# Heat Blowing Cold air on Passenger Side Vents - Help!



## Robehgo14 (Jan 17, 2018)

Hello! I'm brand new to the hotel, I just purchased a 2013 Cruze less than a year ago and now I'm having this same problem. I only get heat on the passenger side and cold air on the driver's side. Curious if you had any luck getting this fixed. Any as would be greatly appreciated


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

One hose to the heater car SHOULD be hot. The other should be colder. If the heater core starts to plug up. The cold hose will be almost as warm as the hot hose. 

The heater core works in the same manner as the radiator. Air being blown through the core is what cools it down. While the air heats up to make the cab warm.


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

No air from vents!


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## Greg Gerrard (Jul 18, 2020)

Robehgo14 said:


> Hello! I'm brand new to the hotel, I just purchased a 2013 Cruze less than a year ago and now I'm having this same problem. I only get heat on the passenger side and cold air on the driver's side. Curious if you had any luck getting this fixed. Any as would be greatly appreciated


Did you have any luck getting this fixed as I've got same problem in same car


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## bozzfeedz (Sep 14, 2020)

Greg Gerrard said:


> Did you have any luck getting this fixed as I've got same problem in same car


Hello, am having the same problem. did you find a solution


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## sib1982 (Oct 3, 2020)

bozzfeedz said:


> Hello, am having the same problem. did you find a solution


Exactly same problem on a 2013 Cruze. Actuators chacked and work well but it has to be a stuck door. Unfortunately for me I live in France and mechanich here are really incompetent other than change good parts and charge half the price of the vehicle ( so bad news for me, I think i'll let it stay that way - winters are short here and mild )


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## sib1982 (Oct 3, 2020)

So, on cold all ok, on hot it works only for passenger side. On driver side is outside cold. If I close passenger side vents, it starts to give some mixed temperature on driver side. Checked actuators, all work ( as it changes temperature on the right). It is not a bi-zone car so it has to be one of admission double doors . But to get there you need a competent mechanic .And a lot of work, hours.


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## Thomsi (Jun 21, 2021)

Hello guys from Denmark

Did anyone find a fix to this one? I am having the same problem (although it's opposite, blowing cold in driver's side).

My mechanic checked the fan and everything was working and he seems to be a bit clueless on what the issue might be.

So I thought I'd might help him a little along and see if any of the brilliant minds on here has a suggestion to what needs to be done.

Kind Regards

Thomas


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## AylaS (Dec 26, 2021)

matttt22 said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I am having a very strange issue with my heating in my 2012 Holden/Chevy Cruze Hatchback (1.6L engine RHD). The passenger side of the car is getting no/some heat. The first time I noticed, the heat dial was always in the red. The driver’s side is blowing almost uncomfortably hot air. Meanwhile both passenger’s side vents are blowing cool air. However, if I fiddle around with the temperature control I can get the vents on the passenger’s side to blow warm air.
> 
> ...


Mine is doing this too 🙄


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## aglyons2003 (Dec 3, 2021)

matttt22 said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I am having a very strange issue with my heating in my 2012 Holden/Chevy Cruze Hatchback (1.6L engine RHD). The passenger side of the car is getting no/some heat. The first time I noticed, the heat dial was always in the red. The driver’s side is blowing almost uncomfortably hot air. Meanwhile both passenger’s side vents are blowing cool air. However, if I fiddle around with the temperature control I can get the vents on the passenger’s side to blow warm air.
> 
> ...


I have the same problem with my 2013 Cruze sedan. Granted the car does have over 130,000 miles on it so I'm not surprised by such issues but it is still frustrating. I end up just keeping the vents closed on the passengers side at all times. The most frustrating thing is when using the defrosters. In the below freezing weather I've needed to defrost my windows and when I turn my defrosters on, it doesn't clear up the passengers side window at all. I've had to completely put down my window to see out of it(which isn't ideal being that it is freezing cold outside).


