has anyone fixed broken recirculate / fresh door | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

has anyone fixed broken recirculate / fresh door

vipersinu2

Well-Known Member
Joined
March 10, 2008
Messages
649
Reaction score
14
City, State
The Big City of Orange City, Florida
Year, Model & Trim Level
2019 Navigator 450hp
has anyone fixed a broken recirculate / fresh door. the amount of air pressure comming out of vents was very low, so I took out the blower fan and looked up and found the broken door, I pushed it back up and put the blower back in, the air pressure comming out of the vents in much better, but I know I will need to fix this problem again.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





You need that small section of the heater box. It isnt very expensive but you have to remove the dash to replace it. Very common problem.
 






Fresh Air Door

has anyone fixed a broken recirculate / fresh door. the amount of air pressure comming out of vents was very low, so I took out the blower fan and looked up and found the broken door, I pushed it back up and put the blower back in, the air pressure comming out of the vents in much better, but I know I will need to fix this problem again.

I am in the same situation as you with my 2005 Mercury Mountaineer. I bought it used two weeks ago. It appears to be in immaculate condition, but the air was just not as good as in my 1998 ford explorer. The air flow out of the vents was very weak. On the highest fan speed, I had to have my hand within 10 inches of the vent to really feel it. I too removed the blower and found the vent door laying on the bottom and it was no wonder that the air flow was poor. I pried opened up the box that contains the fresh air door just enough to pull the door out. I removed a number of screws that held the top and bottom half of this box together, but not all of them. One on the far back right was difficult to get to.

With the door out, air flow is incredible. I can turn the fan speed down to 2 and still feel it well. Someone in a forum somewhere just taped of the air intake vent under the hood so the system was basically in max ac/recirculate mode. I may or may not do this. I have been reading the steps to fix the door and am pondering the dash removal. I am a little leary of a few steps, any prying of the plastic parts such as the defrost grill, etc. Also, I think the box that contains the vent door has two bolts behind it that you cant get to and it sound like you have to break it off and use adhesive. I will drill a hole in the nub for a paper clip/cotter pin to keep the door from falling again if i go this route.

keep me posted on your progress.
 






Heater treater.com has instructions and parts. No dash removal is needed. I didn't have a broken shaft so I just replaced the actuator.
 






I plugged into www.heatertreater.com and it comes up as something completely different than repairing ventilation systems in vehicles.

Can you provide a link to the website you're referring to please?
 












Thanks for that link!
 






You can do the repair without removing anything other than the console. That is, if you are willing to cut a small area of plastic down by your right foot to access the actuator motor bolts.
 






Seems like the discussion has shifted from the recirculattion door to the blend door. They are different, aren't they?
 






Seems like the discussion has shifted from the recirculattion door to the blend door. They are different, aren't they?


yeap theyre different...im sure the post was originally for the blend door...
 






I think it veered off from circ door (behind the glove box?) over to the blend door (down by the driver's side of the console).

Both are problems it seems with the Explorer. But both fixable by the average DIY'er.
 












We are way off subject, I have fresh-air/rec-air problem,
not the blend door, blend door or actuator controls warm or cool settings.

I have very little air pressure comming out of the vents.
 






We are way off subject, I have fresh-air/rec-air problem,
not the blend door, blend door or actuator controls warm or cool settings.

I have very little air pressure comming out of the vents.

If you have low air flow its because the recirc door itself has fallen out of place, and is laying flat across the top of the blow motor so air flow is almost 100% restricted.

Look up into the blower motor in the passenger floor area under the glove box.
with a flash light you'll likely see the door laying accross the mesh that prevents debris from being sucked in by the blower motor.

Here's a post on a work around I did. I removed the door, now I have lots of air flow. I taped up the intake under the hood in the passenger cowl area

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284042&highlight=recirc+door

There is also a link in that post of how to do the recirc duct replacement without removing the dash, but just loosening it.
 






