Interior vent debris
 

Has anyone else had an issue with foam insulation / debris blowing from the vents with the AC / fan is running?

Yes, especially where you live. I swear I've even seen a write up on accessing the vent and getting the foam out but where it was now escapes me. I looked in the two places I though I'd find it.

Here are a couple of related links:

http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/31364-what-stuff.html

http://986forum.com/forums/performance-technical-chat/25047-foam-coming-out-c-vents.html

And a link to the DIY that Meir posted:

http://986forum.com/forums/diy-project-guides/37246-c-evaporator-replacement-c-foam-flakes.html

Mine just started doing this! Dang stuff has blown into my eyes while driving!

Yup, unfortunately this has afflicted me too.

Question-about how many years old must our cars be to start having the stuff blow out of the vent?

Not a question of years so much as conditions it operates in. Heat/Cold help loosen the glue and dry the foam.

Mine started spitting foam bits at me at around 12 years of age.

What exactly is the source of the foam? Is it coming from the foam tape used in the piping pieces that connect at various parts under the dash?

Foam in Air Vents?

the foam is covering the internal flap inside the AC air box.
the flaps are made of metal and have holes in it (i guess to reduce weight)
this is how it looks:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1358534255.jpg


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1358534281.jpg

I know this is an old thread, but I too have only luke warm heat and foam blowing from vents. I am only moderately handy on DIY projects, but feel like I can attempt the project to refoam/tape the mixer door. Its getting access that worries me. I've been through these types of projects before where I caused another problem trying to fix the first. Anyone have success with this DIY of dremeling the cap of the mixer door off the repair the Swiss Cheese flap problem? If so, any tips or pointers?


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I remember a year or two ago thinking smugly that I didn't have the foam problem. Now I have it :)

Yeah, I guess it wasn't a problem for the original owner of my car as it was in FL. Although I wonder if it was not blowing cold A/C down there. I really didn't get a chance to test the A/C as I bought the car in the early fall and brought it back to Boston, but there is no "hot" heat for sure - and foam galore! Hey, I rhymed [emoji6]
My indy said it was blowing 100F at the defrost vent, but I don't buy it. And they had never heard of the foam symptoms. So, I am thinking of going in there myself. Again, in spite of the DIY write ups, I just would like to hear from someone who did it to prop up my courage a bit.


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stay positive.
in a year or two it will be all gone. :D
lucky for us, lack of foam affects only the heating function, and not the cooling.

i did it and the write-up is attached on thstone post.
will be happy to answer any question you might have.
i think i also have the write-up for the other method you mentioned, going thru the heater core and cutting the axis point.
i will see if i can post it here.

OK.
i found the file, but it is to big to upload, so here is a link from my dropbox.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hx9qr0t3jtkv6th/986%20Heater%20Flap%20Repair.pdf?dl=0

Thanks, Meir. Yes, I saw that DIY write-up for 986: Heater Box Repair. That's the one I may try this weekend. I'm just a little hesitant as this - for me - is a big DIY. I want to know if there are any "top tips" (to quote Edd China from Wheeler Dealers) or "beware of this" warnings. I understand you removed the entire heater core, whereas I just want to procedure above.

I actually made a brief attempt to remove the cowl to investigate a few weeks ago and ended up not being to properly re-connect the windshield washer tubes to the nozzles. Not a big deal as the 12-year old nozzles were barely functioning and were going to be replaced anyway by my indy, but you get the picture. Thanks for your help!

Also, did I read you sold the '99? Replace it with anything fun?

Whatever you decide to do, take your time, and do not rush anything.
Come with confidence, but not over confidence. This is the key for any secsessfull project. I remember that when I started mine, I took in mind that I might fail, and will need the help of a professional. So worst case scenario, I assumed I will pay someone to fix the car. So it makes no difference if I try first, right?
During the past 5 years I owned 2 boxsters and compleated many projects, including 2 clutches,2 coolant tanks, 2 RMS , IMS bearing,axels rebuild and many more.
Spent only $260 on labor, to have the AC guy evacuate and recharge the system.
My 01S was my first car I ever worked on. I do not consider my self as a gifted mechanic or anything like it. I just spent a lot of time reading, and learning from others. Most important, I accepted the fact that if I mess up, I have no problem to pay for it. ;)
Funny you mentioned.
I just saw today a nice 01 996 with 75k miles, that will probebly need all of the above.
So looks like I might have another project for this winter, if I get it for the right price. :cheers:

Well, I tried......
 

to perform the DIY. Took my quite a while to get to the point that the mixer door was out of the car, but I got there. Re-foamed and taped up the door. Putting it back in was very difficult for me. To get the little bushings under the door axis caps on both top and bottom was super tricky. After some cursing and blood, I thought I had every thing back together in order.

