2006 Suburban front Air conditioning issue

[fgross2006]

Hopefully this is an acceptable post in the non FEP forum.

My 200 Suburban has has issues with the front AC system randomly blowing warm/hot air for 2 summers. This has been an ongoing issue I've been chasing and its getting frustrating.

My mechanic suggested the compressor was tired so I just wasted $ on parts and labor for a brand new AC compressor that did not solve the problem. The rear AC system blows ice cold. Just not the front.

I replaced the orifice tube for the second time, blend door actuator, the blower motor resistor and the AC pressure switch that mounts on the accumulator cannister, both genuine AC Delco parts. I replaced the HVAC Control panel with a brand new Dorman 599-211.

The Dorman reprogrammed itself as soon as it powered up. I tried reprograming the blend door by pulling the fuse and letting it relearn. When I do that the issue gets worse and blows hot air for awhile after going through the re program routine.

My mechanic wants me to replace the orifice tube and blend door with genuine AC Delco, which I have ordered for tomorrow. But I am skeptical on this.

All my Googling and youtubing have brought me to vids that say its the blend door and my 2006 suburban only has one. Something else electronic is causing a random hot to cold issue in the front system only. I've dumped so much money is parts and labor chasing this issue. I hate to go to the dealer but I'm out of idea.

[qikgts]

Did you get anywhere with this?

Cabin air temp sensor may be the issue. I believe this one goes in the front headliner and if the issue is just happening in the front, it may be worth the few bucks considering what an hour of diag at the dealer is gonna cost.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...=14376&jsn=942

This next one, I think installs in the ducts to allow the system to sense temp in each duct for multi zone temp controls. I doubt the whole front would be having an issue if one of these went bad. Also pretty sure you would also need to have independent temp control for driver and passenger to need them anyway.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...=14376&jsn=940

[fgross2006]

Did you get anywhere with this?

Cabin air temp sensor may be the issue. I believe this one goes in the front headliner and if the issue is just happening in the front, it may be worth the few bucks considering what an hour of diag at the dealer is gonna cost.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...=14376&jsn=942

This next one, I think installs in the ducts to allow the system to sense temp in each duct for multi zone temp controls. I doubt the whole front would be having an issue if one of these went bad. Also pretty sure you would also need to have independent temp control for driver and passenger to need them anyway.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...=14376&jsn=940

I did finally solve this. I replaced the cabin air sensor 2 years back when I got the SUV because of heat problems. Those sensors will cause you get cold air unless your set at 90 degrees. And you'll bake.

But the AC was a frustrating journey. I swapped the HVAC panel 3 times. No change. I changed a sensor thats behind the grill, no change, put in a new compressor, new blend door actuator, no change. Constantly getting cold/warm and it got worse till it was warm 90% of the time, then suddenly ice cold for 30 seconds. I was about to replace the duct sensors next, requiring a partial dash pull. Then my mechanic suddenly thought of the accumulator. Honestly, its considered good practice to change the accumulator together with a new compressor and neither of us thought the accumulator looked old or bad.

A light bulb in his head went off while we were standing by the car idling and the compressor kicked on, he started feeling hoses and said the accumulator is supposed to be ice cold when the AC compressor is engaged. It wasn't.

For $22 in parts and $100 in labor that was what corrected it. The only bad thing is when he purged the system he said it was low on refrigerant. Since we had replaced the compressor barely a month prior and the system was charged with a fill of freon. That means I have a slow leak somewhere which Ill have to wait till next spring to locate. For now, I still get cold AC

And it wasn't low freon that caused the warm air because the day we installed the compressor and charged it and still got warm air.

Never hesitate to change the accumulator.

[fgross2006]

I did finally solve this. I replaced the cabin air sensor 2 years back when I got the SUV because of heat problems. Those sensors will cause you get cold air unless your set at 90 degrees. And you'll bake.

But the AC was a frustrating journey. I swapped the HVAC panel 3 times. No change. I changed a sensor thats behind the grill, no change, put in a new compressor, new blend door actuator, no change. Constantly getting cold/warm and it got worse till it was warm 90% of the time, then suddenly ice cold for 30 seconds. I was about to replace the duct sensors next, requiring a partial dash pull. Then my mechanic suddenly thought of the accumulator. Honestly, its considered good practice to change the accumulator together with a new compressor and neither of us thought the accumulator looked old or bad.

A light bulb in his head went off while we were standing by the car idling and the compressor kicked on, he started feeling hoses and said the accumulator is supposed to be ice cold when the AC compressor is engaged. It wasn't.

For $22 in parts and $100 in labor that was what corrected it. The only bad thing is when he purged the system he said it was low on refrigerant. Since we had replaced the compressor barely a month prior and the system was charged with a fill of freon. That means I have a slow leak somewhere which Ill have to wait till next spring to locate. For now, I still get cold AC

And it wasn't low freon that caused the warm air because the day we installed the compressor and charged it and still got warm air.

Never hesitate to change the accumulator.

