New member to the "(*&^%$@#@!+) blend door club!

[gmhitec]

Another FL boy here that is being inducted into in blend door club.
Had an on the spot legal cruise and car show on one of our first 91 degrees hot days, and warm air on drivers side, not hot but way warmer then the passenger side ___T!
Been watching "InFiD3ViL" so my first step will be block off the heater hoses till Oct. or Nov.
In the mean time one of my closest friends is a fabricator and also gear head going to get with him about making a replacement door out of,,,hmmm real carbon fiber, aluminum, stainless, he is a master so I'll see what he recommends. Any one got a broke one with both pieces we could use for a mock up?

Wayne

[hunter1660]

Good luck with the repair..What causes it to break?

[Danial]

Originally Posted by hunter1660

Good luck with the repair..What causes it to break?

Chinese blend door relays. I think they use the same ones that Ford uses in the Mustang. Not trying to make a joke - I had an 09 GT for a couple years and the one thing that I had to replace consistently was the blend door relays. But at least they were a lot easier to get to on the Mustang.

[InFiD3ViL]

Just make sure to use a loopback hose on the water pump and not just pinch them off. I only pinched them for testing and temps shot up super quick. I'm sure you knew that, but just in case.

Damn, a real carbon fiber one would be great. Or one that was somehow reinforced with steel. The OEM doors look to be a fiberglass reinforced plastic, but they are just too brittle in the hinge area. If you come up with any amazing ideas please share them! Good luck! It's getting hot as balls down here now.

This is such BS! I hate to say it, but I honestly believe that every Camaro will eventually suffer from this. GM seriously dropped the ball on this one.

BTW, I got my blend door on Rockauto.com. It was like $20 with shipping/tax.

[gmhitec]

Copy that on the water pump.
If he can come up with a fabricated door that works it would make it one time fix, I hope. It will no doubt be more expensive but knowing this guy he will not stick it to us.
I'll be seeing him this week so first I'll show him a Pic to see what he says.
BTW, is this both the 5th gen and 6th gen Camaros ?

Originally Posted by InFiD3ViL

Just make sure to use a loopback hose on the water pump and not just pinch them off. I only pinched them for testing and temps shot up super quick. I'm sure you knew that, but just in case.

Damn, a real carbon fiber one would be great. Or one that was somehow reinforced with steel. The OEM doors look to be a fiberglass reinforced plastic, but they are just too brittle in the hinge area. If you come up with any amazing ideas please share them! Good luck! It's getting hot as balls down here now.

This is such BS! I hate to say it, but I honestly believe that every Camaro will eventually suffer from this. GM seriously dropped the ball on this one.

BTW, I got my blend door on Rockauto.com. It was like $20 with shipping/tax.

[uvraise]

Originally Posted by gmhitec

Another FL boy here that is being inducted into in blend door club.
Had an on the spot legal cruise and car show on one of our first 91 degrees hot days, and warm air on drivers side, not hot but way warmer then the passenger side ___T!
Been watching "InFiD3ViL" so my first step will be block off the heater hoses till Oct. or Nov.
In the mean time one of my closest friends is a fabricator and also gear head going to get with him about making a replacement door out of,,,hmmm real carbon fiber, aluminum, stainless, he is a master so I'll see what he recommends. Any one got a broke one with both pieces we could use for a mock up?

Wayne

I'm a union sheet metal worker and chose to use the purchased blend door, over fabricating one. The reason, the replacement doors have a bonded rubber seal around the entire perimeter, I'm assuming for a perfect seal. You'd have to take the bonded rubber dimensions into account and fabricate it accordingly. My fear was that if the metal wasn't spot on, it would end up binding either on full open or full close. Good Luck!

[xstuntman]

Originally Posted by InFiD3ViL

This is such BS! I hate to say it, but I honestly believe that every Camaro will eventually suffer from this.

Yeah, it is BS.
This '12 is my last new GM and I've always been a Chevy guy. To be fair though most brands are now building engineered failure into the vehicles to get you to trade in for a new one and they are all going DI.

[ariZona28]

Make it out of cast iron, a forged steel jack-screw and a steel crank handle. All made in the US of A!!!

[InFiD3ViL]

Originally Posted by ariZona28

Make it out of cast iron, a forged steel jack-screw and a steel crank handle. All made in the US of A!!!

That would be amazing! Everytime you turn the AC temp down it would sound like someone sealing a bulkhead door on a battleship.

[redcoats1976]

from what i understand bypassing the heater "fixes" this?living in florida that would be my first step,ive used the heater twice in 5 years.

[ariZona28]

Originally Posted by hunter1660

Good luck with the repair..What causes it to break?

If you haven't found the thread yet check out Heater Blend Door Hack (currently on pg 7 but soon to be on pg 8). Plenty of entertaining info jam packed into over 100 posts. This should be required reading for Gen 5 owners with a quiz at the end and a certificate to put on your refrigerator.

[Tony Camaro]

Not 100% sure but I heard that the actuator's range of motion breaks the plastic when it moves too far so don't put the dial all the way to the right or left.

[gmhitec]

Thx, heard that also but to late for me

Originally Posted by Tony Camaro

Not 100% sure but I heard that the actuator's range of motion breaks the plastic when it moves too far so don't put the dial all the way to the right or left.

[CHRISCAM]

Originally Posted by redcoats1976

from what i understand bypassing the heater "fixes" this?living in florida that would be my first step,ive used the heater twice in 5 years.

Yep. This is what I did. Being in SoCal, I got through this past winter no problem. My door broke last September.

For everyone who is in a relatively warm part of the country in Winter, the heater bypass is obviously the quickest, cheapest solution. I cut off the hoses just outside the firewall and plugged in a U-shaped fitting to circulate the water. So far, so good, with no leaks and no overheating.

As a side benefit, with this bypass setup, when it's hot outside, the AC will blow even cooler since it is now completely isolated from the hot coolant that normally flows through the HVAC box.

I also found out years ago that AC works great for defrosting windows. Again, this is only a good "find" for those of us fortunate enough to live in mild weather areas.