One of the things I always liked about Japanese cars was the control the driver had over all aspects of the climate control system. In other words one of the selling points for me was having a separate AC switch and a separate level for fresh air/recirculate. On most domestic cars that I have driven the AC automatically came on in certain vent positions regardless of the AC switch's position and in certain vent positions the fresh air/recirculate option would be overridden.
Upon getting my 03 Protege I discovered that some of the control had been taken away from me. In other words when the vent selector was put on floor and/or defrost then the AC would turn on regardless of the AC switch's position and when the vent was put on either defrost position then the option to recirculate air was disabled. Now, in most cases, the factory option is created for dummies who need to defrost/defog their windows so naturally you need fresh air and the AC compressor running to do this effectively.
But other times having the AC on when not wanted robs power from the engine, decreases gas mileage, and, if you are driving around dust, smoke, pollen, etc. you can't close the outside vent for short time if you have the vent in the defrost position. I wanted to find a solution to this and I found it.
If you take your climate control cluster out you'll find that there's a black gear on the right that not only controls the vent but also contains a cam on the left side of the gear which happens to activate one or two little switches depending on the rotation of the gear.
When the gear is rotated clockwise (depending on where you choose the air come out of your vents) it presses on two switches on a small circuit board which happen to either (1) activate the AC and/or (2) disable the fresh air/recirculation switch on the bottom of your climate controls. My theory was by removing this cam on the left then I would essentially remove the restrictions and gain full control over the climate controls.
Above image shows the cam in operation along with one of the two switches (the other is on top and not visible...this is the bottom view of the climate controls). As the cam rotates it depresses the switch thus turning on the AC in the floor position. The other switch on top not only activates the AC but disables the air selector and forces it into an open position (i.e. fresh air is forced inside your car).
Here is a top view showing the modified selector...the entire cam has been snipped off, I used a knife to smoothen the edges, and, now as you can see the switches cannot be depressed (and thus full control over the AC and fresh air/recirculate has been achieved).
Rather than remove the switches and ruin the circuit board I decided that snipping off the plastic cam on the left side of the vent selector gear was the least risky way to achieve my goal.
With this mod in place the AC no longer comes on unless you press the AC switch, and, in defrost the fresh air/recirculate switch can be switched to either position.
As an aside I believe the way the switches interacted with the cam was a poor design and you can see on the bottom switch how I think that the cam and spring level got stuck and caused the spring lever to get damaged. With my mod the springs are totally free and clear and cannot cause jams now.
Upon getting my 03 Protege I discovered that some of the control had been taken away from me. In other words when the vent selector was put on floor and/or defrost then the AC would turn on regardless of the AC switch's position and when the vent was put on either defrost position then the option to recirculate air was disabled. Now, in most cases, the factory option is created for dummies who need to defrost/defog their windows so naturally you need fresh air and the AC compressor running to do this effectively.
But other times having the AC on when not wanted robs power from the engine, decreases gas mileage, and, if you are driving around dust, smoke, pollen, etc. you can't close the outside vent for short time if you have the vent in the defrost position. I wanted to find a solution to this and I found it.
If you take your climate control cluster out you'll find that there's a black gear on the right that not only controls the vent but also contains a cam on the left side of the gear which happens to activate one or two little switches depending on the rotation of the gear.
When the gear is rotated clockwise (depending on where you choose the air come out of your vents) it presses on two switches on a small circuit board which happen to either (1) activate the AC and/or (2) disable the fresh air/recirculation switch on the bottom of your climate controls. My theory was by removing this cam on the left then I would essentially remove the restrictions and gain full control over the climate controls.
Above image shows the cam in operation along with one of the two switches (the other is on top and not visible...this is the bottom view of the climate controls). As the cam rotates it depresses the switch thus turning on the AC in the floor position. The other switch on top not only activates the AC but disables the air selector and forces it into an open position (i.e. fresh air is forced inside your car).
Here is a top view showing the modified selector...the entire cam has been snipped off, I used a knife to smoothen the edges, and, now as you can see the switches cannot be depressed (and thus full control over the AC and fresh air/recirculate has been achieved).
Rather than remove the switches and ruin the circuit board I decided that snipping off the plastic cam on the left side of the vent selector gear was the least risky way to achieve my goal.
With this mod in place the AC no longer comes on unless you press the AC switch, and, in defrost the fresh air/recirculate switch can be switched to either position.
As an aside I believe the way the switches interacted with the cam was a poor design and you can see on the bottom switch how I think that the cam and spring level got stuck and caused the spring lever to get damaged. With my mod the springs are totally free and clear and cannot cause jams now.
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