2003 Tahoe - Passenger AC blows hot - quick fix

Simple patch to keep your passengers cool. Manually adjust blend door if actuator is not fully binded.

[@breannawellborn494]

My A/C was blowing super hot on passenger side, in Texas! I tried and tried to turn the little thing with the notches on top of the actuator, but there's no way, with no room. So what I did is, with the actuator plugged in, and flash light looking at it, I turned on the truck, while watching the little round thing. The actuator tries to reset when turning on the truck, and automatically goes thru some modes. As soon as I felt it go into that cold mode (which it usually passes it then goes back to hot quickly and stays) I UNPLUGGED THE ACTUATOR with a screwdriver, so it stayed cold, stuck in cold! Quick fix. My a/c works great now. When you want heat again, just plug it back in. :)

[@dwaynewillis5921]

This method worked for me, I couldn’t get a screwdriver on that from any angle. Thanks

[@user-oo6xz2tt3w]

Great minds think alike I did the same thing lol

[@sakaiosakaio6787]

Thank you so much

[@41663]

This is exactly what Ive been going thru. I cant tell you how much I appreciate the info. After last summer listening to my wife bitch about it I was dreading the hot weather cause, like you I was not willing to dig down to the actuator on my 04 - 243,000 mile tahoe. Thank you

[@johncarcamo6772]

bypass heater core and there will be no more heat until you reverse the bypass

[@leroyquattlebaum5199]

Good idea!! I'm having the same problem. Thanks

[@juanrascon7743]

Thank you for your info this solved my problem without all the hassle of removing the dashboard I just unplugged it and no more heat on the passenger side thanks again for taking the time to make the video!

[@OmegaAuburn]

How did you get it to move? The round black plastic piece on stop correct?

[@juanrascon7743]

@@OmegaAuburn I used a long thin flat head screwdriver to plug it in then opened the key to cycle the door as its on either cold or hot that's when I unplug it and it stays on hot or cold

[@OmegaAuburn]

@@juanrascon7743 you are talking about on the bottom. I might need a thinner screwdriver. You think I can turn it with a long needle nose pliers?

[@onthapound]

Man you saved me bruh, I really appreciate this video, thanks!

[@OmegaAuburn]

Did you get it to move? The black round piece correct?/

[@frosst619]

super helpful thanks alot! I might even try and get it out with a ratcheting bit driver

[@deadcaptainjames6045]

Super helpful that's a ton bro

[@702xRyder]

Your a man of God

[@ryan4freedom]

I believe the left side is in the bottom of the dash and accessible without much struggle

[@ivansolis2465]

You da man thanks

[@DIRTDIVER882]

Cool, thanks for the info brother. I didnt need this info , but I'm def NOT gna not watch to learn something new about my truck. Well mine is an 01 yukon xl but 6 in one half dozen in the other right. I was actually looking for an animation or explanation as too how my yukon allows me to use the dual zone climate system, similar to urs but mine is for the second & 3rd row as opposed to dual driver passenger zones. If that makes any sense? Basically im curious as to weather or not the truck has two completely separate heater cores & condensers? Or it just uses one heat core & one condenser but can turn them on @ same time etc? Can Anyone explain how this system works by any chance?? Thanks ahead of time cause I'm sure i'm gna get a cpl lessons cause u guys r so frkn awesome

[@ericsmith1782]

Good vid , thanx 🤙

[@javiercarrillo5015]

That's the same problem I have!..thanks

[@kuythug]

Yea works for me good

[@noksu_krx1933]

Will that actuator work for the left side??

[@deltaactual310]

What happens when it's just not blowing cold in the whole vehicle. Ac compressor is kicking on and the line gets cold for my Freon but still no cold air.

[@sakaiosakaio6787]

Thanks🎉

[@mariomcallen]

Thank you great demonstrations

[@oscarramos9177]

I have a 2004 Chevy Tahoe 5.3 and I live in Philadelphia and on the summer I need more air condition and or on the driver side is fine blows nice cool air but on the passenger side that’s where the hot air comes in

[@menkanics5873]

ty

[@scotth.6524]

You might try a manual re calibration. With the vehicle off, pull the hvac fuse under the hood, wait 1 minute, reinstall and restart the vehicle. Often times, this re-zeros all the doors and fixes this issue. Unless, of course, the gear is stripped in the actuator.

[@KeithsTVHD1]

Hey thanks a lot, ur solution worked for me, i also was having an issue with the rear hvac not blowing air where i wanted it to but i took out the fuse for the front and rear hvacs and now everything works as it should, THANKS!!!

