Blend door not moving.

[ahkistler]

So I've been fixing up a 97 Eddie Bauer AWD 5.0L explorer for a while now. I seem to have hit a snag however. It used to be, when I would turn the truck on, there would be a loud clicking coming from behind the glovebox, and when I unplugged the blend door, the clicking went away.

Since I'm hoping to sell it when I'm done with it, I decided that instead of cutting the plenum, I'd pull the dash off (had to do some rewiring anyway).

At the moment, I have the wiring harness disconnected from the dash, and nearly everything plugged in (few stray connectors). It turns on, but when I change the blower settings, only the two vents move, the blend door does not move. I had purchased a replacement blend door actuator, as I thought that might be broken, but that one doesn't move either.

This truck doesn't have a knob, it has the buttons and gives a numerical readout of what it's supposed to be, I assume that the lowest setting on that is the same as having the dial turned all the way down and vice versa.

Anybody have any experience doing this?

 

[00meangreenXLT]

The clicking sound definitely sounds like a bad blend door actuator, had the same problem/sound with my friend's 99 Explorer Limited, we replaced the actuator and it works now. There's a different blend door actuator for the system with manual A/C controls vs. the auto climate control that you have, are you sure you have the right one? Since you have the auto climate controls you can also run it through a self test that at the end will give you a code for what the problem is, the instructions and the codes are on this page:

http://www.idmsvcs.com/2vmod/eatcswap/selftest.html

 

[ahkistler]

I'm not sure that I have the right one, the numbers did not match up, but it looks the same. The old one had a white lid on a black case, the new one is all black.

It was the only one the parts place had. I didn't realize that you could do a self test, thanks, I'll run it later tonight.

 

[00meangreenXLT]

Yup do some searching on here too cause I know there's lots of threads about this, I did find this one which talks about the model numbers for the auto and manual ones and the quality of aftermarket ones vs. getting the part from ford

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=318602

But I would def do the test first and make sure the actuator is the problem

 

[ahkistler]

Alright, I tested with both doors, as well as without an actuator in.

Old -
031
024
025

New -
031
024

Nothing -
031
024

Where is the in car temperature sensor at? That is probably one of the loose connections I have.

The new door is a 604-202, but there's not a 604 number on the original so I'm not sure if they're the same.

 

[00meangreenXLT]

The in-car air temp sensor is behind the little vent looking thing between the radio bezel and the pass. airbag cover. The 604-202 part number is the Dorman brand part number, so that's why you're not seeing it on the actuator that you took out of the truck since that one wasn't made by Dorman. The 604-202 is correct for auto climate control, but it might not be the one for your year, my guess is that you would need 604-201...if that doesn't work I would try to get a Motorcraft one

 

[ahkistler]

I'm getting a little confused with all these numbers.

The original actuator is f77h-19e694-bb, and the form factor is identical to the Dorman 604-202, but the Dorman website says that it is for the manual control system. The control in my truck doesn't have dials, but gives approximate degree readouts, has the blue/red pushbuttons which I think is automatic.

I opened the original actuator, and there were some broken teeth, so that is probably the problem. After pulling the dash out, I have been unable to get the actuator to move, neither with the controls or the eatc test.

What all needs to be connected to have the actuator working? Does the interior temp sensor need to be hooked up?

 

[ahkistler]

Anyone?

 

[ahkistler]

Pretty sure that the replacement motor I got was the wrong one, Dorman says it's for the manual controls 98-late00s. Anybody replaced this and know which motor I should get? Dorman says the 604-217 is the correct actuator for the EATC, but it looks significantly different.