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## Thomsi (Jun 21, 2021)

aglyons2003 said:


> I have the same problem with my 2013 Cruze sedan. Granted the car does have over 130,000 miles on it so I'm not surprised by such issues but it is still frustrating. I end up just keeping the vents closed on the passengers side at all times. The most frustrating thing is when using the defrosters. In the below freezing weather I've needed to defrost my windows and when I turn my defrosters on, it doesn't clear up the passengers side window at all. I've had to completely put down my window to see out of it(which isn't ideal being that it is freezing cold outside).


It’s funny and at the same time it is not. My problem is in the driver’s side, which is even worse.

It is troubling that so many are experiencing this.

My mechanic does not have the guts to take on the problem - he thinks the operation will be too expensive - and I can’t seem to figure out who actually can fix it without requiring alot of dough to do so.

Could someone please point to the cause of this problem.


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## James goodgame (9 mo ago)

Did anyone ever find a fix for this?


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## Thomsi (Jun 21, 2021)

James goodgame said:


> Did anyone ever find a fix for this?


I haven’t yet. When I find the time I will take it to a new mechanic.


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

I'm finding the problem to be actuator or most likely the blend door. And since it's inside the box. It's not a cheap fix. 

On jeeps. They're cutting sections out to replace the doors. And glueing the pieces back in. 

Might look in to that and seeing if that's possible. 

Look in to early 2000 jeep grand cherokees for videos and you'll see what I'm talking about. Particularly dual climate zones.


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## Thomsi (Jun 21, 2021)

snowwy66 said:


> I'm finding the problem to be actuator or most likely the blend door. And since it's inside the box. It's not a cheap fix.
> 
> On jeeps. They're cutting sections out to replace the doors. And glueing the pieces back in.
> 
> ...


Cool, that you're proposing actual solutions. I will definately look into that, once I get over the mental hurdle of spending more money on repairs.

Maybe someone will beat me to it and enlighten us all on fixing the problem


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## Aussie Row (8 mo ago)

Found the problem! Broken arms on flap inside the air box. Deep inside the car. About 4-5 hours of disassembly before I got to it.


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## Thomsi (Jun 21, 2021)

Awesome - is it doable for someone without a mechanic background?


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## Aussie Row (8 mo ago)

Thomsi said:


> Awesome - is it doable for someone without a mechanic background?


It’s pretty daunting to strip a car back so far for the untrained like me but I have been playing on cars for many years.
If you don’t need the car and can do it over time that is the best recommendation.

Lower dash parts removed, glove box removed, upper dash panels removed, steering column lowered, instrument cluster removed, console and all electrical components removed, wiring looms removed.

The main trick was to remove the air box top part while in the car, leaving the heater core and A/C core. That means that no need to drain engine coolant or degas the A/C. Try to keep the screws with whatever you take off. Different length screws everywhere.
I’ll post pic of screws to seperate air box. If you take lots of pics along the way that will help heaps to reassemble everything.


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## Aussie Row (8 mo ago)

Aussie Row said:


> It’s pretty daunting to strip a car back so far for the untrained like me but I have been playing on cars for many years.
> If you don’t need the car and can do it over time that is the best recommendation.
> 
> Lower dash parts removed, glove box removed, upper dash panels removed, steering column lowered, instrument cluster removed, console and all electrical components removed, wiring looms removed.
> ...











Item 1 is the air box top or outer part to remove via the 3 screws each side shown with green lines.


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## Aussie Row (8 mo ago)

There is no need to open bonnet at all except to disconnect battery!!! Lots of tricky little electrical connectors behind dash, some take a bit to figure out locking mechanism. Takes a bit of bravery to lever off panels and hope the clips don’t break.


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## Aussie Row (8 mo ago)

Airbox with flaps removed.


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## Thomsi (Jun 21, 2021)

You my friend are an astounding human being. Thank you for this thorough explanation - whether I will take om this task myself or let someone else do it.

I hope others will find this as helpful as I have


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## Aussie Row (8 mo ago)

photos showing various positions of the flap mechanism. Also shows my repaired flap arms. If you can get the airbox or even just the flaps from a parts seller that maybe better than repairing but then again if they are weak, they may break again. Very delicate to work with and easily broken so take care with the new ones if you go down that path.


