Had no heat in car when bought. Removed vacuum line from pictured diaphragm, and got flow to heater coil now. The air thou does not go to floor, just goes to windshield or vents via the right thumb wheel on climate control. The left thumb wheel on control does nothing. The ac does work but that was with vacuum line hooked up. Any direction I can go on this? Thanks.
I hate to break it to you but you have automatic climate control. Not manual. It's a very complicated system. There's a valve behind the pad that has a bi mettalic spring thst senses the ambient temperature and automatically adjust the climate control system to maintain whatever temp it's set for. There's also a microswitch in there someplace... Even the water valve has a vacuum sensor on it. Every component needs to be tested in the system. And if anyone smoked in the car, thr nicotine would eventually coat the bi mettalic spring and disable the system
On the firewall above and near the gas pedal is another vac diaphragm. You'll need to remove the vac line from that to get the heat to go into the floor vent. I struggled with the ACC for 4 years before I gave up and switched to the regular climate control. Most of the parts such as the canister shown under the dash are unobtanium.
Buick 64203, thank you for your reply. I knew the system was complex when I bought the car, still wanted it anyway. I wonder how a person could test each component, and know what results they should have? I know this isn't a car you could just bring into a shop for that as no one knows climate control. The water valve does have three vacuum lines, exactly as you stated. Briz. So since mine says Climate control, there is varying degrees of this system? So when you said you switched to "regular" climate control, this is what you had? That could be what I could do as well? Pardon me for maybe asking dumb questions but I'm just trying to learn more about it so I can proceed with options. Thank you.
I believe that piece on the firewall is called the piloted vacuum actuator. Best thing you csn do is read the service manual, then read it again. Buick also put out a supplement to the manual. It has tests and troubleshooting charts. After you read everything over a few times and start tinkering with it, it'll start to make sense. My uncle actually drilled a hole though the dash pad to access the valve because he got tired of taking the pad off all the time for adjustments
There is actually (IIRC) 7 different ventilation options for your car. The ACC, Auto Climate Control, was the high dollar top of the line option. Believe it added like 350$ to the sticker price. My car had that from the factory. I sourced every part NOS and replaced all of it except the part behind the dash and it never worked correctly. Even had both the service supplements issued by Buick. While I had the engine out and easy access to the firewall I removed the complex ACC box and replaced it with the standard A/C unit. The wiring harness is different , the water valve, fan relay, ballast resistor and the control inside the car is different but pretty much everything else is the same. Using the Buick Chassis manual re routed and correctly connected all the lines and cables. Have not had a problem since.
Wonder how I could tell which system I have? What's the best source to attain the Buick service supplements? Thanks.
You have the ACC. Found my tech supplements on Ebay. Sold them along with all the parts of the system.
