300E center vents

[SueAnn]

Hi everyone, I have been using this forum to diagnose many of my problems with my 88 300E. I am not a mechanic by any means, but I can tackle many minor problems on my own, and at least when I go to the mechanic I have lots of info from learning from this site. OK heres the problem now. My blower quit blowing so I took it to the shop, it turned out to be the blower regulator and they also said my climate control relay needed to be replaced $800.00 later I picked up my car and they said by the way your center vents are not working. Well before the blower stopped blowing they worked fine. I said what will it cost to fix and I was told around $900.00, not now I said. So I kept reading info on this site and deceided to try a quick fix myself since the temp here in AZ is about 104 now. I pulled the glove box and noticed that the defrost pink pod thing is seperated so I know thats one problem. I then pulled the center vents out and couldn't figure out what in the heck I was suppose to try and prop open the flap with. I just wanted air out of those center vents, so I twisted the flap and probably damaged it for good but I did manage to keep it open in a twisted position. Of course now I have air comming out of all areas. So what sort of damage do you think I did? What black rubber piece was I suppose to find and prop open? Any help out there?