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## Thomsi (Jun 21, 2021)

How did repair the arm?
I hope it will last


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## Aussie Row (8 mo ago)

repaired arms


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## Aussie Row (8 mo ago)

Thomsi said:


> How did repair the arm?
> I hope it will last


Sheet metal, rivets zip ties and a few hours in the shed. A bit of Australian ingenuity 😳


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## Thomsi (Jun 21, 2021)

Aussie Row said:


> Sheet metal, rivets zip ties and a few hours in the shed. A bit of Australian ingenuity 😳


Haha, cheers mate.

Cadeau from the cold north, very impressive.


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## Aussie Row (8 mo ago)

Thomsi said:


> You my friend are an astounding human being. Thank you for this thorough explanation - whether I will take om this task myself or let someone else do it.
> 
> I hope others will find this as helpful as I have


I looked everywhere for help and found lots of problems but no actual reasons for the air temp being different left/right. Tried the motor actuator replacement like many others and when that didn’t work I just dove in and tried to figure it out. I hope it does help others out. Seems to be a common problem.


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## Stu (7 mo ago)

Aussie Row said:


> I looked everywhere for help and found lots of problems but no actual reasons for the air temp being different left/right. Tried the motor actuator replacement like many others and when that didn’t work I just dove in and tried to figure it out. I hope it does help others out. Seems to be a common problem.


Feeling inspired.. my car is now in bits.

I'm at the point where I'm trying to remove the dashpad, but I'm not sure if I've removed all relevant bolts and screws - it doesn't seem to want to come out. 

Centre console is out, radio, heating controls, instrument cluster all out. I have removed all visible bolts and screws that relate to holding the dashpad to the car, but are there any hidden underneath screwing up into the bottom of the pad? Is there anything else I should look out for to get over this bit? I feel that if I can just get the dashpad out, the rest should be relatively easy?


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## Aussie Row (8 mo ago)

can’t remember all the locations of bolts. Steering column had to be down. Needed to remove two pressed in pins to get that down.


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## Aussie Row (8 mo ago)

Also had to remove the trims and speakers on the inside of pillar at windscreen sides.


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## Stu (7 mo ago)

Aussie Row said:


> can’t remember all the locations of bolts. Steering column had to be down. Needed to remove two pressed in pins to get that down.


Ok - will keep poking around tomorrow.

How did you remove the ".. two pressed in pins" ?


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## Aussie Row (8 mo ago)

A small ‘G’ clamp and socket on the back side to push pin into hole. Only pressed onto plastic so wasn’t too hard.


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## Aussie Row (8 mo ago)

Out of range tomorrow for a few days so won’t get replies from me till I get back. 👍🏻 Good luck with its the job.


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## Stu (7 mo ago)

Aussie Row said:


> Out of range tomorrow for a few days so won’t get replies from me till I get back. 👍🏻 Good luck with its the job.


No worries - I just hope when I get to the end that I actually find something broken like you did... the actuator seems to be working properly, so I can't think of any other explanation.


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## tomahawk4711 (7 mo ago)

I have this same problem and this is the only place i have found where someone has a decent explanation for this problem.. What i would like to know is where this door is actually located? before i go pulling the whole dash apart to do the repair, i was wondering if i could get an inspection camera down one of the vents to check it?.. On my car the drivers side has adjustable temp but passenger side remains cold no matter what you select.. It also blows cold air passenger side windscreen vent which surprised me... 
If the AC is not active im assuming its just the cold air from outside? unless the AC evaporator remains that cold even when there is no gas flow.. 

Anyway if anyone can tell me with the dash intact how far down is this vent located or if there is another location i could enter from with an inspection camera to take a look before i do all this work.


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## tomahawk4711 (7 mo ago)

Ok I put an inspection camera down the passenger vent and I can see the door on that side does not move when you adjust temp. Is it a shaft that goes straight through both doors that operates them at the same time or do they work of gears on the outside of each door..what I'm trying to work out if there is anything else that can fail other than the door breaking that might cause one vent to not work


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## guuyuk (Nov 12, 2015)

If it's not the actual door on the evaporator being broken (which is entirely possible as it's rather fragile, see above), it might actually be one of the blend door actuators. There's one that moves the doors to direct air to wherever it's selected and two for temperature.