[@josephandalcio6309]

That’s what going on in my 03z71 tahoe I remove the dash cover to try & catch it from the top however there’s a lot of black plastic duck work I may need to Slightly lift the duck work to get the screws lose so I can get the actuator out without breaking anything

[@ryanscott1316]

Just checking out some vids on these actuators. I have a 98 that will not warm my feet during these Utah winters, it'll be fixed NOW! Anyhow cool name bro, good to know another Trumper out there rockin the R. S.... HA!

[@dash.1r]

HOW I FIXED MY PASSENGER SIDE BLOWING HOT. SET THE DIALS TO BLOW COLD, FULL BLAST. A/C BUTTON OFF. LET IT RUN FOR 5 MINUTES. THEN GRADUALLY ADJUST THE DIALS UP TO HOT, STILL AT FULL BLAST. LET IT RUN FOR ANOTHER 5 MINUTES. THEN TURN THE TRUCK OFF WAIT A FEW SECONDS THEN TURN BACK ON. THIS FIXED MY PROBLEM.

[@humbertoluque9678]

Didnt work for me 😭

[@ramirov2122]

Worked for me !!

[@josephandalcio6309]

Is this a temporary fix question is it gonna come back doing the same thing because mind did Getting ready to remove the dashboard cover now and try to move the black duck work just enough to get to the actuator so I can pull it out from the AC vent on the passenger side closest to the radio

[@dash.1r]

@@josephandalcio6309 This is to recalibrate the AC. I did repairs first but the AC was still blowing hot. So I had to recalibrate the system. You can do this before you tear everything out though. Hopefully your system just needs to be recalibrated and not fixed/replaced.

[@jmn1238]

What happens if you want heater?

[@drummerkid21rr]

I am having the same trouble on the right side its blowing cool air the middle vent is blowing hot even when the there is no air or heat on its like hot air out of my middle vent the far left vent nothing comes out! The vents on the far left are blowing the right heat or air but not as strong! cold this be even more issues?

[@nicholasdavis2131]

I'm having the exact same issue with my air how did you fix this?

[@rogersierra265]

I have the same problem with my 04 burb. it could blow nice and cold for days or weeks straight then out of nowhere it blows hot. my temperature nobs are all wacked out too. when I turn them to adjust the temp, the temp jumps up and down and I have to turn them suuuuuper slow for it not to happen.

[@AndrewVSmith10]

I’ve got two 04s and the temperature knobs do the same on both. Annoying.

[@UncleSarkis]

Easy fix is to take them out and clean them. Bunch of videos on YT explaining how.

[@UncleSarkis]

@@AndrewVSmith10 you have to clean them. I have an 04 as well, did the same before I cleaned them

[@AndrewVSmith10]

@@UncleSarkis Thanks! 👍🏾

[@UncleSarkis]

@@AndrewVSmith10 You're welcome. Sorry, I would have searched for one and linked it up here, but I was outside under 3 o'clock sun, it was hard to see my screen as it was.

[@johnchaplin9112]

I have an 03 Avalanche with what appears the same setup. Tried the recalibration process, but didn’t work. Just want to turn off passenger side vents so the A/C on driver’s side doesn’t fight with the heat from passenger side. I unplugged the passenger actuator, but hot air still blows out

[@waltermora8930]

Watch the video again, he turns the vent manually. What mine did, the actuator, will open for cold air and right away it will turn for heat right after turning the climate control on, so what I did, I turned the engine off when the vent was in cold and unplugged the actuator.

[@bigdbassn4489]

@@waltermora8930 How can you tell when the the vent is in cold mode? Does it do this at a certain time like when the vehicle shuts off? Also, I am having issues with the drivers side. Do you know how to gain access to that side?

[@ryanknight5451]

@@bigdbassn4489 on my 2004 Tahoe the actuator turns counter clockwise for cold. Turn the notch to where it is on the left side instead of straight back away from you. Mine acted crazy every other day so I waited for it to act right and blow cold and I jumped under there and unplugged the actuator. Always blows cold now. When you need the heat all you have to do is plug the actuator back in

[@loslakers530]

Hey guys a quick fix and no money spent. Turn your ac to full blast for about 7-8 minutes the switch it to heat full blast for 7-8 minutes. The. Switch it back to cold and shut off the car. Turn the car back on again. This re-evaluates the actuarors and your ac vents should be blowing cold. Give the ac vents to run a few minutes first before you could tell.

[@scottlawson840]

This is helpful but can’t you just get to that actuator by removing the cover under the glove box and it’s held in by two 7/32 bolts I believe? I’ve seen others replace this pretty quickly on video- didn’t look difficult except for one of the 7 mm cover bolts looked hard to get at.

[@scottlawson840]

Unless of course this one is higher up than the one I saw removed...

