3rd gen Explorer Blend Door Actuator Replacement

[adambomb946]

Its easy to get the 3rd screw back in. Just get a battery side post ratchet. Thats the best way to go.

 

[ridged43]

Help Please

Does anyone have the instructions and pics from this thread? I am about to do this same procedure and need to see where and what bolts to remove for console, dash panel etc...
2005 single manual temp control
Thanks in Advance

 

[JTCarnes]

I'm also about to undertake this and would love the pics.

My wife is cold!

 

[ridged43]

I'm also about to undertake this and would love the pics.

My wife is cold!

Hey JT,
I'm an hour and a half east of you. This is not as hard as it sounds. I had never seen the inside of an explorer until now and had the old one out and tested in two hours. Mine has the manual control and the actuator has stripped gears. My door is fine thank goodness because that would be a pain. If you follow the instructions on this thread without the pictures you will do fine. You'll need an assortment of small metric sockets. (I know an 8mm and a 10mm for sure.) I had a 1/4" drive set with a six inch extension, a swivel and some ratcheting metric wrenches that worked great. If you need any pointers feel free to ask questions. You can email me directly from here I think. You do have to be flexible to get your hands in and you will scratch your knuckels a little. I pick up my new actuator from Ford today and plan to put it all back together tonight. Trust the instruction on removing the console. You don't have to remove as many screws as you would think. It's pretty simple if you take your time.
Good Luck......

These instructions work!!!!!!
Assuming you have the single control (not dual), then turn it all the way cold before you shut off the motor and disconnect the battery. Take out the center console. THere are only a few screws. The Hanes manual will help there. (Hint: Under the front little rubber mat there is one screw, take that out. THen at the back of that piece by the storage compartment grap hold and lift up. It will come out. That exposes four screws (two at the front and two in the middle. Take those out. There are also two at the back at the bottom of the console behind two little easy to snap out covers. Take those out. Disconnect all the electrical connectors.)
Then remove the plastic panel under the steering column, there are only two screws. DO NOT remove the steering column.
Then remove the brace to the right of the gas pedal. There are two nuts and two bolts. I also removed the cross brace under the steering column allowing me to get a socket and extension through to the top scew. I also removed the duct that blows air in the floor on the drivers side. Two screws and it comes right off.
Now you can look in from the bottom of the center console and see the actuator and a screw, and also in from the side where you removed the brace and see another one. There is another one at about 8 oclock you can't hardly see but have to feel for (the other two were at about 5 and 11). Remove those three and wiggle the actuator out. It seems like it won't come out, but it will with a little finesse (not force). Same way going in.

 

[ummduh]

it didn't matter for me what location the control/door was set for. the door is spring loaded. All I had to do was line up the keyed shaft (it only goes in one way!) and rotate the actuator into the proper position to screw it back down.

 

[croos]

The blend door repair kit is for 2001 and earlier. THat's why it doesn't look like the pictures

Does the door still work for a Gen 3 Explorer?
I was wondering the same thing - it was only $10.00 but is the door still usable for an '05?

I am trying to get through removing the console - PITA, I've installed a radio - so I know how to pull the dash trim, but the center console is giving me a headache.

I have a dual temp, 05 EB. I'm assuming, to replace the door, I have to pull the console/radio trim/steering well panel. Can anyone confirm that?
The other thing - is it worth my while to replace the actuator if my door is broken?

 

[johnnymac89]

The text instructions repply from ridged43 did me just fine plus the pics from Fairfaxexplorer (thanks you two!). I was able to replace it in a few hours (04 explorer xls with 54K miles). My unit was $74 at the dealership. Some additional tips. After pulling the unit out, I connected the power back to the unit. Then I turned the car on and turned it from cold to heat. I saw the arm move ok but when I put a small amount of resistance to it, it started clicking. Hence I made the right move and bought the new unit. When I opened the old one up, yup the teeth were stripped. I plugged the new unit in first and made sure it sensed its cold position before putting it back. It made installation easier but as everyone said, the arm can only go in one position.

