Jfeen

Hi All, I have a 2016 Chevy Equinox with roughly 103,000 miles. The heat hasn’t worked at all for about a week and a half. Before that it would work intermittently.

On Jan 22 I took it to a repair shop by my work and they replaced the blend door actuator motor, and the thermostat. That didn’t fix the problem so I took it back and now the mechanic says he needs to replace the “blend door motor” however he said Chevy discontinued the part and he would need to find it at a junk yard but is having trouble. Thing is, I can’t find this part online, I can’t even find a picture of it except for the one he showed me. Can anyone tell me if this is even a real part? What else could be causing the heat not to work? Thanks in advance!

mountainmanjoe

I'm so confused. So they want to replace your blend door actuator a SECOND time, but this time, the part is discontinued?
Didn't they test it after? Are they totally useless?


Anyway, can you please describe your symptoms in detail.
What exactly do you mean by "The heat hasn’t worked".

For instance ... there's no air blowing at all, or the air is the wrong temperature, or the air is coming out of the wrong vent?
Please elaborate. Thanks.

Jfeen

I’m beginning to think this guy is useless or scammed me but I’m not a mechanic so idk.

Anyway before he “fixed it” the heat would work intermittently as I mentioned above. When it wasn’t working the blower would blow air just not hot. The day I got my vehicle back from this mechanic the heat was blasting and seemed to be working fine until the next morning and it was just blowing cold air again. I took my vehicle back and he tried to do a temporary fix by trying to shut the cold air off. Well now it doesn’t blow any hot air at all. Its cold air all the time. This is when he said the blend door motor needs to be replaced. I think he’s thinking of a different part than the blend door actuator though because he showed me the part he’s looking for and it didn’t look like the actuator. He said it’s made up of several different parts when I asked him for a Chevy part number. I will try to get him
to send me a picture of the part he’s thinking and I’ll post it. He did find a dead mouse or rat when he replaced the actuator and said the animal might have caused damage.

Jfeen

This is the part the mechanic says he needs.

Rednucleus

Time for a new mechanic/2nd opinion

mountainmanjoe

did anybody look at the cooling system?
Is it topped up? Are both heater hoses getting hot?

BlueOx

Yea, no! That's a picture of the entire ventilating system. Never return to that garage again, I forbid you. Get a new mechanic. This is a picture of the actuator.

Jfeen

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions.

I know I should probably bring my vehicle somewhere else but at this point I paid this mechanic $350 and it sounds like he’s willing to work with me on labor if he finds the right part.

If he thought the actuator would fix it and it didn’t I don’t know what makes him think this part will. I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. This is the only major problem I’ve had with my Equinox and at this point contemplating trading it in.

Jfeen

He did add antifreeze and actually replaced the thermostat too

mountainmanjoe

but he couldn't be bothered to make sure if he actually fixed it or not? Come on.

This problem isn't rocket science. You shouldn't need to trade in your vehicle. This should be basic stuff for a real mechanic.