under dash/defrost/mix lever just fine. It really feels like there is something blocking it. After wiggling it a bit with the radio off, I realized it is coming on, but really low, and when I move it (as much as I can) to the right (towards high) and back, you can hear a switch like noise from the glove box as it kicks on low.

 

[giro]

Ok, that should be easy enough.

Personally I'd start with a high powered focused flashlight, and see if you see anything. If you can see something blocking, maybe you can knock it out of the way with a screwdriver or clothes hanger wire or something.

But from the 92 FSM, page BO-48, it looks easy enough if the 95 is the same. It's all of 2-4 steps to "remove heater control plate", of:
(a) Pull off the heater control knobs
(b) (w/ A/C) Pry off the A/C switch.
(c) Using a screwdriver, pry out the heater control plate as shown in the illustration, and remove it. HINT: Tape the screwdriver tip before use (in the pic it looks like they pry from the middle top or middle bottom, and middle right....basically wherever is closest to a stretch of solid plastic instead of a place near a slot in the plastic face)
(d) (w/Clock) Disconnect the connector.

If that's all you need for access that seems easy enough. But if you really need to get more room and pull more things away, the "Remove Heater Control" is item number 17, so you'd have a bunch of stuff to remove from the dash first to really get access, even though you should be able to skip several of those things. BTW, "REMOVE RADIO" is step 18, and looks to be behind the same "lower center finish panel", so even if you need to pull out the heater control, it shouldn't be any worse than removing the factory radio.