I completed this tonight.
I actually spend the $78.00 for the one from the local Ford dealer because they had 4 in stock(imagine that) and I wanted this off my plate of to-dos.
I had to remove the bar and cover under the stearing wheele but that was no biggie (7mm sockets btw). I spent about 45 mins doing it until I called my wife with little hands in to help. She could hand remove/thread the 3 screws (8mm) plus it was nice seeing her do some work on her own car lol. She is proud she helped. I basically turned it to full cold, she/I removed the 3 screws, disconnected the electrical connnection, plugged the electrical connection into the new, aligned the shaft of the actuator to match the shape of the hole it went in, and tightened the 3 screws back in place. Full heat on and no popping. Good thing because if it was the actual blend door, the dealer wouldnt let me take the actualtor back because its an electrical part and the box was opened.
I was concerned at first when I removed the old actuator because I thought I would hear those plastic teeth rattling around if they were broken as I suspected. I took the old actuator apart at the end to confirm that was the issue and noticed that there was a lot of grease that was used on the gears and the teeth were basically just stuck in the grease making it where it wasn't ratteling around. There were 2 teeth from the smaller gear and 1 from the larger gear that were broken.
thanks to everyone for the help. I'll probably be back searching for something else soon since this model is 900 recalls waiting to be approved. I have already replaced the leaking radiator, the parking gear (or something) from it getting stuck in park, tire pressure sensors, and there is a faint burnt wire smell in the rear of the car when you turn the heat.
