Going domestic, project vanilla aka the family tankster, 2004 Suburban 2500

[Buddha.]

I was reading up this morning about how you can try to reset them by unhooking the battery for ten minutes and see if they reset. The procedure to replace them looks pretty intensive in regards to removing and disassembling the dashboard. Hope the reset works.

Yeah, that'll help it if its "confused" and needs to be reset supposedly. On mine, if I remember right, the gear that sits on the end of the electric motor shaft was cracked. The electric motor would spin but the gear and therefor the blendoor would not move. It took me about an hour laying upside down on the passenger seat holding a mini mag light in my mouth. Everything on the s series trucks is like 10lbs of s### shoved in a five pound sack. It's gotta be easier on a fullsize.

 

[upcruiser]

I'm having this exact same issue in my 04 Silverado, I have yet to dig deeper but I will let you know.

edit**

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/67578-ac-goes-to-heater-mode-by-itself/

Check this out

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-remove-driversidepassanger-side-temp-contr/step51/step51/

 

[upcruiser]

Yeah, that'll help it if its "confused" and needs to be reset supposedly. On mine, if I remember right, the gear that sits on the end of the electric motor shaft was cracked. The electric motor would spin but the gear and therefor the blendoor would not move. It took me about an hour laying upside down on the passenger seat holding a mini mag light in my mouth. Everything on the s series trucks is like 10lbs of s### shoved in a five pound sack. It's gotta be easier on a fullsize.

Yeah the link I shared shows it to require a good portion of the dash removed to even get to them.

 

[rayra]

blend door actuator. about the size of a pack of cigarettes, about $40 on rockauto/com, and a pain in the *** to get to.

It's a small solenoid / gear train, which controls the flap door that mixes heater core and cabin air to the temp you call for. The geartrain gets overdriven, or a gear breaks, and the door no longer moves in accordance with the learned range and the resulting temps are nothing like what is set. The 'reset' simply wipes out the learned range of movement. When you reconnect, restart, the controls move from limit to limit and that's what the controls use as a new baseline for movement. If your actuator geartrain isn't busted, this should work. If it doesn't, you'll need to replace it.

Up to '02, the blend actuator is deep in the dash, practically inaccessible. It's put on before the dash goes in. You'll have to pull out much of the dash to get to it. Not difficult, just a pain.



2003-on with the zone temp controls, there's a blend door (& actuator) for each front seat. There is also a Mode actuator which controls Defroster / Vent / Heater Feet. It's high above and inboard of the gas pedal, can be got to with a little duct removal. Mine busted, some details in my 'Hey Vortec Guys' topic. My repair didn't work for long, I have a new part coming in the mail.
info starts on pg2
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...-Guys!-Sierra-pickup-Suburban-Yukon-etc/page2

'05 Tahoe, the driver side blend is hard against the transmission hump, passenger front corner of the center console. Has a 7mm (8mm?) bolt thru the middle of it and takes small hands and a mini ratchet to get it out.

 

[Tiki]

Updates/trip reports?

 

[upcruiser]

Updates/trip reports?

Yeah, I guess I have been slacking, I am traveling this week but will try to do an update here soon. I have a bunch of pics and some newly planned stuff for this spring. Planning on doing a long trip with it and the fam, sans camper and doing an RTT setup on it. I think the kids are getting old enough now to handle living out of the truck for a 3 week adventure if I can set things up right.

 

[upcruiser]

blend door actuator. about the size of a pack of cigarettes, about $40 on rockauto/com, and a pain in the *** to get to.

It's a small solenoid / gear train, which controls the flap door that mixes heater core and cabin air to the temp you call for. The geartrain gets overdriven, or a gear breaks, and the door no longer moves in accordance with the learned range and the resulting temps are nothing like what is set. The 'reset' simply wipes out the learned range of movement. When you reconnect, restart, the controls move from limit to limit and that's what the controls use as a new baseline for movement. If your actuator geartrain isn't busted, this should work. If it doesn't, you'll need to replace it.

