I smashed my car :( so i have a few questions.

[trav27]

Ok so around 1am this morning,i took a right turn..it spun out of control onto the other side of the road and hit the bankment type thing doing about 25/30km approx. I wasnt speeding btw,heavy rain and bad tyre's arnt good!

Anyway the bottom part of the front was hit,so it pushed the bumper up and broke the clips off..so you could easily just pull the bar off now. The radiator was smashed in,the bonnet was pushed up..and now will not shut properly[approx 3cm gap]. Also on the front left,a black ball shaped thing is hanging down with a wire connected to it. What could that be? and would it need replacing?

Also,the dash and door vents are not working now. Only the footwell vents are working..what could that be?

Im sorry for all the questions,just not happy about this and i want to get it all fixed up asap!
Ill post pix tomorrow.

[Fonzie]

The vents are gonna be a vacuum problem of some sort. The air 'direction' selector is controlled by vacuum, when there is none it defaults to feet. I'm assuming you haven't started the engine since the stack, given the radiator issue? If you were to start the engine and let it re-create the suction, it should work again. However, obviously, I wouldn't recommend it given the aforementioned issues.

[trav27]

The vents are gonna be a vacuum problem of some sort. The air 'direction' selector is controlled by vacuum, when there is none it defaults to feet. I'm assuming you haven't started the engine since the stack, given the radiator issue? If you were to start the engine and let it re-create the suction, it should work again. However, obviously, I wouldn't recommend it given the aforementioned issues.

thanks mate I did start the engine,i had to drive it home from my gfs house as i smashed it near there. Her dad checked it out,and the radiator is smashed in but he said it should still work,but recomends replacing asap. But yeah on the drive home the vents were not working How else could i re create the suction though?

[Fonzie]

Hmm that's odd. I don't see how a frontal impact could have buggered any of the vacuum lines... Unless it's something to do with the AC lines that run in front of the radiator, but I don't see how that would affect it. Sorry mate, You'll have to get another opinion.

One thing you could try though, is rip the heater control unit out of the center console. When you remove the vacuum hoses, you should hear hissing as it sucks air in. if you do hear that, then it's not a vacuum issue, and I'm betting is the control unit. Pinch a mates and test using it?

[D3V14NT]

The black ball hanging off the side is part of the vacuum system. If it is broken, removed or the vacuum hose to it is damaged then your vents will not work. Should be cheap enough to get one from the wreckers if it's stuffed and it isn't a hard job to replace.

[rusty91]

oh dude with ur vents. there is a black round ball thing that is on the lhf corner jsut behind ur bumperbar that stores vacuum for ur vents to operate. u wuld have smashed that off. its happned to me so i jsut looked under neath for the vacuum line and put a screw in there to stop the vacuum escaping and all my vents work untill i have the foot down past a quarter on the throttle which then creates minimum to none vacuum to operate ur vents until u back off. easy fix just one screw and one vacuum line.

[trav27]

Thanks for your help so far guys!
Would anyone know what the black ball thing is called though?
At least now i know whats causing the vacuum problem

[Fonzie]

Huh, Learn something new every day. I always assumed that black ball was something to do with the airbags.

[Deneo]

Nope, as mentioned it stores vacuum. They should be a dime a dozen at the wreckers, just metion where it sits and what it looks like and they will have one. Good luck and go buy some tires!