How-To: Replace Defrost Gear Gen 1


I noticed a few days ago that 2012 lt want pushing air out of the defrost. It only works on the front vents and floor vents. BIG PROBLEM to say the least. I've read where this topic has been covered previously but with resolutions that did not work for me. I disconnected the battery...




www.cruzetalk.com









If it is the door on the evaporator, then at least the car is apart enough to get to it.


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## Stu (7 mo ago)

This is an excellent video to show what's going on if the bracket snaps as per Aussie Row's example:






BTW Aussie Row, I chickened out - I decided not to go through with the rest of it. I'll pay someone to do it eventually...


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## tomahawk4711 (7 mo ago)

I pulled out an the whole heater assembly today at pick-a-part $70, came out of a car with 32,000kms on it. So if anyone wants photos of anything to do with this assembly let me know.. I'm going to see if I can just separate the top half, which looks like what I need. Then I'll start the tear down process in the car.. I might reinforce the flap arms before I install this second hand one, once I have had a look where it broke in the car.. it looks like the kind of job you only want to do once. Probably I won't need this unit if I can fix the one I have but I wanted one out of the car to see how to separate the 2 halves


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## Stu (7 mo ago)

tomahawk4711 said:


> I pulled out an the whole heater assembly today at pick-a-part $70, came out of a car with 32,000kms on it. So if anyone wants photos of anything to do with this assembly let me know.. I'm going to see if I can just separate the top half, which looks like what I need. Then I'll start the tear down process in the car.. I might reinforce the flap arms before I install this second hand one, once I have had a look where it broke in the car.. it looks like the kind of job you only want to do once. Probably I won't need this unit if I can fix the one I have but I wanted one out of the car to see how to separate the 2 halves


Are you local to pick-a-part? I'm assuming it's the one in Kilsyth? If so, any chance I can come around (maybe help?) when you pull your car to bits?


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## tomahawk4711 (7 mo ago)

Stu said:


> Are you local to pick-a-part? I'm assuming it's the one in Kilsyth? If so, any chance I can come around (maybe help?) when you pull your car to bits?


Im only 10 minutes drive from the one at Dandenong, yeah you can come around sure. It's a pretty big job to get it out but you can do your car at the same time if you want... At a guess it would probably take 2 hours for removal then another 2 refit time. 

Before I start I'm going to see what options there are to strengthen it up..

I also have to recalibrate the electronic thermostat to open a bit sooner, these cars run pretty high temps which is more so for emissions than fuel economy but pretty hard on plastic fittings.


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## Stu (7 mo ago)

tomahawk4711 said:


> Im only 10 minutes drive from the one at Dandenong, yeah you can come around sure. It's a pretty big job to get it out but you can do your car at the same time if you want... At a guess it would probably take 2 hours for removal then another 2 refit time.
> 
> Before I start I'm going to see what options there are to strengthen it up..
> 
> I also have to recalibrate the electronic thermostat to open a bit sooner, these cars run pretty high temps which is more so for emissions than fuel economy but pretty hard on plastic fittings.


You're further away than I thought, but DM me when you're going to go ahead with it, and I'll see if I can make it over. I wouldn't do mine at the same time, but would hopefully be able to pick up enough information to do mine soon after.


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## Carlos_Manuel (Feb 23, 2020)

Fixed mine. Was blowing cold air on the passenger side and I used cable ties and superglue to fix connection from one connection. Now I can get hot and cold both from driver side. I was following this video youtu.be/2B8xcfJcWZI. Maybe helps someone who has same problem and doesn't want to waste money and time to fix it.


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## Thomsi (Jun 21, 2021)

Carlos_Manuel said:


> Fixed mine. Was blowing cold air on the passenger side and I used cable ties and superglue to fix connection from one connection. Now I can get hot and cold both from driver side. I was following this video youtu.be/2B8xcfJcWZI. Maybe helps someone who has same problem and doesn't want to waste money and time to fix it.


Thank you, Carlos!

