so im guessing everyone knows what a pain the lancer climate control unit can be, and how the knob from hot to cold is so taxing to operate.

i recently broke the stem that holds the knob on and i am currently in the process of epoxying it back, hopefully it holds. i couldnt think of how much help it would be to fix the knob but not the problem. so i too a pic or two and will share with you all what i am doing to fix the problem.



s there is the knob i broke, in the process of hopefully being fixed

i am using powdered graphite in the channel that shows the most resistance and hoping that will ease the burden of that knob twist

the channel is circled in red, ill post better pictures later, sorry for the quality

 

here are better photos...

the first pic is the knob stem that broke



the channel with the graphite in it




the knob also broke some of the fingers on it, s i made some more and stuck them to the knob...hopefully that works





let me know what you guys think, or what you did if youve had any problems

 

Mine gets stuck sometimes too. Pisses me off.

 

as it turns out, it is not the channel or any of those particular parts which cause the hell that is our climate control. i tore mine down after deciding that it could indeed not be fixed. and fount that it is where the stem that holds the knob goes through to the cog( the toothed part that rotates the channeled part) that has all of the friction. off hand the only way i can see to fix this problem would be to make a bolt of some sort, fixate to the cog and then fixate the knob to the other end, that would fix the control unit, but for now, i have just sought out and bout another one...not for cheap that will probably break again......


i hope this info helps someone

 

in my efforts to help anyone out suffering from this same problem i was turned on to a place in Tennessee that rebuilds things like our climate controls. after they fix it there is a 5 year warranty on their work...so far this seems like pretty good deal. all said and done i think it will cost me only 130-145$ compared to almost 300 from 2 of the stealerships ive called.

the place is called Auto&truck electronics in Tennessee.

here is their website
http://www.autoecu.com/index.php


ill let you guys know how it turn out when i get my CC back in about a week or so

 

well i got my climate control back....they replaced the stem that broke.

in my adventure thought i came to realize the climate control, and all the parts you touch through the dash are indeed not the problem. the problem lies in the level that that cable connects to. it is hard to turn even by hand. in light of this ive decided to keep that cable disconnected so i dont break the stem again, and im going to fabricate another control for the hot cold which will run next to my right leg on the center console. when i figure out an effective way to do this, i will report it, pics and all, and hopefully help some of you out.

 

According to the auto broker that sold me my car, this is covered under warrant. I haven't really looked into it myself but I will soon. Also, I found the exact fix for this on the mitchel1 program @ a shop I sometimes visit.

 

mines stuck, I change it by season by laying down under my wheel and moving it. it's annoying but I make sure to only do it twice a year anyway

 

theirs an easier fix for that stuck knob...

what i did was just replace the gears under the dash...
the part only cost like ~$25 total aft tax i think


This picture is what it looks like after the job is done
what i did was i took a pair of needle nose pliers and flatend out the cable..
now the knob turns freely make sure you apply grease where noted in the tsb

 

yeah my knob has been twisted of for a few years now... im pretty good at reaching under the dash and moving the parts by hand... heck i can even turn it from cold to hot with my foot hahaha.... i sure wish mitsubishi would have manned up and issued a recall... but i guess they only do that when people die

 

I bought a car ,knob was already broke ,guy has not fixed it yet, he says, he hasn't found it yet .summer is coming. where can i get one or can I do that too? under dash thing?
mine is 2002 lancer es

 

Hey where can I find those gears? I'm having the same issue and going under to adjusted the temp is annoying

 

Thanks for the info and links, just broke mine and was trying to figure out how the he** i am going to fix this.

 

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.

 

..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??