HELP - Recycled/Cabin Air Lever Stuck
 

The recycled/outside air lever is stuck on outside air; however, it clearly is doing only recycled air. This happened after the mechanic switched out that air filter for outside air. Does anyone know how I can get to this or fix this? Please help!

take it back! Very strange for it to be physically stuck with no range of motion...it's usually a wire cable. I had someone put in a new H/U into my Odyssey and he routed that cable wrong and so it had less length. then he connected it wrong so I only could go from full cold to the middle. had to open it all up to see the cable issue.

so maybe the mechanic let that cable get stuck in the paneling somehow, I would def make him look

the flapper door that controls inside/outside air is directly above the cabin filter in its air-duct. Your mechanic fat-fingered it.

So i would basically have to remove the cabin filter and fix it from there?

Drop the lower glove box down by squeezing in on the sides. Behind this is the recirculate air opening. Inside this is the flapper door controlled by the lever and cable that blocks off either outside or inside air from being sucked into the blower. Under the flapper is the air filter. Under this is the blower and motor.

I'd drop the glove box and check what's going on. Maybe he left a body back there.

Or you could drive back and ask him to fix it.

Just had the same issue on my sister's 2010 Sport. The lever was stuck on "recirculate" and would not move. I dropped the glovebox and popped the end of the cable out of the retainer clip, then pulled on the air flapper door to unstick it. Seems like what is really needed is some type of silicone lubricant on the flapper gasket to prevent it from sticking. Anyway, I just reinserted the cable into the clip and now it moves freely to both positions. I suggested to my sister that she leave the lever in a middle position when the car is parked to keep it from sticking again.

thanks for letting us know, will surely help someone down the road

Perhaps a simple fix
 

My air lever stuck. I took the glove box out, I checked the air filter. Nothing seemed wrong except the cable would not move the swinging flap so it would stay in the closed position (recycled air). Took it to a dealer who fixed it in five minutes. The open/close control rocker switch that the cable connects to had slipped out of its track. I tried to watch how to push it back in, but the space is so small I could not see the mechanic's hand as he did it. But the grove is there, you just have to find it by feel.

Why did the air lever stick in the open position? Simple--I had too many maps in the glove box and the one on top of the pile must have slipped back and interfered with the flap. When I tried to force the lever from recycled to fresh air, the force I used made the rocker control switch jump its track. Good design--better than it breaking.

^^ might be a good time to invest in a nuvi... or smartphone.

i dont remember the last time i carried a map in my cars.

Always carry a map for long trips. Not all towns/cities have cellphone service

Has anyone had any trouble with the AC button? I have a 2011 Sport and the AC button is stuck in the ON position. It won't pop back out.

@robertito Any advice on what part to adjust to try to get it back on track?

I'm having an issue with the recirculation/fresh air flapper door on my 2011 Honda Fit Sport as well, where it absolutely will not shut all the way (i.e. won't switch fully to recirculate mode). Here is a video of what's going on:


Does anyone have any idea what to do? I've tried manually pushing the plastic pieces, moving them around, pushing the switch hard toward recirculate mode (without breaking it obviously). Nothing works. I thought this may have happened when I changed my cabin air filter, but no matter what I do, it will not fully engage recirculate mode. Any ideas?

You really need to pay attention. That person only made that one post nearly seven years ago and hasn't been back since.

That said, did you try pulling out the filter to reach up behind the flap? Maybe something is blocking it.

You know what's the quickest way to turn away a new user to the forum? Your response. Make an assumption I'm being an idiot, then respond accordingly. I don't appreciate it. I have plenty of forums I don't visit often, but I will get notifications if I'm tagged in a post or someone responds to one I subscribed to. Why you ignored this fact and assumed I "wasn't paying attention" is rude.

Never had this issue. I wouldn't force the lever when something is obviously restricting the movement.
From the video it is hard to determine what it is going on. Do you have the resistance at the flap itself? There could be a mouse nest or connection of debri. Touch very carefully everywhere with your hand to determine the issue. It's mechanical and should be simple. :) De Ja Vue

Thanks very much for the helpful reply. I did move my hand all around the flap itself and the white plastic piece on the left side, but I didn't feel anything attached to either piece or restricting their movement. There certainly was no nest or anything like that in the flap. As you can see in the video, the white piece coming from the switch is pressing against the white piece connected to the flap, but either the switch piece is extending too far, or the flap piece is being restricted and not being allowed to move far enough. But without being able to detect an obstruction, I also wondered if it had something to do with the switch. The hard thing with that is that I can't easily get behind the switch (not enough room for my hand), and I assume I'd have to take the entire dash apart to get to it fully. If that's what it will end up taking, that's fine, but I hoped someone would have a magic fix in store that wouldn't require removing the dash! :)

If you'd like, I can take a cam and record the same video you have on my car, perhaps you could notice the difference in movement. But I can only do this when I wake up in the evening. Let me know.
(It is probably something with worn out linkage or some cable got off track or a plastic piece broke somewhere.
Has the air filter been replaced recently? Did the issue occur suddenly or was there resistance in the movement building up over time)?

That would be wonderful to be able to see a properly-working unit. Thank you so much for offering!

Yes, I did change the cabin air filter. It was afterward that I noticed the switch would no longer fully engage to recirc mode. The problem is that I just bought this car and hadn't tried the switch prior to changing the cabin air filter, so I don't know if it worked previously or not. 😕

If you that's what you think, then you should look at your post.

Your post is to a person that hasn't been on in 7 years. In order to get notification they have to have one or two settings on. The first is notification in general, and the second is to be emailed. If they didn't even show up after three posts, they're not going to after yours. So... you're going to wait for them to respond?

I've seen a LOT of new members' post on various forums that got pissed off because they didn't get a response... so, to avoid having a person wait and then complain about it, wouldn't it make more sense to point out that that person isn't even around?

And remember, they only joined that day, posted ONCE and left 2 minutes after (that is their "latest activity."). They were never going to return in the first place. That is a fact. If you were indeed paying attention, then you're simply refusing to acknowledge it, which makes it worse.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...6f1193a9a0.jpg
Seems the tab needs to go around and inserted into the plastic piece that has an opening in it (not sure what it would be called).
Well here is the video.
Hope it's helpful.
Seems maybe your plastic tab is out out of the track?