Repaired blend door actuator. Now how do I get to the door itself!

[cjcrank]

Hello,
I had the 'click of death' which resulted in the 3 broken teeth of the actuator gear.
I don't know what caused the teeth to break. The only two things that make sense are 1) blend door jammed or broke causing the motor to continue to turn and thus stripping the gear or 2) the position sensor in the actuator is faulty causing the actuator to not receive the end of travel position and just keep turning past the mechanical stop. (or 3, it just wore out and broke).

I disassembled the actuator and repaired the broken gear. I also verified the end of travel limiter system worked, and cleaned the board. With the connector plugged into the car (actuator not installed into the blend door) rotating the temperature control moves the actuator shaft back and forth as it should.

Troubleshooting step 2 - inserted the actuator most of the way into the blend door box (if you insert it all the way you can't move the door) and rotated the actuator clockwise which moves the door open and closed...it moves freely up and down.

Now the problem- once the actuator is fully inserted into the door box (with actuator shaft in the 'cold' position) and held in there by hand (before you go through the hassle of inserting all the screws), you turn on the key and rotate temperature knob to hot. You can feel the actuator moving the door but once it reaches what should be the travel limit it starts to click again.

This can only be because something is stopping the door from opening all the way and not allowing the actuator to get the end of travel limit and so it keeps trying to turn to get there.

Question 1 - How to tell if the door is getting to full open travel manually.

Question 2 - If something is not allowing it to open all the way how do I get to it?

I've looked everywhere and all I keep getting is how to replace the actuator and not get to the blend door.
The only other thing I have found is the HeaterSomething solution with the metal replacement door and cutting into the box or plenum (which I am not opposed to doing if that's what it takes to get to the door).


Will someone tell me where I can look to find the actual blend door removal and replacement/repair procedure in the kind of detail that a post on this forum has on replacing the actuator? (which was an excellent post by the way!)

Thanks for all your help in advance

edit - 2003 explorer v6

edit number 2 - it's a 2002

 

[slotzero]

Working on this same project myself.

This is great with visuals:

http://www.conceptualedge.com/blend-door/

Also nowadays, you can by replacement doors cheap:

http://www.1aauto.com/1A/HeatingandACControls/Ford/Explorer/1ABMX00111/523062

I think Napa has them, Autozone, etc. Different brands but all under $30 or so.

 

[cjcrank]

Thanks for the quick reply. I had to edit the post....I forgot to mention it's a 2002 explorer. Is the one on the link you referred to the same kind of setup?

 

[slotzero]

Hmmm that's right on the edge of when they changed it. I think you'll need the newer setup because I think the blend door was moved for the 02's. There's a great write-up on the board for the newer rigs, just search "blend door".

 

[cjcrank]

I've searched for it but the ones I keep finding are for the older style where the actuator is accessed through the glove box on top of the plenum. My actuator is on the driver side of the center console. I'll keep looking. Thanks