Flow through ventilation

[Elessee]

'88 LSC
I'm messing around with things and wondered if this car even has flow through ventilation. There should be vents somewhere so that, for instance, when a door is closed air can escape rather than create pressure. I cannot find the air vents or exit(s). Anyone know where they are?

 

[opalescent 96]

I don't really know but I doubt it. Probably the bottom of the doors not being air tight..

 

[Elessee]

I dunno... A lot of air has to escape quickly when a door slams with the windows up, so there' gotta be a vent somewhere.

My doors and windows are tight. I finally found and fixed a tiny door gasket air leak (the rubber eventually shrinks and gaps appear) after suffering with the wind noise for a long time. Now it's very quiet.

I might have posted that job here. I recall hooking up a big vacuum cleaner outlet to the window, made that air tight and went around the outside with a smoke looking for air movement. Just a tiny bit of air came out of the leak.

I think vents may be in a tricky spot, like the rear seat A/C outlet area, or through a plenum under the dash.... or something...

 

[Elessee]

Ran a simple test and evidently (some or all) the vents are in the dashboard.

First opened the hood and covered the air intake grills below the windshield with kitchen plastic wrap. Then, with widows up and trunk closed slammed the driver door. The plastic wrap jumped up with the sudden air pressure.

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May as well explain what I'm up to...
It gets real hot around here and parking a car in the sun for a couple minutes mid-summer makes it an oven. I want to build ventilation.. a small 12V blower hooked to my emergency battery pack (Harbor Freight #96157). I've tested it with a small fan and it'll probably run for days before the SLA battery runs out....

Now that I know a vent is always (?? only if engine off ?) open, all I need to do is move air into the car. That might happen on the rear deck where the speakers and stuff are. Hopefully can intake cool air ported from underneath the car, or similar.

The solar window exhaust fan things they sell don't work according to reviewers, plus you gotta leave the window open an inch or so, inviting a coat hanger.

 

[Lincolnlov]

Elessee,

I seem to recall that the owners manual said that the HVAC system should be left on (in one of its run positions) when the car is shut off. I believe the intent is to ensure that the doors/flaps of the HVAC system remain open and can allow air to enter the system/car when the car is not running. Hope this is of some value to you.

 

[Elessee]

Hi Lincolnlov,
Thanks for the tip.
I have the original glove box Owner's Guide... 233 pages I have not read, except that I often look up setting the clock because I can never remember how.

Anyway, I searched the Climate Control section but did not see exactly what you pointed out. However, I did learn something.. You can override the automatic functions in various ways.

One of my peeves was there's no fresh air ventilation.... have to open a window? ....or so I thought.

says here... "Vent Position: For more economical driving, a venting function may be obtained by pressing PANEL, then pressing the A/C button to disengage the A/C compressor."
I would guess this means fresh outside air will be blown or will just naturally flow into the car... I gotta try that one out tomorrow.

I'll take a closer look at this manual. There are several override functions and this A/C section requires some study.

hmmm... OK... Who among us knew that when you press HI and LO simultaneously, the blower speed switches to medium?

 

[Lincolnlov]

Elessee,

Mine is a 1990, On page 100 of the owners manual is the information about leaving the system on when turning the motor off.
Best of luck.

 

[Elessee]

Thanks Lincolnlov...
my manual is different but I'm sure the instruction is in there someplace.

I'm still deciding where, how and if to cut any holes. I don't want road noise etc. Removed some interior paneling looking for good spots.

I think the best place to cut a vent is in the door jam, like so many cars have vents in the jams. The jam is outside the door gasket and can draw fresh air.
A very short connecting tube and fan could be installed in the rear passenger sidewall paneling without being too obtrusive. But keeping rain out (with a rubber flap?) and similar concerns means I'm mulling it over..

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Meanwhile, one of the places I looked for good opportunity was the rear seat heater / AC vent which goes through the floor console.
Removed the console.
While doing that, fixed the gear shifter "accordion" cover plate thingies.. They were filthy and not operating correctly. Took photos of that internal assembly.... if anyone is curious about how it works and what went wrong.


The moving plates are just a stack of thin vinyl plastic pieces with 90-degree tangs bent up on both ends of the holes. Many were broken off. New plates can be cut with scissors or the old might be repaired.

The assembly is "heat staked" together. Many stakes were broken.... A soldering iron can easily tack-weld things back together.
A higher resolution photo is here: http://i.imgur.com/3wmsBee.jpg