If there's No Cheap Fix, The Best Option May Be To Just Live With It

Dear Car Talk:

I have a 2002 Saturn L200. The control knob that directs the air for the heat and air conditioning doesn't work anymore.

The air only comes out of the defroster now. The heat, air conditioning and defrosting work well, I just can't direct the air to come out the dash vents or toward my feet.

Is there a cheap fix for this? Thank you. -- Tom

A 2002 Saturn L200? I don't think there's a really cheap fix, Tom, unless you want to fashion a cardboard air deflector and duct tape it to the dash.

It sounds like there's something wrong with your blend door.
The blend door is a moveable flap that directs the air to the various vents inside your car. It's controlled by an actuator, which is probably what failed.

The truth is, if your blend door had to fail, having it fail in the defrost position is what you want. If it was blowing on your feet or in your face, you'd have no defroster, so there'd be times you couldn't see. We call that "sub-optimal driving conditions."

So, one option is to just live with it, as you're doing now. If you're really determined to make the blend door work again, you can have your mechanic test the actuator to see if it's getting current. If it is, that means the part itself failed, you can try to find a replacement actuator. That'll require some luck on an uncommon, 20+-year-old car.

The actuator sits on top of the heater box, which is behind the glove compartment. But replacing it isn't easy -- or cheap. It may require removing the dashboard. A somewhat cheaper option might be to have your mechanic try to adjust the blend door manually to where you want it and secure it there somehow. That may require removing the actuator.
You'd still need to have some of that air blowing on your windshield so you can defrost and defog it. But perhaps your mechanic can set the door permanently so it's blowing some air through the defroster, and some through dashboard vents.

That way your forehead won't overheat quite as much next winter, Tom. Good luck.

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