Failed HVAC head unit in combination with replacement head unit failure and testing, locating and accessing the mode actuators for heat and air location. .
Really appreciate all the teardown you did and walking us through. It makes one less afraid of tackling these actuators. One thing I think you could point out is that it would be important to get an actuator with the metal shaft instead of a plastic one that I noticed may have been OEM on the truck but the plastic ones don't last, from what I've learned. I don't see the need for the critical comment regarding cutting your duct work. After all it's duct work not a crank bearing or a valve cover gasket of that sort. To remove some anxiety, why not just use some spot glue at various places. Easy to join the duct work and I't'll give you reinsurance if you doubt the tape longevity. Great to see the exposure of this dash, I wouldn't have done it myself and it was good to hear how many labor hours are tied into it. Just to take it apart to the tune of about $1,000. Now I know I won't be taking it into the shop!!
I had the same issue - bought the $18 Chinese actuator and it caused the system to completely shut down. Replaced it with the $140 Dorman and fixed the issue. Pay for the quality parts. It hurts the wallet but far better than having to do the job twice due to cheap Chinese garbage.
i replaced my head unit and it worked great for about a week and i live in Alaska and i was 70 miles north of my house and the heater stopped working at -15°F lucky for us i still had the old head unit in a box in the back seat and a set of tools Quickly pulled the new unit out and put the old one back in and the heat instantly came back on, i only changed it because not all the lights worked so took my new one back and replaced it in the spring.
all of these engineering nightmares should be paid for by the ,manufacturer, how easy would it have been to put the actuator on top of the duct for easy access?
I just had almost the same problem. I couldn’t get it from defrost to vents. What a nightmare it seemed to tear this apart. I agree. Put this stuff with easy access..
I just replaced mine yesterday I the passenger side dash one I removed to air bag and was able to get the right side screw I just took a small pry bar and popped it out broke off the left side screw left a tiny hole I just covered with some duct tape works perfected got it done in 1hr vs a shop that quoted me $1,100
@budgetoverlanding1062 About that air duct sensor, you show on that twists into the passenger duct. Cant see from the angle of your video, but is there another one that goes into the driver side duct? I went to my local Chey dealer today and got a printout of the HVAC system and it shows 2 of those sensors, driver and passenger side. But the tech at the parts counter insists the lookup on my VIN shows theres only one for the entire vehichle. Considering the driver and passener ducts are sperate plumbing, its makes no sense for there to be only one and if theres only one it should be oin the driver side. Can you clarify what you saw on the driver side duct?
For sale: 2004 Chevy Silverado… ALL NEW ACTUATORS and CLIMATE CONTROL UNIT!! 😂 Jokes aside, these 2004, 2005, and 2006 year Chevy and GMC Yukon’s, Denali’s with the 6.0L AWD are great except for the electrical, everything electrical in my 2005 GMC Yukon Denali has something going on and I have the same problem as you and the same digital crap climate controller and there’s one more part of that system that needs mentioning, the blower control module that is under the glove box. It seems in your case you only needed a new climate control and nothing else, and I would also recommend disconnecting the battery and disconnecting and reconnecting your electrical connections before swapping out the unit, and it can also be that blower control module. The mode actuator is usually the one to fail and it’s the one under the steering wheel that you disconnect a piece of ductwork to access it. Great video though for the overall view of 3 actuators! However, I don’t recommend the sawsall part, to me it looks like you disconnect the 3 places you called out and then flip it so the vents face up to get to the dash actuator but that one is probably fine and it’s the dang expensive crap you need. I’m only looking into this because I want to get rid of everything and put it on manual levers, I’m done with all this junk. We had it right the first time before all this stuff, and everything had metal levers and they never failed.
