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2002 Sticky Temperature Knob

The heating, ventilation and AC ( HVAC ) temperature control knob may be hard to turn. Mitsubishi Motors has released a service bulletin outlining the necessary repairs. Repairs involve installing a new air blend door lever and link, lubing the blend door track, and installing a filter on top of the blower motor housing to prevent entry of dirt and debris. If the temperature control assembly has been damaged it will require replacement also.

Affected Model Years

This issue affects model years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, .

168 people reported this problem

  • 2002 94,000 Miles
    I bought the vehicle used and the knob broke on me. The temp knob has broken and I have to us pliars to move it and I still cannot get it to go to the far side on the heater. The second knob is just stuck on the front air vent and I can't move it to the floor or the dash. I have talked to two other 03 lancer es owners with the same problem. Why can't Mitsubishi fix this instead. This problem is clearly from their end .
  • 2002 32,750 Miles
    SOLVED! just bought the whole kit off Ebay, search for "2003-2007 GENUINE MITSUBISHI LANCER HEATER AIR CONTROL LINK REPAIR COMPLETE KIT"
  • 2002 148,600 Miles
    same issue, heater knob shaft is broken off. Been to cheap to fix it. Mitsubishi should have issued a recallfor this
  • 2002 125,000 Miles
    The temperature control knob shaft broke because the door to operate the temperature gets stuck. We ordered the parts from the dealer and got all the wrong stuff. Looking into how to repair. Need Help
  • 2002 90,000 Miles
    Knob is broken off and temperature must be adjusted by reaching under the steering column and sliding the plastic piece manually
  • 2002 40,000 Miles
    SOLVED! Heater control knob became hard to operate. Wife broke knob and then used needle nosed pliers to change temp setting, effectively destroying the white shaft. The whole control box is EXPENSIVE, but I found some replacement shafts on Ebay for a fraction of the price and it worked great! I did replace the gear kit and cable to make it work more smooth before replacing the shaft. Search for "02-02 Lancer Heater Control Panel Switch Knob Shaft". Hope it helps someone out!
  • 2002 0 Miles
    I bough brand new lancer on 2003, after two years my wife was complain temperature knob was hard to turn. I took it to dealership in winnipeg, they said nothing wrong with it. They just spray wd44 on it, but wd44 build up more dirts. As I tried to change temperature the knob broke off, warrentee is over and dealer wanted $ 600.00. Plus amount other problems that I had complain before the warrentee it over. But deal consistanly brush off denied the problems. Original from Winnipeg Mitsubishi dealer, so I such up and move on. But I urge people that I knew not to buy Mitsubishi.
  • 2002 13,200 Miles
    I've had this problem since I bought the car off the lot with 6 miles on it. Now it will not turn at all.
  • 2002 146,000 Miles
    The temperature knob tends to get stuck if I don't move it around occasionally, so to keep it from getting stuck I have to move it back and forth everyday.
  • 2002 78,000 Miles
    Knob broke like everyone else! Can't believe Mitsubishi doesn't have parts for this, I refused to pay $ 500 to have this fixed. I used pliers for a while then found and bought a diy on Ebay. DO NOT buy the grey or white HARDEND CORE ones, they break!!! Plastic stripped right off the metal. I had it professionally installed and after only one day it broke and I am out the installation charges. I refuse to install another "lifetime warranty" part that is just going to snap again and leave me paying to have it installed. Instead I bought a shaft from here: http://www.blackmountaindesigns.com/shaft.html and it has fixed my problem! Here is a video how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_97Y_vnPYg I don't know why we have to buy these parts ourselves when Mitsubishi should have fixed this a long time ago!!!
  • 2002 150,000 Miles
    Underneath the dash, to the upper right of the gas pedal is a white plastic box, the air flow mixer. There is a white gear on the outside, you can reach under and (carefully) push the J shaped gear forward and that will make it hot, pull it back for cold.
  • 2002 75,000 Miles
    Knob was super hard to turn, ended up cracking, and eventually fell off and couldn't be put back on. So I'm currently in the winter and unable to use my heater on my car. Only air conditioner.
  • 2002 80,000 Miles
    stuck on warm = no a/c can force the knob to a/c but doesn't cool. doesn't move easily to highest heat either
  • 2002 107,000 Miles
    All the knobs for the airconditioning have cracked because it was too hard to turn. The white parts are still there but cannot do anything with them without a tool .
  • 2002 178,000 Miles
    I HAVE THE SAME ISSUE
  • 2002 0 Miles
    Temperature control knob is broken .
  • 2002 238,150 Miles
    AC/Heat knob finally broke off
  • 2002 176,000 Miles
    I can not move the toggle under the dash to change from AC--to heat. Unable to fix
  • 2002 157,315 Miles
    just like you've described it, the knob is very hard to turn and I've had to turn off the a.c. of heat cuz am not able to regulate it.
  • 2002 0 Miles
    Bought this car used on 6!3!2018Found the heater knob was brokenNo ac

2002 Common Problems