Seems only the centre of my three air vents on the center dash is stuck closed. Nothing happens when I turn the outer ring. Now, they are pretty nasty sticky, but still nice looking, so I don't want to mess too much with them without a specific knowledge on what to go for. Any ideas of why the flaps in there are closed no matter the position of the outer ring? Is it fixable from the outside or is it more complex than that?
This thread might help you. https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/removing-dash-a-c-vents.530861/#post-144882960 Also Dave at Sticky RX should be able to answer your questions. Bill FL
This also happened to me which I've managed to fix. So the rotating rings have teeth on the inside which bite onto a gear which move the flaps open/closed. Over time and use the ring will get misaligned with the inside gears of the flaps and therefore won't grab to open/close. You basically have to take out the vent or rings and realign the teeth/gears. You have 2 options to fix it, either remove the entire air vent or try to just remove the rings. Because both ways to fix it are literally just prying them out, whichever way you choose you're very likely to break off some plastic tab on the inside. (I did) Regardless, there are many tabs that latch it into place, so even if you do break 1-2, the vent will still re-attach snuggly with no problem. It's much trickier and time consuming to re-align the gears by just removing the ring, because the gear will still be difficult to see and get to. But there's less risk of breaking something. On the other side it's much easier to re-align the gears with the entire vent out, but riskier to break something. I would first try to remove the rings and see if you can manage that way. If not then move on to pulling out the entire vent. Here's a link on how to remove the rings: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/vent-removal-on-my-360.225942/ To remove the air vent you have to use some tool which can reach the inside lips of the air vents to grab them and literally just pull them out with force. Here are pics of the handy air vent removal tool I made from a clothes hangar. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Wow! Thanks a lot! That's a plan for the weekend. I might test out fixing the stickyness as well. I found a solution for the rest of the sticky parts with a certain type of paint that gives a bit of structure, so it looks OEM'ish
My rings are actually in the opposite condition of yours, the black rotating rings are in excellent shape, but the silver inserts are pretty rough.
I'd recommend pulling the whole vent out as shown, you can then clearly see what the issue is. Be careful not to damage the plastic baffles inside the vent while doing so. It's a really simple mechanism when you get it out. The bottom gear on the photos is attached to the flap in the valve. I suspect one set of the gear teeth has jumped and is no longer meshing. I put some lithium grease on afterwards to make it smooth for next 20 years (hopefully) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
So, fixed it 95% without having to take anything apart. After seeing the pic of the mechanism, I was able to push them open without any resistance, and then hold them open with a screwdriver and turn the rings to catch the gears. It might pop out again if I turn them off rapidly, but I'm not gonna touch them anymore. By the way; if I remove the sticky stuff, are they black plastic behind it white-ish as some of the plastic are?
Yep, the outer rings are plain black plastic under the goo. I de-stickified mine and just left them. I may have them refinished some time but they're fine as-is for me. Image Unavailable, Please Login
If you remove the sticky coating, the arrow indicator will be erased. We have replacement decals, just send me a PM if you need some.
I have cleaned the sticky stuff with ethyl alcohol. If you apply it carefully - it is always recommended to be careful with alcohol - you get the black plastic and I even managed to keep the arrows -except the first - where I would like to refer to your kind offer.