Very nice of you to share - and nice to see a solution, that may be a little more controversial, but also easier for the common person.

I will definately try this one first.


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## Stu (7 mo ago)

Carlos_Manuel said:


> Fixed mine. Was blowing cold air on the passenger side and I used cable ties and superglue to fix connection from one connection. Now I can get hot and cold both from driver side. I was following this video youtu.be/2B8xcfJcWZI. Maybe helps someone who has same problem and doesn't want to waste money and time to fix it.


 Hmmm... interesting. Hadn't considered just cutting the box to get to the problem. Not a pretty solution, but obviously way cheaper than getting someone to remove your dash and replace the box entirely (I'm more or less resigned to the fact that I won't be doing that myself). What did you use to cut the side of the box out? It looks like he used a Dremel in the video - your cut looks a little neater than his. Also, what is the red stuff? Is that just silastic?


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## Carlos_Manuel (Feb 23, 2020)

Stu said:


> Hmmm... interesting. Hadn't considered just cutting the box to get to the problem. Not a pretty solution, but obviously way cheaper than getting someone to remove your dash and replace the box entirely (I'm more or less resigned to the fact that I won't be doing that myself). What did you use to cut the side of the box out? It looks like he used a Dremel in the video - your cut looks a little neater than his. Also, what is the red stuff? Is that just silastic?


I used a carpet knife to cut the plastic. 👌 Then I used contact adhesive to glue the plastic piece back in its place and red silicone for just in case (couldn't find black silicone from my car). Haha.


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## Björn Natan (3 mo ago)

Aussie Row said:


> Found the problem! Broken arms on flap inside the air box. Deep inside the car. About 4-5 hours of disassembly before I got to it.
> View attachment 297574
> 
> View attachment 297576
> ...


Thank you. I will show these pictures to my mechanic. I need this done asap. It is getting cold in Iceland these last few days. Morning frost has started.


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

Björn Natan said:


> Thank you. I will show these pictures to my mechanic. I need this done asap. It is getting cold in Iceland these last few days. Morning frost has started.


Welcome Aboard!

Don't forget to introduce yourself and your Cruze here.


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## Kalevipoeg (3 mo ago)

I have Chevrolet Orlando, had same problem in driver side, only cold air from vent.

Below in video is shown how I fixed it: cut two holes from driver side. One hole is done with circular saw, this one I did already in last winter, to tape that broken flap permanently to "hot" position for winter. Second one I cut with carpet knife last weekend, it was alot better option, because that piece I was able to glue back with random Loctite super glue. So I "fixed" one arm of that flap using random piece of aluminium and pop rivets. At the moment it works, but I'm afraid that I still need to get somewhere whole heater box and make enforcements also to passenger side flap arms because as I understood then this is typical error what happens sooner or later.

I think cutting those holes in the side is good idea, because alternatively taking dashboard out and putting it back is about 4 + 4 hours of work (?), and even if you have this time or will to pay for those hours in service, then risk to break, scratch or lose something is big. Better to avoid that work as long as possible. Those holes will be not visible later as all this is covered with interior panel.

I have seen that some Russian internet sites sell "repair kits" for those arms, but at the moment I'm not going to order anything from there.









Chevrolet Cruze/Orlando no heat from driver side fix.







youtube.com


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## Thomsi (Jun 21, 2021)

Kalevipoeg said:


> I have Chevrolet Orlando, had same problem in driver side, only cold air from vent.
> 
> Below in video is shown how I fixed it: cut two holes from driver side. One hole is done with circular saw, this one I did already in last winter, to tape that broken flap permanently to "hot" position for winter. Second one I cut with carpet knife last weekend, it was alot better option, because that piece I was able to glue back with random Loctite super glue. So I "fixed" one arm of that flap using random piece of aluminium and pop rivets. At the moment it works, but I'm afraid that I still need to get somewhere whole heater box and make enforcements also to passenger side flap arms because as I understood then this is typical error what happens sooner or later.
> 
> ...


Great with more contribution to this subject.

This is what humanity and mankind is about - sharing knowledge and experience selflessly and for the greater good.

Keep up the good work guys.


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