Alas, when I started the car up and brought it up to temp for the all-important test of my not too handiwork.......it blew cold air :( Not even luke warm like before. I could hear the servo motor moving (or trying to move?) the door when I changed the temp on the dash control unit. Any ideas before I admit final defeat and take her to the dealer?

I did take some pics that I hope can be of help to others.

http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/a...psc3htohnv.jpg
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/a...psmm0gkfvo.jpg
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/a...pss5z2ksq8.jpg
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/a...psqacqkvyi.jpg
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/a...pshgqzx4j2.jpg

do you have a picture of the re foamd flap back in place?

No, i didn't take a picture of that. I do recall the small side of the mixer door (with single row of holes) was facing into the heater core space , but maybe it was placed incorrectly. My thought is its not pivoting. I guess I could take it all apart again to compare to the pic I had of the door before I took it out, but I am not relishing that at this point! I am going away for Thanksgiving and may decide to do that when I come back, or just take it to the dealer to fix and probably chuckle at another DIY gone bad [emoji6]

You have been very helpful and kind, Meir. Thanks!


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The reason I asked, is becaus it looks liked you warped the flap on both sides.
Not only that, from the picture it looks like the new foam is wraped around the edge of the flap. I believe it create friction between the flap and the box, so the flap cannot move.
I whould give it another chance (after thanksgiving :chicken:).
Try to reform the flap again. I will post a pic of the foam I used.
You can get it at Home Depot.

Oh, I thought the DIY indicated to wrap the foam around the edges to create a "seal" effect (i.e. to prevent air going around the sides). But what you say makes sense to me. I suspect the door is stuck, or not properly seated.

I sent the car of to my indie today, along with my pics and the DIY document. I hope they can sort it out. I'll let you know.

Again, thanks for your input, Meir. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

happy thanksgiving to you and all forum members.
just in case, here is a pic of the foam i used:


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01/Foam1448476865.jpg

looking at my pics i noticed i re foamed the flaps on both sides as well, but i trimmed the foam at the edges.


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1448476961.jpg

Problem resolved
 

I have heat! Now measures 124F when at running temp on HIGH.

The DIY would have worked if I was a little more patient or skilled. The bushing at the bottom of the mixer door axis was cracked, causing the door not to pivot when activated by the servo motor. Not sure if I damaged it during reassembly (it was very tricky to remount the door), or if it had been broken all along. The problem area is located under the circle accessed from the under dash in passenger footwell:

http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/a...pslzxn2vuh.jpg

The indie was able to repair the bushing - hopefully - for a long term fix. They had never heard of this foam/mixer door problem, so they learned something. Maybe because it is not as common in colder climates. My car was born and raised in FL. Cost was 4 hours labor.

Glad to see you sort it out.
:dance:

LOL, yes! The indie sorted it out for me for $400. Oh well, like you said - try it myself and if it fails then - I was going to pay anyway.

But seriously, I feel like I learned a lot about the car and, actually, the indie learned something new too. They had never seen this problem before as I guess the foam doesn't deteriorate over time up north like it does in the south.

Thanks for your help, Meir!:cheers:

I have a 1999 Boxster with the vent debris problem. I currently have the dash off for an unrelated issue, and decided to look into the debris problem at the same time. I'm trying to decide if I go down the full disassembly route or not, and have a couple of questions about the two different options. As I understand it, the options are:

1) Easy option - single flap repair. Access the hot/cold mixer flap from the front trunk. Flap is removed by using dremel tool to cut away flap upper bushing housing. Flap is removed through hole where heater core is mounted. Re-foam single flap. Reassemble.

2) Difficult option - dual flap repair. Remove heater core from front trunk, remove dash and dash mounting structure, evacuate A/C system, remove entire HVAC assembly from passenger compartment, disassemble HVAC housing. Re-foam both flaps. Reassemble.

Is this an accurate summary of the two options? If so, what does the second flap do? Is it for switching air between footwell/dash/defrost? Or outside air/recirculated air?

I'm thinking it's a better use of my time to skip the full repair option, to not further disassemble the dash, skip evacuating/refilling the A/C, and just re-foam the one flap from the front trunk. But I want to make sure I'm not missing some obvious justification for doing the full disassembly.

