Hi guys I have an 03' Z touring six speed. The problem I'm having is that whenever I hit a pretty big pothole or bump my heater will come on by itself. The heater **** shows that it's turned off but the heater is blowing hot air while the a/c light is on. Also even if I have my A/C on and I hit a bump or pothole, the heater will come on also and blow hot air instead of cold. The only way for me to stop this is to bang on the center console and it will temporarily cure the problem, until I hit another bump then it does the same thing again. What could this be? I'm guessing a faulty switch but I'm not sure.

P.S. I'm also having problem with controlling heater temperature. I can only get either very hot air or air-conditioned air. So the temperature ****, which is supposed to gradually change air temperature is now operating as an on/off switch. Again, I'm guessing the switch went bad. Or maybe I have a short somewhere in that circuit? I don't know. Help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

don't hit very big potholes lol. Do you hit potholes a lot??? But seriously, it sounds like a loose connection somewhere. I know, not much help but it if you're comfortable with pulling off your center console, I'd pull it back and check connections.

 

Look in section ATC of the service manual for your year car. You'll see the heat output is controlled by the air mix door, which is operated by an electric motor. The motor is driven by a local control unit, which gets directions from the unified meter and A/C amplifier (a microprocessor), which gets inputs from the various control switches and sensors. Just about anything in the system (including the aforementioned connectors) could be the source of the errant signals that are causing the air mix door to go to the full-heat position.

It's a far cry from the old lever and push-pull cable that they used to use to control the heater.