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Last fall I was told my HVAC/Interior Air Temperature sensor was bad, it was causing a audible buzzing noise from the right side of the steering column. I was told by the dealership if it wasn’t replaced it could cause a host of other issues. It’s a 2009 Buick Lacrosse with dual climate control.
Today it was raining and I used my defrost, which seemed to work fine. Afterwards I heard the buzzing noise again, so something told me to kick the heat on and low and behold, no heat. I had it set to 80 on both sides. My vehicle isn’t overheating, so I don’t believe it’s related to the cooling system. However due to my budget as a recent, not only did I not replace the sensor (which I can do myself, just have to pop the plastic cover off the underside of the steering wheel) I didn’t have my Dexcool coolant flushed when it was due 6 months ago.
I had a shadetree mechanic confirm my suspicions that it could be the HVAC sensor, but he isn’t good with the all the electronics used in todays vehicle.
I know it could be a coolant leak, blend door actuator among other things. Is there anyway to diagnose these issues without removing the dashboard?
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You know what, I’ll report back later. I completely forgot I have the dealership service manuals buried out in the garage somewhere. I’ll start with the HVAC sensor a new coolant, if that doesn’t fix it I’ll have to refer to proper diagnosis for the manuals. I sure don’t have the money to pay dealership labor so I hope I don’t break anything else in the process.
The interior air temp sensor pretty much does what it says. It draws in cabin air and takes it’s temperature. When the fan starts to go bad you get the noise you heard. The body computer then uses this info to calculate what it needs to do to bring the cabin air temperature to the temperature you set. If it doesn’t have a baseline reading, it can’t calculate how to change the temperature to the desired temperature. I’m curious if you unplug the sensor if it will work again. If it’s unplugged, the computer might ignore the signal and just go into a kind of limp in mode where it will try to get warmer or colder based on your inputs. Honestly I don’t know if this will work but I think it would be a fun experiment.
Keep us posted.
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