Originally Posted by innovator

..I have a question.I have an 03 Lancer Oz..It seems that all of my knobs twist freely,and all of my speeds work correctly on my fan switch...I've been aware about the issues with the control unit for the Lancers...However,,what's happening with mine,is that even though I shut my panel switch to off,air still wants to come freely through my vents,which obviously is hot air after the car warms up..And when you change from defrost to vent to floor etc,even with the switch set at off,hot air still wants to come through my vents...Obviously,if the car is cold,it will push cool air through the vents...I had someone told me that the blender door was stuck open allowing hot air to come thru the vehicle...I find it odd that air comes through the vents with the switch set at off,while all of the speeds on the switch panel work(1-4) correctly.It sucks when its hot outside,and driving inside the car is literally 15 degrees hotter than standing outside the car..lol..Anyone know what my problem is??

Originally Posted by epulliam

just for future reference, and anyone that stumbles on this thread searching google (it pops up high when searching lancer/evo heater control) - the issue (after owning 2 evos and 2 ozs) is the heater blend door and the cable that goes to it from the gear on the back of the knob. quit messin with the knob and gears, those are not the issue. Have you noticed it's hard to turn toward heat, but not toward cool? That's because the cable (like the type your bicycle's brakes used when you were a kid) has to be pushed inward to go to heat. At the first sign of trouble (hard to turn to heat), pop the face off the heat controls/radio and take that cable loose from the arm/gears. Use pliers or even an old manual choke knob to adjust your heat/cool until you get your parts. Trace and remove the cable, at the end of the cable you will see it's connected to the heater blend door. After you remove the cable check to see if it's hard to move the door manually, if it is, lube it or figure out how to free it up a little, then REPLACE the cable. The cable is part of the issue. 4 cars = 4 crimped cables - I'm not sure how they got crimped, or if they come that way, and the door seizing up just makes it worse, but you definitely want to spend the extra $5 to $7 to get a new cable. Just do it BEFORE you try to turn the knob hard and break the stem, no amount of epoxy or superglue will make it right again - half the people who try end up seizing the whole rotating assembly. It's over 300$ to replace that control module, and all it is, are some plastic gears and arms.

If it is broke, and you're adventurous, you can do what I did on my first evo for less than the price of replacing the heat controls. Find a nicer (luxury model) Mits in the junk yard, and grab the electronic climate control out of it. If it's too new it won't work, and if it's a model where the car also has an lcd screen for nav it probably won't work either (not self contained). I think I got the stuff out of a 2002 diamante, but I've seen the same controls in the SUV's and trucks. These units have all the controls in a row the size of a 1 din radio or smaller, and are self contained electronically. I did have to go back for a fitting or 2, so get as much as you can (cables and all + wiring harness) while you are at the yard. I was able to use the factory made lancer/evo radio relocation kit to put the controls down by the shifter. This opened up the whole top of the dash for a 7 or 8 inch touchscreen or dbl din. You can modify the bezel, make a bezel, or find the place that sells the aftermarket dbl din kit and just buy the bezel not the whole kit. I've seen other people move the factory controls down to the bottom, cut the heat control part out, and make it themselves. It looked pretty good, but I could still see a tiny bit of recessed circle at the edge where its pushed in for the left and right knobs. Nobody but an evo owner whose thought about doing that would have even noticed, but it's one of those things I just couldn't live with, because I would know what they were. If you dont want to move them down by the shifter, I think I measured and found that the digital controls I'm talking about would fit in the area where the 3 circles (knobs) go, you'd just have to cut the right shape opening, and secure it in the space where the old controls used to sit. That 2002 diamante control panel has a little lcd screen in the middle, it looks nice - everyone always asked about it, and it wasn't difficult at all.

Originally Posted by Michael Charles

Like most of the posts, I too have broken the knob off the heater. So now there are really two problems:
1. The stiffness that is a poor design by Mitsubishi
2. A broken heater control knob shaft

Rather than replacing the entire system or reaching underneath the steering wheel consider purchasing a new shaft and a new Lancer heater control repair kit?

The shaft: $ 25 on ebay: 03 05 Lancer 03 06 Outlander Heater Control Panel Switch Knob Shaft | eBay

The control kit: $ 36 on Amazon Amazon.com: 2003-2007 GENUINE MITSUBISHI LANCER HEATER AIR CONTROL LINK BLEND DOOR REPAIR COMPLETE KIT INCLUDES GEAR KIT 7801A110, 1 CABLE MR513273 PLUS TEMPERATURE KNOB MR500925: Automotive

This option will take an hour or two to take apart heater control and get that new shaft on but I do think it it better than the other options. Minimal maintenance skills needed, just some patience and a screwdriver and needle nosed pliers.