Air Conditioner "Recirculation Switch" & More

DiscoWeb Message Board: Archives - All topics: 2001 Archive - Technical Discussions: Air Conditioner "Recirculation Switch" & More
  Subtopic Posts   Updated


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Dave on Monday, June 18, 2001 - 01:40 am: Edit

1. When running my Air Conditioner (on my recently aquired 97 Disco) I noticed when I push in the "recirculating switch" on the dash (next to the air conditioner switch), nothing appears to be happening nor is there a change in sound. I recall a few weeks ago when I pushed it in, I did hear the blower get louder...but now it appears to have no effect. Can anyone relay their experiences when pushing in the recircualting switch?

2. An unrelated question....I noticed that the engine manifold on one side of the engine appear to have been relplced at some point. Is this common on 97 Disco's and what may have caused it's failure? Thanks for any impout on both these questions

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Jon Williams (Jonw) on Monday, June 18, 2001 - 08:45 am: Edit

1) The recirc switch controls an electrically-operated door in the HVAC ductwork. The actuator on that door may not be working properly now. Or it could be a switch problem. Does the orange light come on when you push the switch? Or the wiring harness could've come loose at the recirc door motor. I don't know how easy/difficult it is to replace the door actuator if it's the problem.

2) Don't know about it being a "common" repair or problem.

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Dave on Monday, June 18, 2001 - 11:42 pm: Edit

Hi Dave,

Appreciate the feedback. Do you know when this switch is working properly and turned on, does the blower(fan) sound louder? Interestingly, the light on the recirculating switch has an intermittant contact and when I touch the button ever so lightly, the light flickers......but still no maqtter if the light is on or off, the fan sounds like it's blowing the same. Any additional feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Jon Williams (Jonw) on Tuesday, June 19, 2001 - 08:50 am: Edit

If the little orange light is flickering you've got a bad contact(s) in the switch. As far as blower noise, when the climate control system is recirculating properly it will sound like the fan is turning faster, or blowing more air, however you want to describe it. This is probably due to the sound of the air being drawn in vents under the dash before being routed around inside the dashboard and blown out the top vents, but I don't know.

If you'd like to replace the recirc switch, it's not a terribly hard process. Using a small flathead screwdriver, pry off the three dial knobs and also the little fan speed knob. You'll see two phillips head screws where the temperature dials were. Unscrew them and pull the climate control facing plate off. Then you'll be able to unscrew 4 other screws that hold the control unit to the dash. After it's loose, you can remove the recirc switch and then swap in another. I'm not exactly sure, but I'll bet that little switch is $20.00 or more (other switches like it are, so why not it too?) Then refit everything and that's it. Hopefully that would cure the problem. I've never had any luck repairing those types of switches, but if you'd like to try and save yourself $20.00, go for it.

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Dave on Tuesday, June 19, 2001 - 05:37 pm: Edit

Hi John,

Thanks for the additional info. Yes, it looks like I have a bad contact in the switch and from your instructions seems pretty straight forward on how to replace it (which I'll do after ordeering a new switch). I figured that once a recirulating switch is pressed on, the blower would blow harder since most of cars I've owned do this. Really appreciate your feedback!

Dave


Posting is currently disabled in this topic. Contact your discussion moderator for more information.

Administrator's Control Panel -- Board Moderators Only
Administer Page | Delete Conversation | Close Conversation | Move Conversation