We have a 2001 Value Package Accord.

The controls to change the direction of air flow (defrost, etc.) are intermittently not working. A quick search in this forum leads me to suspect that it is either the mode control motor or the linkage to it, but everything I have found talks about these controls not working at all (vs. working only some of the time).

When the controls work, the light above any of the buttons will light up when that button is pressed. When any one of the controls does not work, none of the controls will work and none of the lights light up. Eventually, after trying enough buttons, the light for one of the buttons comes on, and that button works along with all of the other buttons (until they no longer do again!)

Today I felt for the linkage while pressing the buttons. The linkage moved when the buttons were working. I tried wiping the linkage clean and spraying it with lubricant, but I am continuing to have this intermittent problem.

Does the fact that the linkage(s) work some of the time suggest it is a problem with the mode motor, or could it be something else, and if so, what?

thanks!

 

A lot of times this is the soldering on the back of the control assembly simply has deteriorated over time.

There are places online that will resolder it for you or you can try to do it yourself.

 

Thank you. I was starting to wonder if it might be something with the controls themselves. I've had the control assembly out before to replace bulbs, so when I get the time, maybe I will have a look.

Do you know of any of the places online? it would be weird for my wife to be driving around with that out of the car, but If I don't see anything I can fix, perhaps I would try one.

thanks very much for your feedback!

 

It turned out to be the controls. I replaced them and all is well, so thank you for the help you gave me!

I do see one difference between the unit I replaced and the one that replaced it, and I am curious if anyone knows about this.

On our old unit if the fan was set to "off", none of the lights on the buttons lit up.

With our new unit, even when the fan is set to "off" whatever button is pressed stays lit.

Any thoughts about this? It's not a huge deal, but it does mean the little bulbs in the unit are likely to burn out sooner this way. I've replaced many of these bulbs on our own unit so it's easy enough for me to do it again, but it just seems more efficient to have the lights "off" when the fan is "off."

thanks again!