Also, just to add my 2 cents worth, those Dorman "new" HVAC control units are pure junk. I went through 3 of them and all failed to fully function. The last one was so bad my mechanic could not establish communication with his Snap-On scanner and the recirc function didnt work. I ordered a refurbished one from a guy that sells them on ebay. He told me that the Dormans dont even have the same control board internally. They make their own electronics totally different from AC Delco OEM. In getting a rebuilt one I'm assured its AC Delco, OEM, fully tested, all solders re done where needed and new backlighting. If this rebuilt HVAC controller doesnt solve my issue, the next step is to change out the air duct temperatuire sensor, or sensors, depending on how many their acxtually are in the system.
1st thing I noticed was that horrible rat nest of wires with the worst crimping bits in the market 😂 Please solder or use proper crimping equipment because that job is barely a step further than just using tape.
Yep everything was going good on this video till I saw that he cut the duct work up to get at the servo 😳😳😳 nope no thanks I’ll figure out how to do it right or it’ll go to a shop and ill pay to have it done at the gym dealer I won’t hack up my vehicle to fix another part of it I know sometimes it’s hard and it sucks but either do it right or take it to someone who will don’t butcher it just because it’s difficult to fix it would you Re your motor without torquing the head bolts or crank bolts? Let’s just use the impact on them that’ll work right? Duct tape is for taping seams in residential ducting that has to be cut and formed not a your cars duct work that was form and fitted glad your not a real mechanic at the local shop you’d be buy the car
Hmmm ok... So you want the by-the-book repair? GM FSM says to remove the IP carrier. In case you're not familiar with what that is, it's the entire dashboard, frame and all. Book time is about 8 hours for a truck with automatic HVAC controls, center console, and bucket seats. Say you're lucky and you find a shop like mine that only charges $105/hr labor. $840 on just the labor, not including the $164.80 for the part (yes, it costs more now), plus tax. You really want to pay $1,065.09 to avoid cutting your precious abs plastic duct work? By all means. We're happy to do that for you. But for everyone else that doesn't have an extra grand laying around, and for pretty much every mechanic out there that owns one of these trucks - this is a perfectly acceptable alternative to spending an entire day removing a dashboard to replace a part that is so failure prone. Oh, by the way, God forbid that part fails... The part is warrantied... The labor is not. Not our fault the part failed, that's on the manufacturer. Want to go after them for that thousand bucks? Good luck.
@@Basslicks82 yes I’m fine paying for it to be done correctly I’ve replaced mine and took the dash apart to replace the servo ! Why don’t you just run a saws all through the firewall so you can get at the heater core as well hack!!! I know it’s teadious and time consuming but anything worth doing is worth doing right. And $105 hr is cheap go to a diesel mechanic and see what I have to pay in the event I can’t fix it myself or just don’t have or want to spend the time working on it
The truck is a 2004, you want to spend one quarter of the trucks net worth just to avoid cutting a piece of plastic duct work? This is how we fix old trucks.
@@PlumbNutz yes I would !! If it’s with doing it’s worth doing right or not doing at all!!! If you remodel a room and have to take down a wall do you just put up 2x4”s every 4 ft or do you put them every 16 inches like your supposed too??? Either your lazy or just don’t know how to do it right and as stated if it’s worth doing it’s worth doing the right way or not at all!!! And like I said before HACK!!!! That’s what people are who are to lazy or to dumb to do it correctly
Really appreciate all the teardown you did and walking us through. It makes one less afraid of tackling these actuators. One thing I think you could point out is that it would be important to get an actuator with the metal shaft instead of a plastic one that I noticed may have been OEM on the truck but the plastic ones don't last, from what I've learned.
I don't see the need for the critical comment regarding cutting your duct work. After all it's duct work not a crank bearing or a valve cover gasket of that sort. To remove some anxiety, why not just use some spot glue at various places. Easy to join the duct work and I't'll give you reinsurance if you doubt the tape longevity. Great to see the exposure of this dash, I wouldn't have done it myself and it was good to hear how many labor hours are tied into it. Just to take it apart to the tune of about $1,000. Now I know I won't be taking it into the shop!!