[@ryanknight5451]

@@scottlawson840 not a chance of removing the actuator in my 2004 Tahoe without removing the dash. There’s simply not enough room to unbolt the actuator and maneuver the actuator out without removing the dash. Trust me I tried for an hour. You would have to do some cutting to get it out. Mine acts up every other day and It’s the heat of the summer right now so I waited until it worked and unplugged the actuator. Ac works Everytime now. When winter comes around all I have to do is plug the actuator back in and turn it to heat. The heat always works. I could see the actuator having trouble turning in one spot so I’m assuming it has a broken tooth that it has trouble getting over.

[@scottlawson840]

@@ryanknight5451 that is odd I can get to mine but I left mine in as well and simply unplugged it, same exact thing you did and ice cold now. Winter I’ll plug it back in. I may or may not put the new actuator in we’ll see how much aggravation I want to deal with lol

[@ryanknight5451]

@@scottlawson840 after looking around for a while, I found that you can take the air bag out very easily and get a way better angle at the passenger actuator to change it. There are two actuators one for the passenger and one for the driver. The driver is located under the glove box and very easy to replace. The passenger actuator is located directly behind the left passenger vent about 10” deep. I think you may be talking about the drivers actuator which is located under the glove box under the black cover and very simple to change.

[@scottlawson840]

@@ryanknight5451 yes- the one down low was the one that I unplugged and was the one I was having the issue with (blowing hot on the driver side). I believe there are at least four all together, I would imagine not all are easy to access. The plastic cover was a major pain on the lower one (far left bolt a nightmare), but once that was off it is easy to access.

[@z71ne1]

try to recalibrate it first. i did that to mine and it works fine now. no money spent!!

[@gignacgignac]

z71ne1 how do you calibrate it?

[@z71ne1]

gignacgignac pull the ac fuses from under the hood and in the fuse box on the side of the drivers side dash. leave them out for 30 minutes, replace the fuses and do not adjust the controls at all. after a few minutes it will reset and start working again. you may have to do this twice like i did and after i drove a few miles it worked fone again!

[@gignacgignac]

Should I leave the controls pre-set to full hot or cold? And also my front driver side only stays on hot no matter the setting along with the backs always being cold. Do you think it would reset that also? Thank you so much for get back to me quick!

[@z71ne1]

gignacgignac when you replace the fuses and start the truck do not touch the ac controls at all. when it resets it will probably reset to 74 degrees. leave it alone for 5 minutes with the truck running and then shut it off. it should have reset itself by then. hope this works for you! .....you can also reset it by disconnecting both battery cables and rub them together for a few seconds then reconnect them, at least this is what a mechanic told me. good luck

[@travisbass302]

This is what I was looking for. It’s hot as heck, middle of summer. Why not leave the blend door wide open on cold. Good video man

[@dmdltz843]

Try recalibrating the system on these trucks first!!! Thought I would be replacing actuators too, (air hot on one side cold on other) but before you buy actuators try recalibrating, THERE IS A PROCESS TO RECALIBRATING if you don't follow instructions exactly it won't work and you may have to do it twice, its for trucks with the (AUTO) settings I believe there is also one for manual air controls too so search YT and try that first!!! $0👍🏾

[@diego3ful]

How you do it, thank you in advance

[@kendrickcleveland9147]

Link?

[@dmdltz843]

@@kendrickcleveland9147 this guys Video is the video you need to follow, understand no guarantees it's gonna work though cause sometimes the actuator just need to be replaced.

[@juancorona3180]

How about hot on driver cold passenger same problem

[@ryan4freedom]

Unfortunately I'm not sure where that blend door actuator is. Sorry

[@JohnWilliams-ss8dm]

I got the same problem but I need my passenger side to blow hot instead of cold

[@ryan4freedom]

In that case you would do the same procedure but turn the actuator the other way with the screw driver

[@joerodriguez2581]

Left to right counter clockwise?

[@ryan4freedom]

Joe Rodriguez If I remember correctly clockwise looking from the top down. If blowing hot, opposite way

[@joerodriguez2581]

Ryan Scott I want cool air because it blows hot now so u said left to right for cold air. So clockwise lol I'm lost

[@mcearl8073]

Joe Rodriguez did you figure out which way? Mine is blowing hot and I want it cold and I’m having a hell of a time getting it to move.

[@adameckardt5957]

Mc Earl having the same problem can’t get it to move

[@mcearl8073]

I couldn’t get it to budge. I even bent the tip of a screwdriver to try to make it easier but it didn’t help. I ended up resetting the system by pulling the fuse and then waited until it turned itself cold and then quickly unplugged the actuator. It took me several times of resetting it before it moved. Mine seems to get stuck whenever it goes to the hot. A few months ago I just did the reset and I thought I fixed it but it was short lived. I figure in the winter I’ll just plug it back in and it’ll end up hot.

[@francolopezjr27]

bro i can't turb