Yesterday I replaced the vent mode actuator. Many thanks to
@Killie for instructions in post #54 and to
@96xj for the video in post #65. Both were really helpful.
Actuator alignment hint:
After replacing the actuator and connecting it to the wiring harness, I struggled to align the actuator shaft with the hole in the airbox. The video in post #65 shows breaking open the old actuator, removing the shaft, inserting the shaft in the hole and then rotate the shaft to align the hole to the shaft position on the new actuator. Then you have to remove the old shaft, insert the new actuator, and hope the alignment was close enough for the actuator to push into place. Then repeat the above if the aligment is off. I did not want to try this way because the shaft on the new actuator is long enough to fit into the hole and still be able to rotate the actuator body by hand until the hole and shaft are aligned. However, trying to rotate the actuator body by hand is really difficult because the space is so tight.
I then noticed that occasionally the shaft on the new actuator was rotating by itself. I could hear the actuator motor running. I noticed that if I woke the Explorer up out of sleep mode the actuator would start turning. It would run for about a minute and then would stop. I then stumbled into an easy wake up: pull the left stalk on the steering column back towards the driver, like activating high beams. This will wake the Explorer up and the actuator shaft will start rotating.
So, from the instrument cluster opening, I used a few fingers to hold the actuator in the correct orientation with the airbox and the shaft resting at the opening of the airbox hole. I pulled the left stalk back with the other hand and the shaft started rotating until it dropped into the hole and I pushed the actuator onto the airbox. This was much simpler than what was shown in the video.
I’m guessing that the HVAC computer rotates the actuator at wake up to determine the vent door position. That is why the above works. And maybe this only works for models with electronic HVAC control. Dunno.
Note: I had the instrument cluster disconnected and the driver’s door open during the above, I’m not sure if these somehow affect the Explorer wake up.
