GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I guess I am back with my bi-yearly issue. I have a 2006 Vibe. This morning I got in and tried turning the far left climate control dial to defrost. It turned fine from upper vents, mix upper and lower, then lower, but between lower vents and defrost it is stuck. I can't turn all the way to defrost. I marked where it gets stuck in the pic attached. Is this something I have a chance of fixing myself? I have no idea if this is all one unit (all three knobs/dials) or if it is separate. Is this the "dash control unit"?

Thanks in advance for any help!

I looked into this further and found it may be a flap of some kind that is stuck. Or an air inlet actuator? Any thoughts on that?

campb292 wrote:I looked into this further and found it may be a flap of some kind that is stuck. Or an air inlet actuator? Any thoughts on that?

Try pulling the big piece of trim that goes around the stereo off. It should pull straight out.

It will have a steel cable attached to the back of the blank button. This cable gets the recirc door to go to fresh air setting when you switch to defog. There may be something wrong with it, although I really have no idea how it does its job or how it is routed so I can't tell you anything else beyond "maybe it's stuck on something or has the wrong amount of tension."

Thank you for that. I will check that out as soon as I get back home.

The cable for the vent position damper attaches underneath the dash on the driver's side... You can watch it move while turning the control. Perhaps if the fault is not in the control head, you could possibly try pulling the cable off on that end and seeing if it can turn freely. Bear in mind it might be a little tricky to get the cable readjusted correctly for the proper airflow, at least it was for me.

lannvouivre wrote:Try pulling the big piece of trim that goes around the stereo off. It should pull straight out.

It will have a steel cable attached to the back of the blank button. This cable gets the recirc door to go to fresh air setting when you switch to defog. There may be something wrong with it, although I really have no idea how it does its job or how it is routed so I can't tell you anything else beyond "maybe it's stuck on something or has the wrong amount of tension."

I was out of town for a couple days and finally got back to check this out. Fixed. I have no idea how that cable became detached but popping that back in the trim/radio bezel and slapping it together worked. Cheers to knowledgeable owners and the internet.

I have kinda of the same issue but a bit different. My vent control was stuck on upper and lower and lower only. I turned it hard enough that it went past, now it won’t go back to the to farthest left modes. But also, the dial seems to be misaligned now, when it’s on the third setting, lower vent only, both upper and lower are open, like the setting is actually on the far left setting. The next setting, defrost and lower, is actually pumping out setting two just the upper vents. And the last defrost only setting is pumping out the third setting, just the lower vents. Any thoughts? Looks like the cable is still attached in behind the radio dash