No airflow from dash vents

[icepickjazz]

After roughly two years of no problems from my original fix, I heard a snap followed by no air. Another small amount of plastic had broken around where I had drilled. So once again I was faced with this dilemma. This time I decided to try JB Weld and JB Quick Plastik.
I started by using a small strip of metal that was originally a bracket for a closet door. I measured the strip and drilled a hole to attach the actuator lever. I then attached the metal strip using JB Weld (I did try to rough up the area a little bit before attaching. I used a dremel tool as it was easiest to get in the small space.) After allowing my weld to dry I reinforced the metal and plastic area by adding quick plastik... LOTS OF IT all around the area front and back. I let this cure over night and then applied one last round of Weld.

Be sure to give your weld time to cure out. After curing, I used a dremel tool to smooth out the area where the actuator lever attaches.
I have had 0 problems since making the fix!
I planned to insert pics but for some reason the forum won't let me, but I hope my info might be useful to someone out there!

I have same problem. Did you ever figure out pics? I'd like to see theml

 

[ecrotzer]

Blend door

This is my first attempt at using a forum so please be patient with me. My wife's '02 Explorer isn't changing air direction, it's stuck on defrost. I checked the electronics and they all seem OK. I opened the glove box all the way and I see that the plastic arms that attach to the actuators are still intact so does that mean that I have a vacuum leak? If that is the case how do I find out and fix that?

Thanks,

 

[icepickjazz]

This is my first attempt at using a forum so please be patient with me. My wife's '02 Explorer isn't changing air direction, it's stuck on defrost. I checked the electronics and they all seem OK. I opened the glove box all the way and I see that the plastic arms that attach to the actuators are still intact so does that mean that I have a vacuum leak? If that is the case how do I find out and fix that?

Thanks,

If you take the glove box out you will notice a vacuum tank. Check the connections on it and check for kinked lines. I addition to the broken actuator I also had broken recirculation vent door. Check out these threads for other considerations:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284042&highlight=vent+door
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249624

 

[ecrotzer]

vacuum trouble

So I found that the actuator arm is OK but the vacuum hose is dry rotted and broken. It's the black vacuum hose on the engine bay side and I can't seem get the connector the penetrates through the firewall out. Is there a way to get this out without destroying the whole thing? The connector has both the black and a grey hose.

 

[ecrotzer]

I fixed this by getting a 1 foot piece of 5/32" vacuum hose from PepBoys for $1.39 and bridging the gap where the original piece had dry rotted. It saved me over $200 for the replacement harness and I didn't have to pull the dash off. Total time 10 min, cost $1.39.

 

[d2abbott]

Door Arm Broken?

I have the same problem with my 2002 Explorer XLT. The defrost door is stuck on open. I located the vacuum motor (yellow hose) and found it to be functioning with the "L" shaped arm NOT broken but seems to be pulled out of the box. Does this mean the door shaft(?) is broken deeper inside and that I have a big job in front of me?

 

[Sun Diego]

This post started in 2009, and here I am in 2012 and have the same problem of a broken arm just inside the glove box. It is just as the first few posters described. I popped off the glove box and the little plastic arm is no longer connected to the motor.

Anyhow, does anyone know the name of the part? i don't mind tearing out the old to fix the right way, but I need a part number or name. I can just see myself trying to describe this at the stealership....it would take hours!

Fight On!!

 

[icepickjazz]

My Ex has same problem. Checked with one of the favorite ford parts dealer on this forum and they said the only way Ford sells that part is with the whole plenum. For my 04 EX it was $351.37 plus shipping (MSRP 532.38, P/N 4L2Z-19850-EC). Have to pull the Dash as well.

They thought Dorman might make a repair kit (they do for the older ones) , but dash still has to come out for repair. I never followed up on that,

I still haven't fixed my problem.

I wonder if pick-a-part junk yard might be an option?

 

[jp450]

My 05 Ex started this too... Found the actuator arm had broken off of the door arm. I think if I drill a small hole in the arm I can reattach the actuator. It looks like the little plastic nub broke off the arm. If by Dewalt batteries will only hold a charge it would be fixed by now.... Thanks for the help everyone!!!!

 

[Redwoodwalker]

The little arm in mine broke off about 2 years ago. I've been zip tying the door open or shut depending on the season and where I want the air to go. I think I'm going to give this little fix a try....

 

[blueridgerunner]

Many many thanks bleoh - I had this same exact problem and marked this post well over a year ago meaning to try and replicate your fix. I took it to the dealership and they quoted $2000+ !!! I followed your lead and it took maybe an hour and it works great!

I like this version. Any ideas how to lay out the curve that is cut to fit the plastic piece?

 

[mj.]

I just drilled and zip tied our 02 Explorer that was stuck on full defrost. Very small hole and very small zip tie attached to the original hole in the metal lever with a decent amount of 'loop' left in the zip tie. Such a difficult space to work in, and I was worried about overstressing the situation. I think it did the trick, certainly not perfect, not sure it will last, will have to see what my wife says. Looks like this would be a huge amount of work to actually replace the plastic arm.