Also, I double checked with a small screwdriver that the blend door did not have excessive resistance (ie it was bent or hung up on something). It moved pretty easily so I assumed I did not have a problem there.

Note, there are only 3 screws even though the new unit has 4 spots. I panicked because the location of the 4th was going to be nearly impossible.

Technical difficulty (1-10) I agree about a 2-3.
Pain in the a$$ difficulty, about a 7-8. It takes a while to remove all of the paneling because its not intuitive where all the screws and snaps are. Also the unit requires your hands to fit in tight spaces and threading the screws with the new unit is tough. Plus, you need to contort your body a lot to get into the space.

Tools, some metric sockets and open end wrenches and a flashlight.

mmmmm, toasty!

Good Luck!

 

[wolderiii]

I also have the same problem. the dashboard was "clicking" when trying to get to heat. Everyone on here is correct. clicking means its the actuator and it took me about 3 hours to do myself. However, I have the "thud" noise as well. I have determined that this is the blend door itself.
after replacing the actuator, i turn the climate knob to heat and i have a large "thud" noise and the heat will finally start to come on. Other symptoms include. if i take the climate knob and set it to half way between heat and cold the door will close and all i get is cold air. if i set the blower knob to anything but 4 the door will close and my heat will turn to cold air again. the big problem now is it won't get to heat anymore, no thud, no heat, nothing. i thought that actuator was bad again but i took it out and it's fine.

has anyone else had this problem? i've read through the forums enough to see that people have 03, 04 explorers with the "thud" problem and reading through other forums confirms that it is the blend door. Has anyone fixed a broken blend door on an 03 explorer? if so please tell me how you did it... whether you cut the plenum open and took the old door out and put a new one in and then patched your hole, or if you found a way to fix the broken blend door in place (like some people have done with the 95-01 explorers).

any information would be greatly appreciated. I can't be the only one trying to fix this problem.

Thanks!!!

 

[johnnymac89]

You may want to try:

http://www.heatertreater.net/

Looks pretty straightforward.

 

[conceptjack]

I too have the banging sound but only when I turn the temp knob to hot and get cold air.

I live in NW Iowa with no where to work on my '03 Explorer that is warm. With snow on the ground and temps around zero, we just need heat.

Can anyone suggest a quick fix to this problem? Is there a way to reach the blend door to prop it open and get heat?

I see in some of the threads that that has been done and heat returned with out actually fixing the problem.

Any help i can get on this will be appreciated by my entire family. Thanks in advance!

 

[wolderiii]

conceptjack,
after more research i have found that the banging sound doesn't necesarily mean the blend door itself is broke (although it could be).
i went to http://www.heatertreater.net/Ford Explorer 02-08.html
look at the very last picture. that arm coming from the side of the box is part of the blend door. you can move that arm if you want and it will turn the air to hot , cold etc... if you turn it all the way down you will get heat. i used a ziptie and hooked it onto something to keep it pulled down. you could use string, rope whatever to tie that arm and keep it pulled down until it warms up outside and you can replace the blend door actuator.
The arm is located on the passenger side, you will need to take the center console out to get to it but i can get the console out in about 15 minutes.
You may have to look a little until you see the arm but while looking up under the dash if you switch from heat to cold you should be able to find the arm because it will turn upwards and downwards.

Listen to everyone else on here. don't get the after market part from advance auto parts. get the OEM part from ford. or from www.silverstatefordparts.com (they were $20 cheaper after shipping than my local ford dealer)

I bought that after market part from advance and have since concluded that the actuator is not quite the same as the OEM and i had to replace it again (not fun, but it gets a lot easier to replace the second time). what happens is when i go from hot to say warm the door would fall. when i went from 4 to 3 or 2 or 1 (blower control) the blend door would fall. and i think it is because the actuator is slightly different and doesn't hold the blend door open as it should (it would stay open on 4 just because of the pressure of the air coming through).

Anyways i hope this helps.

 

[Sleb]

first I need to know if you have manual or DATC Climate Control System?