Thanks for that link Curtis. And thanks for getting the thread back on track!:thumbsup:
 






Recirculate door problem

Greetings. I am a newbie to this forum. I am trying to follow the thread for fixing the a/c recirculate door. Could someone clarify:
1. How do you remove the passenger side cowl grill? Do you have to remove the windshield wiper? Although I can pry up the cowl, it seems to be stuck by the corner of the hood and also by the windshield wiper. What am I doing wrong.
2. Also, there are 7 bolts (screws) on the duct box. Six (6) of them secure the top to the bottom and the 7th screw holds the bottom to the fan housing. I can life the lid, but only enough space to get a tongue depressor into the opening. Is there something else I need to do the get enough separation between the top and bottom to get the dooor out?
thanks for any help.
 






Greetings. I am a newbie to this forum. I am trying to follow the thread for fixing the a/c recirculate door. Could someone clarify:
1. How do you remove the passenger side cowl grill? Do you have to remove the windshield wiper? Although I can pry up the cowl, it seems to be stuck by the corner of the hood and also by the windshield wiper. What am I doing wrong.
2. Also, there are 7 bolts (screws) on the duct box. Six (6) of them secure the top to the bottom and the 7th screw holds the bottom to the fan housing. I can life the lid, but only enough space to get a tongue depressor into the opening. Is there something else I need to do the get enough separation between the top and bottom to get the dooor out?
thanks for any help.

Hey Buster
The cowl grill is held on with spring clips. Pull straight up on it and it will come off.
I did take the wipers off when I did it

The space between the top/ bottom of the recirc door housing is tight, but you can spread them enough to get the door out. Use a couple screwdrivers to slide them in and then move to each end, then you'll have a good gap in the middle to pull the door out.. Its tight but you can do it
 






Curtis,
Thank you for the quick reply. I'll give it a try again in the morning. I removed all 6 of the screws, but still do not have enough clearance for my fingers.
thanks again.
 






Curtis,
Thank you for the quick reply. I'll give it a try again in the morning. I removed all 6 of the screws, but still do not have enough clearance for my fingers.
thanks again.

Yeah its tight, and hard on the fingers once you get in between.. thats why screw drivers are better :D
You can do it.. pry a little harder
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





AC Recirculate Door Problem

All,
Here is my summary of actions regarding this problem.
1. First I verified that the door was off its hinges and laying in the bottom of the duct box. I was able to stick my fingers into the grill on top of the duct box and feel and move the door. I also removed the squirrel cage fan motor from its housing and was able to see the door laying on top of the mesh grill.
2. There are 8 screws (bolts) in the duct box. For reference purposes I label them clockwise from the right rear around the front to the left rear. Rightside rear #1, right side front #2, frontside-right #4, frontside-center #5, etc. These screws provide three functions. Six (6) of them hold the lid on the bottom. One of them holds the bottom of the duct box to the fan enclosure. The last screw is a brace between the duct box and the center console. I removed all of the screws except the frontside-center. I then was able to pry up the lid and was able to remove the recirculate door. The I closed the duct box and installed all of the screws. The rightside-rear was the most difficult to get out and to get back in. Patience and perserverence won.
3. I then taped off the air inlet using the procedure described by Curtis. I removed the passenger side wiper arm making sure that I marked the location of the blade before removal. I then removed the passenger side cowl grill by pruying up at the end and the middle where it joins the driver side cowl. Once the cowl grill was out of the way I used a putty knife to go around the triangular cover to loosen the sealant. Note that the cover has a lip. You only have to go in approximately 1/4 inch to free the edge of the cover. Once the cover was removed I sealed the inlet using UL118 foil a/c duct tape. The foil tape is ideal for this application. I then reinstalled everything and resealed the cover with the UL118 foil tape along its edges.
4. It took me about an hour and half to do everything including an operations check after completion.
5. The system is now permanently in the max a/c mode and works terrifically. Lots of air flow and very quick cool down.

Curtis, special thanks to you for your pioneering work and sharing your results with everyone.
 






Back
Top