I have a question about my 1997 Mazda Protege DX?

[tjtowns74017]

My heater is not working right now and with Winter coming I want to try and get it fixed. It is the lever in the interior of the car that is the problem. It had been getting really stiff when I would move it and a few weeks back it warmed up and when I put it to cool all the way to the left and it wouldn't come off of heat so I pushed it with some force and it finally moved, and it would cool, but now it moves really easy and the heat will not come back.

The question I have is what I need to do to fix it? Is there some type of cable that broke or at least broke free? I am assuming I have to remove that panel, but I don't want to pull it off and be wrong about where to access the part that needs fixing. Also what do you do to get that panel off? I don't want to be too forceful and break anything. I don't know if I gave enough info to be able to get a good answer but I wanted to try.

 

[Tottenhamdog]

I kinda had the same problem, go to you locale car store and try to buy a manual for the car how to take things off and replace things. Find the screws and take off the front console and you should see what the problem is.

Good Luck

 

[helpful bob]

I'd suggest honestly that to gain knowledge etc try going to a do it yourself auto wreckers and pulling one out there , that way you'd see the system and know what parts might be loose or broken and can take the common easy access parts with or the whole assembly if need be.Most of them involve removing face plates , a few screws or bolts and pulling the assembly out.

Hope that helps and best of luck.By the way a good service manual or a diagram or instruction print out from a auto parts store might help here too.It's quite possible that a basic linkage came off or is loose causing your problem or a piece of plastic etc is broken.