2002 S-10 Crew Cab LS

by Kyra Mason
(Springfield, MO USA)

4.3 V-6 when turning knob to direct the air it only comes out of cabin vents and does not change air flow. I have a little come out of other vents, but main air is flowing in face vents and will not switch to other vents.

Steve Says,

Thanks for visiting my website and asking me your question. There are several things that could be causing your problem. You might have some linkage under your dash that is disconnected causing this problem. Sometimes you can just look under there and you can see it.

The controls could be faulty. They might not be sending the correct signal to make the blend doors work.

You could have some vacuum lines that are disconnected, broken or faulty which would make it so the blend doors can't move.

It could also be a wiring or another electrical problem. As you can see there are many things that could be causing this problem. In my opinion your best option is to have a repair shop look at it and diagnose it.

Another thing to check is your cabin air filter. Sometimes when they get clogged the air only blows out of a few of the vents like the problem you are having right now. Cabin air filters should be changed frequently if you are driving in dusty conditions. If this is the case you should change these filters every time you change your oil or every other depending on how dirty they are. It is really easy to check them, just look in your owners manual to find where it is located. They are usually under the dash many times in the middle of the dash. They are usually easy to remove. Most of the time there is just a couple of metal clips holding them in, but sometimes you need a screwdriver to get to them. When you take it out just see if it is dirty. If there is dirt in between the fins of the filter you should just replace it. If has been a long time since it has been replaced then you should also just replace it. Cabin air filters are usually not expensive so you should probably just buy a new one, but if you want to see if it is the problem you can clean them with compressed air. I hope this has helped.
If you don't want to do that the next best option is to type your question into the blue box below. You can get diagnostic information from dealer level technicians as well as diagrams and step by step repair information. Here is the box: