Cheap Fix For Broken A/C Fresh Air Door

[mike2002explorer]

Tony I just wanted to say thanks for your helpful advice on this common problem with the recirculating door. Did everything you suggested and it works great!! What a difference with a huge increase in the amount of air coming out of the front vents as well as a large increase in volume coming out of the rear vents to the back seat from behind the armrest. Blower speed 4 before is like what 3 is now with 4 really cranking it out! Thanks again!!!

-Mike-

 

[vinchinzo]

Dude where would you find a new arm? Mine is shot

 

[Rich_Golfer]

Great Idea, Tony!

Tony, what a great idea! Followed your instructions to the letter, and made a slight improvement on the toggle bolts by putting a piece of tygon hose between the the bolt head and the flat washer, allowing me to fine tune the adjustment. The job took less than 30 minutes, including the trip to the hardware store. You saved me a lot of sweat and $$$.

 

[Lee308]

It's been about two weeks and the bolts are still secure. Air flow is excellent.

Thanks!!!!!

 

[DougBB]

Fix for broken AC fresh air door

Thanks to all those that made previous posts regarding this problem. They enabled me to dig in and find a solution.

I have a 2004 Explorer XLT, 4.0 Flex fuel engine with manual AC control. My issue was that the AC performance was poor, not enough cold air and the Max AC switch setting had no effect.

I dropped down the glove compartment (and removed it with 3 screws) and looked up into the fresh air door assembly that sits on top of the blower motor housing. The fresh air door was loose and crooked in the housing. When I stuck my finger into the air vent on the housing, the door fell to the bottom of the housing. This blocked even more air going into the blower.

Using previous posts, I inspected the housing and noticed that the screws that hold the fresh air door assembly together could be removed (in other words, open up the housing, rather than taking it off of the blower motor). This would allow the door to be removed thru the opening in the housing.

Procedure:
Using a 5/16 inch socket or ignition wrench, remove the 2 screws in the front, one each on the front left and right sides and one on the back left side (there is another on the back right side and possible more on the back side of the housing which were not removed). With these 5 screws removed, you should be able to pry the housing open enough to get the door out. I used a couple of wood blocks on each side to keep the housing open.

Pic 1

Then, remove the vacuum motor on the left side of the housing (2 screws). The fresh air door actuator shaft should still be attached to the vacuum motor. After removing the shaft from the vacuum motor and extracting the door from the housing, you should be able to see that the shaft fits into the left end of the fresh air door.

Pic 2

Pic 3

The idea is to reattach the actuator shaft to the door using a #8 - 1 1/4 inch Phillips pan head metal sheet screw. To accomplish this, insert the shaft into the door and drill an 11/64 inch hole thru the end of the actuator shaft (it is partially hollowed out) and into the end of the fresh air door. This seemed about the right size so that the sheet metal screw would hold in the door plastic. This hole should be centered and inline with the shaft and door (not crooked or off-center). Then, with the shaft removed, drill a 1/8 inch hole thru the shaft hole so that the screw will pass thru it into the door hole when assembled. Try a dry fit. Put the shaft into the end of the door and screw in the sheet metal screw. Not too tight, you don't want to strip out the hole in the door. These screw and drill sizes were appropriate for my Explorer fresh air door but may be different for other models and years.

Next, reattach the shaft to the vacuum motor using the instructions/images below.

Pic 4

Now, the door needs to be reinstalled into the housing (with the shaft removed). I used a pair of long needle nose pliers to grab one of the ridges in the center of the door to reposition it. The door needs to be lifted up into position so that the door right hinge pin is in the recessed hole at the top right of the housing and the top edge of the door is at the top of the housing. I was not able to see the hinge hole in the housing but the door luckily moved into the proper position after some finagling.

While still holding the door in position with the needle nose pliers, place the shaft thru the hole at the left hand top of the housing. Rotate the shaft until it slides and locks into the end of the door. You should be able to remove the pliers at this point. Then, place the sheet metal screw into the end of the actuator shaft and screw it into the end of the door using a short Phillips screwdriver. Note that the shaft must be attached to the vacuum motor before putting the shaft thru the housing hole and into the end of the door.

Now, remount the vacuum motor to the housing (2 screws), reinstall the vacuum line to the motor and reinstall the 5 housing screws. To test, start the engine and move the control knob on the dash back and forth between Vent to Max AC. You should see the air door move from back to front.

I hope this works for you.
Doug

Sorry that the photos are not embedded. I haven't had any success with that.

The photos are available at:

http://s40.photobucket.com/user/dbalkman/embed/slideshow/

 

[rocco123]

Thanks Tony. Found door dropped down. Just positioned my door over area where the air comes in, drilled a hole on the door and secured with safety wire.