I had the same issue - bought the $18 Chinese actuator and it caused the system to completely shut down. Replaced it with the $140 Dorman and fixed the issue. Pay for the quality parts. It hurts the wallet but far better than having to do the job twice due to cheap Chinese garbage.
I’m glad I just had to reach under my dash , my linkage came undone 5 min repair 1997 Chevy Silverado but good video
i replaced my head unit and it worked great for about a week and i live in Alaska and i was 70 miles north of my house and the heater stopped working at -15°F lucky for us i still had the old head unit in a box in the back seat and a set of tools Quickly pulled the new unit out and put the old one back in and the heat instantly came back on, i only changed it because not all the lights worked so took my new one back and replaced it in the spring.
Thanks for the video. Your voice sounds like Al Franken. :)
all of these engineering nightmares should be paid for by the ,manufacturer, how easy would it have been to put the actuator on top of the duct for easy access?
Forreal though!
Good info but you only needed to make one cut over the middle because you can unbolt the right side and just pull it out.
Meant to tape ductwork lol my man is totally correct 👍 don’t blame you one bit.
I just had almost the same problem. I couldn’t get it from defrost to vents. What a nightmare it seemed to tear this apart. I agree. Put this stuff with easy access..
I just replaced mine yesterday I the passenger side dash one I removed to air bag and was able to get the right side screw I just took a small pry bar and popped it out broke off the left side screw left a tiny hole I just covered with some duct tape works perfected got it done in 1hr vs a shop that quoted me $1,100
@budgetoverlanding1062 About that air duct sensor, you show on that twists into the passenger duct. Cant see from the angle of your video, but is there another one that goes into the driver side duct? I went to my local Chey dealer today and got a printout of the HVAC system and it shows 2 of those sensors, driver and passenger side. But the tech at the parts counter insists the lookup on my VIN shows theres only one for the entire vehichle. Considering the driver and passener ducts are sperate plumbing, its makes no sense for there to be only one and if theres only one it should be oin the driver side. Can you clarify what you saw on the driver side duct?
For sale: 2004 Chevy Silverado… ALL NEW ACTUATORS and CLIMATE CONTROL UNIT!! 😂
Jokes aside, these 2004, 2005, and 2006 year Chevy and GMC Yukon’s, Denali’s with the 6.0L AWD are great except for the electrical, everything electrical in my 2005 GMC Yukon Denali has something going on and I have the same problem as you and the same digital crap climate controller and there’s one more part of that system that needs mentioning, the blower control module that is under the glove box. It seems in your case you only needed a new climate control and nothing else, and I would also recommend disconnecting the battery and disconnecting and reconnecting your electrical connections before swapping out the unit, and it can also be that blower control module. The mode actuator is usually the one to fail and it’s the one under the steering wheel that you disconnect a piece of ductwork to access it.
Great video though for the overall view of 3 actuators! However, I don’t recommend the sawsall part, to me it looks like you disconnect the 3 places you called out and then flip it so the vents face up to get to the dash actuator but that one is probably fine and it’s the dang expensive crap you need. I’m only looking into this because I want to get rid of everything and put it on manual levers, I’m done with all this junk. We had it right the first time before all this stuff, and everything had metal levers and they never failed.
just wondering, did you try syncing them first?
Pull the airbag and the passenger side actuator is a cake walk , left arm thru the vent pushing up , right arm with 1/4 inch ratchet and it’s out ….
Also, just to add my 2 cents worth, those Dorman "new" HVAC control units are pure junk. I went through 3 of them and all failed to fully function. The last one was so bad my mechanic could not establish communication with his Snap-On scanner and the recirc function didnt work. I ordered a refurbished one from a guy that sells them on ebay. He told me that the Dormans dont even have the same control board internally. They make their own electronics totally different from AC Delco OEM. In getting a rebuilt one I'm assured its AC Delco, OEM, fully tested, all solders re done where needed and new backlighting. If this rebuilt HVAC controller doesnt solve my issue, the next step is to change out the air duct temperatuire sensor, or sensors, depending on how many their acxtually are in the system.