So this headache has returned. Last year after replacing the accumulator I had ice cold AC the duration of the summer. I just started putting the AC on and once again I get ice cold from rear and passenger vents but 90 degrees from driver side vents.

[scenarioL113]

Do you think possibly the "blend door" is not closing or opening?

If you compressor is working then I do not think you are low on freon.

[fgross2006]

Heres the latest on this ongoing issue.

The AC system works. Its not low on freon. The rear AC and the passenger side AC blow ice cold.

Last year my mechanic said he found the plug to the blend door controlling driver side air wasn't making contact with the prongs in the blend door so he pinched each connector to squeeze them tighter. I had AC the remainder of the summer but I noticed this winter that my heater was on blast furnace no matter how low I set the temp.

I realized the blend door is stuck on 90 degrees and again there's no power to the blend door actuator. I tried to swap the actuator but it still doesn't function. I pulled all 5 wires from the plug and pinched all of them with needle nose pliers to make sure they grab the prongs but still no power to the blend door actuator.

I see I can get a replacement connector that's $55 for original AC Delco. https://www.partsgeek.com/gcb69jp-ch...connector.html

I'm not sure how to test the wires for voltage because there's 5 wires, not just power and ground so I'm gonna go back to my mechanic AGAIN. This has been ongoing for the 3rd summer in a row. There has to be a fix for this. I even tried moving the blend door manually, but the vacuum buildup inside the HVAC box pulls the door back into its 90 degree temp position within a block of driving.

[fgross2006]

UPDATE

My mechanic checked it out today and insists that either the blend door actuator is bad or the HVAC because there is no signal getting to the blend door actuator.

I changed the HVAC 4 times and the blend door actuator 4 times last summer so it feels like a waste of time but he says he cant troubleshoot further unless I replace those parts so once again I ordered a blend door actuator and an HVAC, both Dorman's.

There's also a trouble code B0414, but its like saying water is wet. I know the blend door isn't functioning, the question is why?

[fgross2006]

solved at least for now.

I replaced the connector first. Still no power to the old blend door actuator.

I plugged in the new blend door actuator and it moved the dial from center to far right which is cold. Then it would not respond to temperature adjustments. So i had one actuator stuck on heat and another stuck on cold.

Then I swapped the HVAC with a Dorman I got from Amazon and it went through its cycle with the new actuator the way its supposed to. Then I put the old actuator back and it was dead.

So I determined the old actuator is definitely dead, but last week I tried another actuator that didn't respond to the old HVAC. I was thinking the HVAC and the actuator were both bad but then when I tried AC I found the new HVAC was not turning on the compressor. These Dorman HVAC's for Chevy suburbans are made like crap.

I put the other HVAC back in not only did the AC return to functionality, but the blend door is working too,

I am thoroughly confused by it and am just happy I have AC and temp control function again.

A brand new Dorman, right out of the box and the AC compressor doesn't power up. One I tried last summer had a bad resirc function.

I wish AC Delco still made the HVAC but the only options are Dorman or a bunch of other no frill rebuilds.

I may find a service that refurbs original units and send out my stock HVAC.

[fgross2006]

The painful journey with the AC in my 2006 Suburban continues.

I get ice cold air alternating with warm air. I checked and the clutch is engaged . My mechanic said the system is fully charged and not leaking. He suspects the HVAC control in the dash is sometimes not engaging the compressor. That sounds possible since one of the replacement HVACs I tried at the beginning of this summer would not engage the AC at all and had to be returned.

The only options on those Chevy HVACs are Dorman or go with an ebay seller that sells refurbs. I have tried both and literally swapped this HVAC about 6 times in the past 2 years.

Any suggestions?

[qikgts]

I see that Dorman has 2 part numbers with an XD in them for your application as per Rock Auto. They are "new" not reman. And for the one with the electronic/digital temp display there are instructions to make sure it gets configured correctly. If you bought that one, did you follow the instructions?

[fgross2006]

I see that Dorman has 2 part numbers with an XD in them for your application as per Rock Auto. They are "new" not reman. And for the one with the electronic/digital temp display there are instructions to make sure it gets configured correctly. If you bought that one, did you follow the instructions?

I've been buying and using brand new Dormans and they are pre programmed to run a cycle when connected. In fact those units will re run the program anytime the battery is disconnected, or the HVAC fuse pulled, which is a quick way to induce the program to run.

I've been through a ringer with these Dorman's. There is always something wrong with them. I had one that the recirc function didn't work and another that AC function would not kick the compressor on. Various ones that would not communicate with the blend door for the driver side.

I've come to the conclusion the Dormans are junk. But there's no other option other than a hand made refurb from an ebay seller and I tried one of those too.

My son ran a scan with an Autel. it kicked up HVAC codes B0159, B0164, B0510, B0174, B0515, B0179 all codes that point to temp sensors in the cabin. I changed the aspirator sensor just about the driver side in the headliner with a genuine AC Delco and yet I'm getting this code.