 

[mrsseritagates]

02 ford expl sprt trac same issue

I have great air conditioning, great temperature and great volume of pressure from the air. Then all of a sudden only the defrost and feet push air out. So I will have my husband look at these forums and see what he can do. I wish there was an easier way to do it so I could fix it. I'm going to take a look at it and take some pictures and send your guy's way. You all seem to know what your talking about. I tried taking it to the mechanic and of course a thousand dollars down to start. Hopefully we can fix this so I can not melt this summer. Thanks for all the information guys it really does help.

 

[tk1251k]

I have to fix my sons 2005 at the beginning of each season hot to cold and vice versa. Have not done the fix so them temporary works just fine for each season. I pull down the glove box. reach my hand down inside beside the console . It is a tight fit. I feel for the flap that you can hear when it is trying to open making that flapping noise. Once I locate it by feel I check the register and if the heat is on and no heat I take my finger and just pull the flling door open . It will stay in that position and hot air will come out. Now you need to make it stay there. i do the temporary which like I said lasts for each season. I roll up aluminum foil about 1/2 the size of a baseball maybe two sometime two different ones that is and put them down in there to keep the door in place. It works just fine for the quick but efficient fix until I get the time to make the repair.

 

[bmasten]

heater mode

My sons 02 explorer had the end break off the mode door shaft. I took a piece of thin metal, drilled hole in it and connected it to the shaft with a gear clamp. Adjusted the damper, then tightened the clamp. Works great and cost $2 not $1000 by Ford.

 

[kpointer87]

Fixed!! Thanks!

I had the same issue where the plastic door control broke off of the metal actuator arm. I used a zip tie and it now works beautifully!

Thanks for the thread guys!

 

[Dangerfield]

Hi, I am another one that had part of the plastic arm break. Can anyone tell me how the plastic arm attaches to the shaft of the blend door? Thank you!

 

[Definca]

Chalk up another to the list. My 05 gave a "snap" sound about a year ago and I wondered only to find out the end of the very flimsy plastic pivot arm on the mode flap popped off. Thank you Ford for the high quality parts, deep, deep inside the caverns of the dashboard. No really, we appreciate it greatly, thank you.

My center dash panel is off because I had to pull my instrument panel out to get to the wonderful ding dong, oh, make me crazy, seat belt / door chime. Since I have no center directionals I can place my hand straight into the center of that vent outlet and move the flap up by hand, When the ac is on full it stays but will fall down when you use the slower fan speeds
Anyway, the fact that you can operate the flap this way manually if the center panel is out allows you to both check the range of motion if you are repairing the arm AND perhaps do a mod from there which I am looking into.
The funny thing about my 05, when the arm snapped off, I had ALREADY rigged up a "pull string" to the other heater flap door from the glove box side because the cheap heater actuator door motor gearbox broke.
What a friggin joke the design of this unit is.

I like my Explorer for so many reasons and am now thinking about going to a wrecking yard and buying the whole vent system, taking it apart piece by piece in my shop and replacing all these cheap parts with aluminum non breaking parts and putting the whole thing into my rig. Other than that I will have strings and popcicle sticks sticking out of my vents and out from my dash to make it go from ac to heat, to defrost to fresh air.
When you have a car company with billions of dollars of engineering resources, how do you make a pivot arm for an important constantly used purpose so light duty that it deserves to be on a plastic ketchup bottle?

 

[Number Twelve]

I wrote a Thread, How to: Kill the Dinger (and a few other things).
For the center flap, I turned it to "dash vents" and ran a screw into the pivot so it can never move again.
Then I corked up the unused vacuum lines to the dash flap and the outdoor air flap (which I Frisbee'd).
I don't know what the center flap does besides direct air to the dash vents, but this works in Florida because we almost never need defrost or heat. Maybe next winter I will find out. Until then, dash vents in a heat index over 100 F is a good thing.

 

[AK NIMROD]

Vacuum Check valve

Another not so common problem is the vacuum check valve failure, You could blow and suck through the valve both ways. This valve is hooked to the black line in the engine compartment side of the firewall behind the coolant tank. This happened on my daughters 2002 xlt 255000 miles. She was loosing air flow out her front vents while going up hills or under hard acceleration. Vacuum check valve had failed. When she went to removed the valve to test it the hose snap of at the firewall grommet. Now the broken plastics line was pretty easy fix just had to get the hose that broke off out. The hose is glued into a connector that joins two hoses together the connector is also is glued to the grommet. Just used a small screwdriver and worked around the hose and grommet to break the glue loose. She cut the small black line in the cab and pushed it through the large rubber grommet, the one with the two lines going through it. Then was able to used the rubber connector that goes to the check valve to hook to the black line she put through the firewall. The large rubber grommet that goes through the firewall has two little lines a gray and black. The black is the one that the check valve hooks to this is also the feed line to the vacuum reservoir. This check valve holds vacuum in the HVAC system while the engine is under load producing less vacuum. If the check valve is bad your air flow from your heater/ac will go to you defrost vents when the dial is set to vent. Got the new check valve installed and she's happy. You could blow and suck through the valve both ways. Cut valve apart and found rubber had deteriorated. There is another write up here also that I found later. Hope this helps someone.