Im having a problem with my climate control ('05 S; auto A/C) that I can't find a thread on. About 3 weeks ago I noticed that air would only come through the dash vents, even when the defrost mode is turned on. It was irritating at first but downright dangerous when I had to drive through freezing rain with no defrost . Has anyone else experienced this?

 

Have you swapped the radio recently? It is not uncommon for the controls to get blocked when people do this.

 

Uh... yeah i did just put in a new radio. What can I do to correct it?

 

Follow this link for a discussion on the diagnostics and error codes.

 

What link?

 

Pull the radio back out and make sure that you didn't push the bundle down to far so that it hits the controls that are back in there. It is tight and not uncommon for things to get cramped. There are moving parts back there.

 

Oops! Here it is now
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...e-problem.html

 

lol Thanks a lot.

 

What controls to get blocked? Its auto AC, there are no direct mechanical connections.

Sounds to me like something is broken in the HVAC unit itself. All electronic units are set to fail in defrost for obvious reasons.

 

There are servos back there that control the vents. If something is hitting them then it will keep it from closing properly.

 

The servo motors are connected to the doors via links and gears located inside the box at the base of the center console; one of my links broke such that air would only flow through the face level vents, I got nothing at the foot wells or the defrost; I engaged the diagnostics mentioned above and could hear the servos running but did not get any errors. The sensors that feedback the motion of the servo motors are located internal to the servos and not on the actual doors; as far as the system was concerned all was well.

The entire dash has to be removed to replace the broken link. I purchased the kit from MINI which contains all the links, doors and gears inside the box. I replaced all of them. The kit was around $50.

Occasionally I engage the diagnostics to recalibrate the position of the doors, as they tend to not close or open all the way over time because of worn links.