FYI, here's a picture of the flaps, taken through the passenger compartment center vent location.
http://i.imgur.com/FWvUjcym.jpg?1

Thanks in advance!

Boy, option 2 seems like an awful lot of work to me.

Let Meir chime in or PM him. He really knows this issue and I think has had the dash completely out.

Me, I just wanted heat - and to stop the foam debris from blowing everywhere - and option 1 worked.

Hi Carlton.
Your summery is pretty accurate.
In both option 1&2, you are reforming the flap the directs the air from the AC blower fan, to the heater core or the evaporator.
The other flap, directs the air between upper and lower AC ducts.
The circulation is controls by a third flap that doesn't need to be reformed.
It has a thick foam that doesn't disintegrate.
So to answer your question, you will get the same result with option 1 and 2 with everything related to the heat/cold control.
I have never tried option one, but can tell you that option 2 took me about 4 hours to compleate (after the dash was out).
In my case reforming was just "while I'm in there" kind of thing, as I needed to replace the leaking evaporator. So I never really evaluated option 1.
If to be honest, I have the same issue (foam flakes) in my C2.
At the moment I have no intention of attending it.
But that is easy to say when I need to use the heat twice a year (if at all).

Thanks for the feedback! I'm starting reassembly of the dash and will deal with the re-foaming through the front trunk at a later time...

Would this foam cause the heater to not blow as warm as it should?

Yes. The flap has large holes that are covered by the foam. If the foam is missing, the flap won't divert as much incoming air over the heater core, causing low temps.

…

Sorry, Markus

So I've had this foam deterioration for a while but never understood why. Now I know. I live in central TX, so it's not about getting warm air in winter for me. The issue I am having (other than years of foam bits coming out of the vents) is that the AC blows cold air out of the defrost duct vents even though my AC control is set to blow air only out of the center/side dash vents. What this does is cool the windshield, and I get condensation on the outside of the windshield, along the bottom where the glass is cold.

I have tested the AC control settings. I get air through the center/side ducts no matter what. With all controls in the off position, but AC running, air comes out of center ducts and the defrost ducts. If I turn on the footwell ducts, air stops coming from the defrost ducts and out the footwell ducts. This tells me the defrost/footwell flap is working. Working the various combinations, it looks like the center/side ducts flap is not working correctly. It is not closing off completely the access to the defrost/footwell ducts, like it should if you want all air to come out the center/side ducts.

I am trying to figure out if all the flaps have this foam, in which case that is likely my problem, or if there is something else wrong that is preventing the center/side duct flap from functioning correctly.

There has to be another way...
 

At first I just had foam blowing out the vents, but after about a year, there was no hot air and on cold mornings, the windshield would frost back up. I quit driving that car on cold days.
I first saw Meir's DIY about two years ago. I downloaded the .pdfs and studied them getting ready to do the job. Great work and well documented. Recently I decided to stop putting it off and get the job done. I pulled the HVAC unit from my parts car off the shelf and used it for a visual aid. Looking it over, I came up with another way to access the flaps.

The flaps are behind a duct behind the dashboard center console.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1478054051.jpg

I tried to see if there was a way to move it without removing the dashboard, but it can't be done.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1478054133.jpg

With that duct out of the way, the flaps are accessible. How to get there....?
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1478054276.jpg

Another way:
 

1. I ended up pulling out the console, which had already been modified for a 2 DIN head unit.
2. Cut the duct so I could peel it down out of the way and temporarily taped it.
3. My foam was COMPLETELY gone, otherwise I would have cleaned the flaps.
4. Covered the flaps with a heavy duct tape that has a long lasting, thick adhesive.
5. Tested the operation to make sure nothing was blocked and the tape was secure.
6. Put it back together and used the same tape to seal the duct.

Relatively quick and painless. YMMV depending on your center console configuration.:dance:
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1478054876.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1478054894.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1478054906.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1478054931.jpg

This is awesome. Seems like relatively easy access to both flaps.

No issues getting your hands/arms in the hole to the bottoms of the flaps?

I used strips of tape that were between two and four inches long. At first I tried poking them in with a trim tool, but using my hand worked best. With the flaps in the resting position, it was difficult, but doable. I think that the best access was with the AC running and the fan on low. I poked my camera in for this shot, then put on one more piece of tape to caver a gap:
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1478095838.jpg