Fixing Heater Cable

[blueskies]

So I have an 03 Sunfire.

The problem: the heater cable gets "stuck." Meaning, I can't use the knob to change the setting on the heater control fan. I have fixed this by (for the time being) removing the center cover (leaving the radio area/heater control unit exposed), disconnecting the cable on the back of the heater, and manually pulling it to change the setting. If i pull it with arm strength I can get the setting to change, but twisting the knob does not generate enough torque to get the cable to move.

Does anyone know what could have happened to the cable? Is it likely it somehow got stuck on something inside the car? Could the cable have sheered? How hard would this be to fix?

I took it to a mako, and they told me it was "too much work for them." However, I had them do some work before and I think they're just generally incompetent. How much should I expect to pay for this repair?

Thanks for anyone with info on this.

 

[melsg5]

It sounds like the cable is kinked, it could have just failed or there could have been an obstruction to the the door that it moves. Since you can manually activate the door at this point the obstruction, if there was one, is no longer there. It would be a couple of hours labor at what ever rate the shop charges. You could look in a Hanes or Chilton manual to determine if you want to try it yourself.