Is the 2500hd the same setup as a 3500hd when dealing with actuators in the dash board?! Thank you for the video!
should be same
Im thinking my controler is bad as of yesterday my cabin fan wont go to high speed . After a ehile itll go into high .
Good video. I'm not liking that I'll be doing that soon in my Denali LOL
I accidentally pushed the rod in on that hard to get to actuator pass top side 😂 that's going be fun getting it out
I’m into the same problem. Can’t get my fan to come on now.
10 minutes under my seat to get it 😂😂
I did my 04 z71 through the glove box. This time tho the actual door is broke. Rod spins round and round.
oh my garsh !
My defroster quit so I'm just going to get a fan plug in to the lighter.
I never buy anything off ebay just cause of price..When you need to do returns or its wrong to much waiting..
I have something similar, I don't know witch one yet, I hope not the difficult one,
I have a 03 tahoe I hope I don't have that third one in the dash
1st thing I noticed was that horrible rat nest of wires with the worst crimping bits in the market 😂
Please solder or use proper crimping equipment because that job is barely a step further than just using tape.
A 50 DOLLAR SCAN TOOL WOULD OF SAVE YOU FROM TAKING A PART YOUR DASH 🤣🤣
Dorman is garbage too.
Ridiculously complicated. Replace servos with push-pull knobs.
Yep everything was going good on this video till I saw that he cut the duct work up to get at the servo 😳😳😳 nope no thanks I’ll figure out how to do it right or it’ll go to a shop and ill pay to have it done at the gym dealer I won’t hack up my vehicle to fix another part of it I know sometimes it’s hard and it sucks but either do it right or take it to someone who will don’t butcher it just because it’s difficult to fix it would you Re your motor without torquing the head bolts or crank bolts? Let’s just use the impact on them that’ll work right? Duct tape is for taping seams in residential ducting that has to be cut and formed not a your cars duct work that was form and fitted glad your not a real mechanic at the local shop you’d be buy the car
Hmmm ok... So you want the by-the-book repair? GM FSM says to remove the IP carrier. In case you're not familiar with what that is, it's the entire dashboard, frame and all. Book time is about 8 hours for a truck with automatic HVAC controls, center console, and bucket seats. Say you're lucky and you find a shop like mine that only charges $105/hr labor. $840 on just the labor, not including the $164.80 for the part (yes, it costs more now), plus tax. You really want to pay $1,065.09 to avoid cutting your precious abs plastic duct work? By all means. We're happy to do that for you. But for everyone else that doesn't have an extra grand laying around, and for pretty much every mechanic out there that owns one of these trucks - this is a perfectly acceptable alternative to spending an entire day removing a dashboard to replace a part that is so failure prone.
Oh, by the way, God forbid that part fails... The part is warrantied... The labor is not. Not our fault the part failed, that's on the manufacturer. Want to go after them for that thousand bucks? Good luck.
@@Basslicks82 yes I’m fine paying for it to be done correctly I’ve replaced mine and took the dash apart to replace the servo ! Why don’t you just run a saws all through the firewall so you can get at the heater core as well hack!!! I know it’s teadious and time consuming but anything worth doing is worth doing right. And $105 hr is cheap go to a diesel mechanic and see what I have to pay in the event I can’t fix it myself or just don’t have or want to spend the time working on it
You don't have to cut it. there is a piece that goes across under the driver dash it just pulls out
The truck is a 2004, you want to spend one quarter of the trucks net worth just to avoid cutting a piece of plastic duct work? This is how we fix old trucks.
@@PlumbNutz yes I would !! If it’s with doing it’s worth doing right or not doing at all!!! If you remodel a room and have to take down a wall do you just put up 2x4”s every 4 ft or do you put them every 16 inches like your supposed too??? Either your lazy or just don’t know how to do it right and as stated if it’s worth doing it’s worth doing the right way or not at all!!! And like I said before HACK!!!! That’s what people are who are to lazy or to dumb to do it correctly