A/C not cooling an '06; problem with "damper"?

[theophile]

I've been wanting an LS for a long time, and I'm looking at this '06 that is for sale at a nearby dealership. I have talked them down on the price, but the sales rep I talked to said it has an issue where the "A/C is not cooling." He said their service department looked at it and noted on the ticket that the problem is the "damper," which he said is what tells the system when to switch back and forth between heat and cooling. He said the service department quoted $1600 to fix because the job is rated at 10-11 hours. He said if I "know a guy who works on these," I could probably get it done for a couple hundred dollars.

I like to work on my own vehicles but I'm not an expert and I've never worked on one of these cars. My current vehicle is a '92 Cavalier, and so much less electronically sophisticated than the LS. I don't mind the idea of buying a car I know I'm going to have to fix, but I want to have a really good idea what the problem is before I commit to it.

My searching for "damper" makes me think he's referring to the blend doors or blend-door actuators. But I've also read that common other causes of the A/C not blowing cold can be the DCCV as well as the evaporator temperature sensor. I understand the DCCV is a relatively easy replacement in the engine bay, but it looks liek the evaporator temperature sensor requires a nearly complete dash removal. I've not found a "how-to" on the blend-door actuators, but I suspect that probably requires dash removal too.

I am assuming that the dealership's estimate of 10-11 hours of labor means they were anticipating dash removal. I am also assuming that they would have ruled out the DCCV.

Can anyone share some input on what the "damper" might be, and what I might be looking at having to do to fix it? Or other things I might be able to do to alternatively diagnose the issue if I go see the car?

Thanks all!

 

[LS4me]

Have you driven it? Never heard of a 'damper'........ I would suspect the compressor (low charge) first. That is a relatively easy repair for an accomplished DIYer. Take it for a test drive to a mechanic you trust (or an A/C shop) and have them verify the problem. The LS doesn't have blend doors so they already know nothing about the LS.

There is a post here somewhere about removing the dash. If you have the time and moderate skills it shouldn't be too bad.

 

[joegr]

It's probably the DCCV. Is this a Ford dealer. I hope not, they don't know anything about the LS. It has no "damper" to control temperature. It has the DCCV instead. Fortunately, the DCCV is much easier to replace than a blend air temperature door (which it doesn't have) would be.

 

[theophile]

It's a Toyota dealership. I'm still debating whether to make the 2-hour drive to look at it. Is there a surefire way to confirm it's the DCCV that I could do add part of an inspection and test drive?

 

[joegr]

...Is there a surefire way to confirm it's the DCCV that I could do add part of an inspection and test drive?

Start it with the engine cold. (Make sure they don't start it before you get there.) Set the climate control to 65. You should get very cold air for a minute or two. As the engine starts to warm up, the air will go from very cold to very hot (be the time the temperature gauge is reading 1/4 or so.)

If this is what happens, then it is almost certainly the DCCV. (There's always a chance that it is wiring or the DATC, but it's most often the DCCV.)

Then, tell them you want at least $1000 off the price because of the bad "damper."

 

[theophile]

Thanks, that's perfect. I'm not going to be able to make it out there today anymore, but maybe this weekend. They already agreed to take $1500 off because of the bad "damper." Seems like it could work out pretty good.

 

[theophile]

Heading to look at the car now. In the event the DCCV field test above is inconclusive, is there something I can do to determine whether an a/c problem is something that will require pulling the dash? Thanks everyone.

 

[joegr]

Heading to look at the car now. In the event the DCCV field test above is inconclusive, is there something I can do to determine whether an a/c problem is something that will require pulling the dash? Thanks everyone.

Not really. You would only have to remove the dash for an AC problem if the expansion valve or the evaporator was bad. If the problem is as was implied (getting heated air (hot) out, instead of just non-cooled (warm) air) then there would be no cause (or solution) to remove the dash. The air damper door that they think that it is does not exist. If this were a Lincoln town car, they would likely be correct, but it's not, it is an LS. The LS is more like a Jaguar than a Ford.

 

[theophile]

Just in case anyone's interested in the "rest of the story," the car was in pretty rough shape. The glove box was on the floor of the passenger side, all the dash bezels were misaligned, and there were trim retaining clips all over the place. It looked like it had been vandalized, although considering the background, I suspect the service department started pulling the dash then gave up and half-assed the reassembly. The A/C actually worked OK, though the air flow through the vents was strongest on the left side of the car and got progressively weaker with each vent to the right. Air came out by the floor on the driver side but not on the passenger side. My guess is fubared duct work in the dash.

I probably would have been OK with just that, as it's all fixable. But there were also telltale signs of major body work (paint overspray and bubbling around the windows on the driver side but not on the passenger side) and the trunk smelled musty (probably a leak somewhere). All things considered, I gave it a pass.

(Side note: If there's anyone in the Deep South wanting to sell an LS, let me know!)