My ac does not properly work. it blows out all vents regardless of what mode works. the defrost is very weak as it is blowing out at my feet. dealership said it was a recirculating solenoid that is one of the ac doors. this one is located behind the glove compartment. they say is will be 1500 to fix as they have to take the dash out totaling to 10 hours of labor. Any input on this? thank you!
But you're having a problem with the Mode control so why are they going after the Recirculation actuator?
On the Chevys it's usually not even the Mode Actuator that's the problem. It's the Vent Door Levers which the Mode actuator controls that break.
They break like this:
And in your case it sounds like the lever that controls the Floor vents broke so it can't close off the Floor vents when it opens the Panel or Defrost vents so you get weak airflow out of the upper vents as air continues to flow out of the Floor vents.
The difference is that you can access these by just removing the Dash cluster instead of the entire dash and between accessing through the removed cluster and from under the dash these can be changed out. So instead of an all day job it becomes an hour and a half job cutting the labor charge considerably.
I was able to find a video of a guy making this repair on a 2013 Chevy Cruze. Yours should be similar because these parts are interchangeable between the Cruze and the Malibu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZhUxPAi6cc
Yeah that's how poorly they make those things. But try some independent mechanics. Many guys figured a faster way. Bye. Either drilling holes or cutting sections out behind the glove box that you don't even care about. Where there's a will there's a way
