Not the blend door

[ErnestJ]

2002 Explorer XLT. Air temperature changes correctly but location does not. The door behind the center vents has vacuum actuators on both ends of the shaft. The connections are broken on both ends of the shaft. Is this the mode door? Is this a common problem? Shall I start pulling the dashboard? Help.?!

 

[rrgone]

2002 Explorer XLT. Air temperature changes correctly but location does not. The door behind the center vents has vacuum actuators on both ends of the shaft. The connections are broken on both ends of the shaft. Is this the mode door? Is this a common problem? Shall I start pulling the dashboard? Help.?!

What you are seeing are actually two different mode door actuators. One for defrost and one for dash vents. There are good pictures in this thread in posts #3 and #4 . Hat tips to timz. I send people to that post quite often to get an idea of where the vacuum actuators are located.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=369287

There are some posts in here where people have built homemade connectors to reconnect the actuators to the mode doors. Here's one.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249624

I would not be able to do those repairs without pulling the dash out. But I am getting old and not very flexible any more.