Recirc. Door Actuator Repair-How to-98 SC2

Hi maybe good for a sticky, thought I'd share how I fixed the HVAC Recirc. Door Actuator on my 1998 Saturn SC2.
When selecting fresh air or recirculate, the actuator under the passenger side of the dash would make a clicking noise and not change the air flow as it should, no sound of more air flow when set on recirculate vs fresh.

I've attached pics below.

I used 7/32" & 9/32" sockets for the job as well as screw driver and super glue and baking soda.

I remove the glove box door complete with hinge. The glove box sides does have side twist pull out release fasteners as well. 2 for glove box open stops and 2 for hinge pins. Careful, they are plastic.
Then also removed the glove box liner, which is behind the box.
Try not to break any fragile plastic. If you do, super glue the break back together. Once the glue is holding, you can super glue wet the break seam and sprinkle some baking soda on the wetness. This will make a strong crystal bond over the crack to help strengthen the mend.

You'll find the actuator box to the right, use a socket wrench to remove it's 2 attachment screws.

Take the box to a table and pop the case open using a screw driver to carefully release the clip on fingers.

I found the large nylon sprocket wheel inside was cracked/split into 2 halves, causing the non operation.
The crack is from the factory not filing the sprocket hole large enough to accommodate the metal center shaft. I mean they pressed the metal shaft into the sprocket tight hole to hold, instead of using a looser hole and gluing the 2 pieces together.

So I used a round file on the nylon sprocket's center, shaving it larger, until it would fit over the metal shaft, without any gaps in the 2 splits touching each other.
Then I cleaned the surfaces to apply glue to.
I applied super glue to the nylon sprocket's center and the cracked surfaces and installed the metal center shaft and held together until the glue set, a few minutes. Make sure the sprocket teeth of the 2 halves are all lined up.
Then I applied super glue on both sides of the metal shaft, where it meets the nylon sprocket, and to the glued split seams. Then I sprinkled some baking soda to these wetted areas.

Take care

 

Nice writeup.

Never knew about the baking soda thing.

For the record, 99.8% of the fasteners on Saturns are metric.

The admins seem to have left years ago, so stickyland may be far off. Quite deserving, though.