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A/C What's this?

Dadsvette1981

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November 2, 2013
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Year, Model & Trim Level
2002 ford Explorer
I'm having issues as many have with the AC blowing to mixed locations without vent control. I was reading a post and saw this picture and an item I have that is broken.

What's the thing circled? and, where the red arrow points, mine is broken.

I'm guessing this is atleast one of my problems.

dashremoved_zps19ae9a5e.jpg
 



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What's the thing circled? and, where the red arrow points, mine is broken.

I'm guessing this is atleast one of my problems.

]

I can't give you the exact location name of the item circled in the pic, but it appears to be a "dash vent actuator". It looks like the one I've seen in other pics from people with dash vent control issues. Does it have a vacuum line connected to it? The vent actuators do. What is broken on it?
 






What is broken on it?

well there's a tab coming horizontally off of the vent pivot that connects to the silver arm coming out of the actuator. that tab broke off. so the actuator doesn't actuate anything. so I guess the broken part is the tab not the actuator.
 






well there's a tab coming horizontally off of the vent pivot that connects to the silver arm coming out of the actuator. that tab broke off. so the actuator doesn't actuate anything. so I guess the broken part is the tab not the actuator.

That's what I thought would be broken, that is quite common. I know some people drilled holes through the plastic part and the flat metal tab to re-connect them together using a zip tie, paper clip wire etc.. That is the cheap way of fixing it. I think the plastic end is what is molded/connected to the vent flap door inside the housing. The metal tab coming off of the actuator is what pushes on the plastic end in either direction when you select a certain vent to use. There are past posts in the forum on this type of actuator problem. Just use the search box at the top of the forum and type a question regarding that into the box and it will pull any posts related to your topic. I don 't have any of those links handy for you. Congrats on taking that dashboard apart, not something I would be willing to tackle myself.
 






This broken actuator is a very common problem. 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 and I still haven't fixed my problem. I wonder if pick-a-part junk yard might be an option?

Here's a couple of postings with some temporary fixes the for the broken actuator:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=323586
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249624
 












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