8. DISABLING THE A/C AUTO ON "FEATURE" DURING DEFROST This procedure disables the automatic air conditioner-on during defrost in late 80's mid-size vehicles ( 4 door LeBaron, mine's a 87 Lancer). Please inform me what other vehicles this applies to and consider yourself a beta site for this procedure. (Shadow?) The cars this applies to have a separate air conditioner button. I surmise that others without the separate button have a similar internal arrangement (like the minivans), but you have the problem of not having the air conditioner run during defrost when you WANT it to run, and get the moisture off the window. (The vans you can shut off the A/C by pulling out the button and get plain venting; the defrost should work the same...??) Step 1. Realize that cars are made to be assembled cheaply, not repaired or re-engineered. Of course you already know that. OK, take off the bezel that covers the heater control, radio, and all that other stuff. Step 3. Spread out a sheet of newspaper or plain paper on the floor so you catch all the little springs and gadgets that are going to fall out in Step 5. This alone will save you a half hour. Wash your hands and wipe stuff off if you drop it on the floor. Step 4. Take out the screws that hold the heater control in. (Are you putting all these screws in coffee cans or pill bottles? Good.) GENTLY pull the beast a little ways out out of the dash. Unhook the cable to the temperature control valve in the heater by slipping the end of the cable off the temperature lever, then releasing the cable sheath from its mounting bracket. there's a catch to this, to make it easy to assemble; it just snaps in. Release it by pushing in the catch with a screwdriver, and it lifts straight up. Step 5. Pull it out some more so you can get at the back where the pneumatic hoses come in. DON'T yank on it to remove it completely. Turn it completely over. Next you have to get off the bottom plate. GENTLY pry off the snap brackets on the sides and back, one at a time. Get the bottom plate off by sliding straight up. Watch for falling springs and clockwork gismos. Step 6. Inside you will see revealed the secret of the A/C-defrost connection. When you push in the defrost button, a pneumatic connection is made which runs the appropriate heater flaps. (If you are curious enough to try this, hold the spring-loaded bar in place with your other 3 hands. The funny cams you see are the alternate-select mechanism which only allow 1 button to be pushed at a time. The sliding black spring-loaded bar releases the other buttons when you push another, and snap in to hold the selected one in place. Just like an old car radio.) The A/C connection is a U-shaped copper colored slider on the Defrost pushbutton slider. This is what switches the compressor on. Take that bugger and pull it out. Hah!! Step 7. Installation is the reverse of removal. Step 8. FAQ: What are all these spare parts on the newspaper?? If you take the control apart upside down this is what you get: a bunch of cams, 2 springs of nearly equal size, and 2 pieces of plastic. There is a fingertip-sized slider that goes directly in front of the hoses that come in the back. The button on one end fits through the top of the control unit, and when you slide the heater control to one end (Recirculate) it pushes the slider down which shuts off the outside air and you get Max A/C. Clever. There is a spring at one end that's supposed to push it up, without which it will stay on recirculate and you won't get any heat. Trust me. All those triangle shaped cams have to be put back inside or the pushbutton system won't work. The slider bar and its spring at one end go over the cams. If the hoses on the back fall off, they are not held in place by the fingers attached to the bottom plate. They are keyed with a pin on the control unit fitting onto the connector. Once you get all the sliders and hoses in place, you can snap the bottom back on, rotate to normal, reattach the temperature cable, rescrew everything back in, and leave it on DEFROST !