Take the steering column off (3)





Get on your back on the drivers side floor and you will need to take out the 3 screws on the actuator. There hard to get at but it can be done. Pull the power plug out of the actuator and then just wiggle it out. When you reinstall it you will only be able to get 2 screws back in but they hold it just fine.

Here are the new attachments...sorry I didn't realise the old ones were deleted

 

[brandonm73]

I replaced the blend door actuator on my '02 xlt last night and it now appears that the blend door itself is not working properly. Is there an easy way to access the door? I followed the instructions on this site and installed the new actuator with the climate control set on cold, but the only way I now get heat is to turn the fan on high which forcibly blows the door open, hence the loud thud. Also, if I adjust the climate control, it automatically starts to blow cool air. Any suggestions??

 

[wolderiii]

brandonm73,

did you use an oem part or a cheapo advance auto parts, auto zone part?

if you didn't use an oem part then goto a local ford dealership and get one. if you did use an OEM part then you may want to try to install it again.
not only do you want to make sure it is set to cold but if you plug the actuator in before you screw it back in, you will see the actuator move into the correct position. then put it back in and screw it down.

if you do this and find it still doesn't work then you might have some more research to do but you can always look at my previous post on how to tie the blend door arm on the passenger side so you will have heat for now.

hope this helps

 

[brandonm73]

Wolderiii,
I know for a fact that I did not plug in the actuator before I installed it. It sounds like that is the culprit. I purchased the part at Napa, and I have never had any problems with their parts in the past. Thanks for the info.

 

[wolderiii]

brandonm73,

do you still have the original actuator that you pulled out in the first place?
if so compare the actuator arm to the one you bought from napa.

the one i first bought from advance looks slightly different than the original i pulled out. and i think this is the problem on why the generic replacements don't work correctly.

You are having the exact problem i had with the door falling unless the blower control is on 4.
at least it gets easier the 2nd and 3rd time around...

 

[skysailor]

Does the above info apply to the dual driver/passenger climate contol system in my 2002 Eddie Bauer Explorer? I am getting partial heat and can contol the heat from cold/cool to slightly warm but no better. Am thinking it must be the blender as the input and return coolant lines are getting hot so coolant circulation seems to be ok. Just want to get all info I can before I jump into taking the console apart.

 

[rrgone]

Does the above info apply to the dual driver/passenger climate contol system in my 2002 Eddie Bauer Explorer? I am getting partial heat and can contol the heat from cold/cool to slightly warm but no better. Am thinking it must be the blender as the input and return coolant lines are getting hot so coolant circulation seems to be ok. Just want to get all info I can before I jump into taking the console apart.

The dual climate systems have a divided air box and two blend doors, one for passenger side and one for driver side. Does either side work correctly, or does one side get warmer than the other side?

 

[wolderiii]

don't buy off brand actuator...

brandonm73,

here is the difference between the advance auto parts actuator (black on the right) and the OEM ford part (white on the left).

hope this helps everyone who is thinking about buying a generic off brand actuator from advance, auto zone, napa, etc... this is the original one i bought from advance compared to the one i bought from www.silverstatefordparts.com I do highly recomend them as when i ordered the part they emailed me to make sure i wanted the manual control actuator and they shipped my order the same day and i recieved it 2 days later (shipped priority mail).

anyways, i hope this helps someone out there from making the same mistake i did (even though i read earlier posts not to buy generic part from advance.)

~Billy

 

[skysailor]

The dual climate systems have a divided air box and two blend doors, one for passenger side and one for driver side. Does either side work correctly, or does one side get warmer than the other side?

I can't say for sure right now but I believe that both sides are only getting mildly warm air at best. But I will check tomorrow to see if there is a difference. Mainly I have been setting the sytem to blow air from the dash vents and I have been unable to get decent warm air. Defrost doen't work well either. The vents do blow cold air when I reduce the temp setting however. Also, I did check the rear air system and that seems to be getting proper warm air. So is there a blend door on the right and left of the front center console that I can get to and see if either is being fully operated?