Up to '02, the blend actuator is deep in the dash, practically inaccessible. It's put on before the dash goes in. You'll have to pull out much of the dash to get to it. Not difficult, just a pain.



2003-on with the zone temp controls, there's a blend door (& actuator) for each front seat. There is also a Mode actuator which controls Defroster / Vent / Heater Feet. It's high above and inboard of the gas pedal, can be got to with a little duct removal. Mine busted, some details in my 'Hey Vortec Guys' topic. My repair didn't work for long, I have a new part coming in the mail.
info starts on pg2
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...-Guys!-Sierra-pickup-Suburban-Yukon-etc/page2

'05 Tahoe, the driver side blend is hard against the transmission hump, passenger front corner of the center console. Has a 7mm (8mm?) bolt thru the middle of it and takes small hands and a mini ratchet to get it out.

This is good info and I am glad I don't have to tear into the dash. That didn't sound fun. I haven't driven the truck a ton this winter but have noticed it still gets wonky every once in awhile but haven't dug into it yet. I picked up a work gig that has me traveling a couple of weeks a month so haven't had much time to work on projects.

 

[upcruiser]

Figured I would share some images from our summer adventures. With the two boys so little still we still relied heavily upon the camper and basecamping. This is such a great way to travel and still get out and explore. With little people it makes life so much easier, and that equals less stress, and most importantly, good sleep. Anyone who has had kids knows, sleep is what determines the whole mood of your day. Haha

So here are some pics from the past summer and fall










Tip of the Keweenaw peninsula, High Rock Point


Peaceful breakfasts at the bakery in Copper Harbor







Hiking to the top of Lookout Mountain near Eagle Harbor

 

[upcruiser]

One of our favorite beaches, always quiet, always amazing


On the end of a dead end road

 

[upcruiser]

 

[nd4spd71]

Awesome pictures. I really want to get up and do some exploring in the U.P

Sent from my HUAWEI H892L using Tapatalk

 

[upcruiser]

Those pics best describe my feelings on the Burb. It's the ultimate take your family and all your gear, with no cares, and have an adventure.... mobile.

That said we also did some camping and adventures with the Land Cruiser this summer as well. It definitely covers rough terrain at a quicker clip than the Burb but other than a couple of super tight spots, we likely could have gotten the Burb everywhere we took the Cruiser. We love getting out to some of the remote beaches of the UP. Something about white sand beaches and no people, it's the best of summer. Since I don't do trip reports anymore I will just share some pics here as well.


Our friends just picked up a lifted Astro and we did a remote beach camp session with our families

 

[Martinjmpr]

Great pics. This is all in the UP? Whereabouts? My wife's family is all from up there. She came from a big Catholic family (Belgian on her mother's side, Polish on her dad's) and most of them are still up there in the area between Menominee and Powers.
.
Back in 2015 we happened to be passing through on our way to Canada and Niagara Falls. I said to my wife "we'll be passing through the UP, do you want to stop and visit family?" (we had last been there for a big family reunion in 2009.) She said "sure" so we emailed her cousin, who owns a breakfast restaurant in Powers, and asked if we could visit. I figured a few hours to visit family and then we'd get back on the road.
.
Well, I should have known better! First her cousin insisted that we stay with them at their house, and then she actually closed the restaurant early and invited - not kidding - probably 60 or 80 people, all of whom were relatives of some kind, to a big party at the restaurant. And all because we just happened to be passing through from Colorado on our way to Canada!
.
The UP is actually the only part of Michigan I've ever seen - I've never been down in "the mitten." We crossed into Canada at Sault-Ste-Marie and drove around the East side of Lake Huron to get to Niagara Falls. I thought the UP was beautiful and seemed to be very "wild" and sparsely populated compared to even Minnesota or North Dakota.

 

[Chris Cordes]

loving your truck and adventures man. Always excited when this thread updates

 

[boll_rig]

Awesome stuff!