:bannana:On my 1995 W124 the centre cold blower slats had all collapsed and the thumbwheel had “caved in” here’s a rather muddled account of how I fixed it:
I found the reason the slats had fallen out of their places was because the 2 vertical “columns” had broken causing the housing “mouth” to open, thus disengaging the slat pins. I glued the columns back with hard plastic cement and held the mouth together with masking tape till it dried.
Remove the clip on fascia to access the innards The small ‘pin’ protrusions on the plastic horizontal slats clip into the holes on each side of the housing, on the far outsides the slats are linked together by some small (easily lost!) metal links with small holes which have small leaf springs built in, these keep the horizontal slats in unison. The small leaf spring faces toward the housing, also they are bowed frontward. The lever (on the second slat up) to adjust the side-to-side adjustment of the vertical slats fit into the slat with the cog on it, its cog teeth are located dead centre when the knob is cantered. Vertical slats have 3 pins; top and bottom and another pin, which goes into the “rail”. Disassembly\Assembly is fairly easy if you study things.
On mine some of the pins had broken and I had to remake them and glue in place.
The thumbwheel had come away from its clips so I glued it back in place making sure not to get any glue on the wheel mechanism! When you re-engage the cogs, point the vertical slats forwards and centralize both cogs. Make sure the fascia is replaced firmly as this keeps the horizontal slats in place. Reinstallation of the unit is the reverse of removal. Hope somebody finds this useful?
- Remove the long vertical bolt from inside the passenger foot well padding
- Using a flat blunt knife or similar work the airbag out of its space and slide it out.
- Make a note of and remove the 2 connectors, then set aside.
- Remove the Philips screw into the side of the air vent.
- Feed an Allen key into the top slats just to the right of the thumbwheel to disengage it from the white Nylon linkage.
- Using a blade screwdriver depress the metal clips inside the vent housing top and bottom, and work it forwards. It should now slide out.
I found the reason the slats had fallen out of their places was because the 2 vertical “columns” had broken causing the housing “mouth” to open, thus disengaging the slat pins. I glued the columns back with hard plastic cement and held the mouth together with masking tape till it dried.
Remove the clip on fascia to access the innards The small ‘pin’ protrusions on the plastic horizontal slats clip into the holes on each side of the housing, on the far outsides the slats are linked together by some small (easily lost!) metal links with small holes which have small leaf springs built in, these keep the horizontal slats in unison. The small leaf spring faces toward the housing, also they are bowed frontward. The lever (on the second slat up) to adjust the side-to-side adjustment of the vertical slats fit into the slat with the cog on it, its cog teeth are located dead centre when the knob is cantered. Vertical slats have 3 pins; top and bottom and another pin, which goes into the “rail”. Disassembly\Assembly is fairly easy if you study things.
On mine some of the pins had broken and I had to remake them and glue in place.
The thumbwheel had come away from its clips so I glued it back in place making sure not to get any glue on the wheel mechanism! When you re-engage the cogs, point the vertical slats forwards and centralize both cogs. Make sure the fascia is replaced firmly as this keeps the horizontal slats in place. Reinstallation of the unit is the reverse of removal. Hope somebody finds this useful?
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