I've recently had a bunch of work done on my A/C system to get it all working correctly. The A/C now works and blows out cold air from all 4 vents but the 2 center vents are not pushing out air with the same amount of pressure as the 2 outside vents. Is that normal, should the outside vents push out air with more pressure? I assumed they would all be pushing with the same amount of pressure.

There is a way to jury rig the center vents where they stay open all the time and you can close em manually.

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Jim

Right, I actually did know that and probably would've gone that route if I was fixing it myself but I actually paid someone to make them work correctly so I want to make sure they are working right.

Regardless, the question remains... whether or not the center vents are permanently rigged to remain open or not, should the center vents be blowing the same amount of air as the outside vents? Right now the pressure coming out of the center vents is about half the pressure as the outside vents, which doesn't seem right but I could be wrong.

IME the middle vents blow harder/better than the outside ones in all conditions, since its more direct than the corrugated tube to get to the outer ones.

If its a vacuum system, the pods in any spot might be impaired. I prefer air towards my face in all conditions, so I permanently made the front center flap open in my ACC controlled 300CD.

On my 240D, I would get TONS (better than the 300D) flow through the center two, but none from the outer vents. They had fallen off the plenum - so air was just randomly blowing under the dash. Reconnection was all it took - friction fit of the corrugaed hose under there.

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (113k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
1993 300SD (291k)
1993 300D 2.5T (338k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K)
1985 300D (233K)

Yeah, apparently it was the vacuum pods and they supposedly replaced the center ones but it doesn't seem to be fixed. So annoying.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/400609-85-300d-ac-center-vents-3.html

Then cap off the center vent vac so you don’t have a continuous leak.

Both my 300cd and 240d have the ability to manually control the center vents so I’m not concerned with doing this. I like the air front and center personally.

__________________
Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (113k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
1993 300SD (291k)
1993 300D 2.5T (338k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K)
1985 300D (233K)

Yeah, I suppose I could do this but it kind of defeats the purpose of paying someone to fix it correctly, which is what I did, unfortunately.

I just took it back to my mechanic and yeah, something came unattached and he was able to hook it back up and now we're back in business. All good!

Sounds good JB , where did you take it ? .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Which end of the hose? Speaker side or other?
Mine have always been pretty piddly compared to the center

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

You have to go into the dash and look Sherm .

I know this isn't a fun thing anyone wants to do but you'll be amazed at what you may find in there .

I often discover the large rubber boot to the center vents is not properly installed, allowing air volume to blow uselessly under the dash board instead of out the center two vents .

There's also another flapper that directs more air to the defroster vents, it fails /sticks and of course the fresh air intake diverter vent behind the glove box that vacuum controlled even on the manual HVAC 240D's and European cars...

Lots of fiddly little things to check .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

I took it a place in Hollywood called Beverly Laurel Automotive. I've had them do a bunch of things on it over the last year and a half and I've also had some work done at another place in Hollywood called Vaco Precision. I like both places. Until I bought this car I didn't really know much about working on cars but thanks to this forum (and others), I've learned a lot and have been able to do a bunch of work by myself but when I come to a problem that's too advanced for me or something that I can have done cheaply by someone else, I'll take it to one of those two shops.

Mine had fallen off at the center console connection. It’s just friction fit on.

__________________
Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (113k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
1993 300SD (291k)
1993 300D 2.5T (338k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K)
1985 300D (233K)

Oh boy. Did you discover this by pulling your dash as Nate is suggesting?
I hope not...

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

! You don't have to pull the entire dash board, just the gauge binnacle on the left and the glove box liner on the right....

Still not fun jobs but not beyond the average D.I.Y.'ers abilities I think .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better