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Comments
The door can be replaced without removal of the dash. Assuming that your Explorer is RHD, the configuration of the replacement door has to be the mirror image of the LHD version. The problem is the same with all models of the Explorer, but the solution is different dependent on the drive configuration. Follow my user name to our private area for a pointer to a web site with more information and pictures.
cgallen
However, just stopping the clicking is only a temporary fix since the motor will get into a position where it slips again and start the routine over again. If this is allowed to continue, it will strip gears on the motor and it will have to be replaced. The root cause of the problem is that the blend door is out of alignment with the motor. The gears in the motor have to be planar to operate correctly. If the drive axle breaks, the motor "tilts", causing the gears to no longer be planar and they slip against each other. While it's possible for the motor to fail and reach the click stage on it's own, more commonly, the blend door axle is cracked or broken. This happens every day on thousands of Rangers, Explorers, Mountaineers, Mazda trucks, etc. It is a wear-out mechanism in the system and not a rare occurrence. Follow my user name back to our CarSpace and follow the link to a web site with more information and pictures.
The 03+ Explorer is a different beast altogether. On the 02- the blend door is on a vertical axis and the actuator motor is found on top of the heater box. On the 03+ the door is on a horizontal axis that spans parallel to the dash across the center of the console. The actuator motor for the single control version is on the driver's side of the box and can be seen if you remove the skirt next to the transmission tunnel and crane your neck. It also clicks, but for a different reason.
The lever described in a previous post is on the passenger side of the box and again, you have to remove the skirt on the passenger side and "double crane" your neck to see it. It is connected to the end of the axle which is driven by the actuator motor on the other side. This lever presses down on a vacuum switch which controls a valve under the hood which shuts off coolant flow through the heater core. The idea is that when the blend door is in the full down position(max AC), the lever pushes a button that shuts off heat to the heater core. This maximizes AC efficiency.
Observation of the clicking sound being reflected in the vacuum switch lever is again just a symptom of a different root cause problem. As in the 02-, the gears in the actuator motor are getting out of plane and slipping against each other. However, the cause of the mis-alignment of the blend door to the axle is a design flaw in the system. This is very difficult to explain with out pictures and arrows, so you will need to go to our web site for a full technical explanation.
The point is that the problems are different for the the two generations of Explorer and the fixes are different. Follow my user name to our CarSpace and pointer to our web site for more information than can be typed into this little box.
cgallen
We have sold multiple Jeep Grand Cherokee HeaterTreaters into Australia and the UK and don't really know how the finances work. People click paypal and dollars show up in our account. Not sure how the magic works. Our prices are in US dollars, so there must be some conversion from different currencies for the transactions. If you search heatertreater on Ebay, our products will show up and I think credit cards are accepted via that route.
An Australian post office money order will be OK, but there will be a fair delay for it to get to the US. Our bank said that they can redeem an Australian money order for shrimp that we can throw on the barbie......better than money anyway. Contact us through our online email at support@heatertreater.net and we can get this going. If you are anywhere near a surfing area, my son wants to go back and we'll trade for free lodging......
Schematics of the connector and a method for checking the motor with a 9V battery are available from the web site. Additionally, there is a full explanation of the design issues and remedy in the TECH section.
Follow my user name to our CarSpace page for a pointer to more information and contact info from our web site. We can help....
Description: 2002 Ford Explorer: Dual Air Control Heat/ACMax
Issue 1: Clicking Noise in Drivers Rear Firewall - Sounds like its the blend door and for this model, I can simply take the inside panels off and replace the acutator. (Is that Correct?) BUT, I have to ensure that the contols are set to cold before I plug the wiring into the NEW actuator to ensure correct position. The noise was loud at first now faint.
Issue 2: I don't have heat. Is that because the rear actuator went out? If I correct the rear actuator, will that provide heat/defrost?
This is a great forum. I've had to fix a crapload of issues on this vehicle and I've had it since birth.
The system is self calibrating so the position of the motor when it is installed or the temperature control don't matter. The motor will center itself and find the extents of movement from there.
We have developed a method for checking the Ford motor with a 9V snap battery and it is described in the listings for the older Explorers and is the same for 02+. I will be improved and posted on the web site soon. You want to check the motor before spending money on a new one. While you have the motor off, you also need to check the blend door motor connection and manually move the door to see if you find any issues. You should be able to move the door with your fingers and change from heat to AC. A flat piece of metal with a bend in it will slip into the motor connection and you can turn the blend door. Pictures on the web site. Follow my user name to our CarSpace area and follow the link to the site.
The symptoms sound very much like a blend door problem and you will need to get to the actuator motor and pull it to see if the axle is damaged and whether you can turn the blend door freely and switch from AC to Heat by turning the door manually.
The actuator motor is barely visible under the driver's side dash, next to the transmission tunnel. There are pictures, and a video in the Tech section on our web site. Follow my user name to our CarSpace page for a pointer to a web site with more information.
The system operates by always driving air flow through the evaporator core and the blend door then diverts some or all of the air through the heater core. Heat is achieved by turning off the AC compressor and pushing un-refrigerated air through the heater core. AC has the compressor on and the heater core blocked. And of course, there are all the variations in between to regulate between full heat and full AC.
Depending on the position that the blend door falls to when it breaks, it makes sense that blocking the flow of heated coolant through the heater core would restore AC. It sounds like the system is always blowing air through the evaporator and with a broken door, through the heater core. The system would cool, then heat the air, killing AC. With the hoses pinched, the air is still flowing through the heater core, but with no heat, it doesn't affect the cooling effect of the evaporator core. Heat would still work since with the compressor off, all air would be heated to the max. The biggest problem might be that the system gets too hot.
You might want to look into installing a valve in the rear heater hoses with either electronic control or just turn the valve like a water hose and just switch it around to match the season. If it's just the kids in the back, freezing in the winter and sweating in the summer builds character.....do nothing ;-)
Is this something that may happen again with the Ford?
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The first thing I would check is the vacuum actuated valve on the heater hoses. The default for the valve is that with no vacuum, the valve is open and if the lever in the picture is missing, there should be no vacuum and you should have heat. Since the lever seems to be associated with the problem, I'd check the valve on the heater hose to see if it is somehow stuck closed. You can replace the valve with a garden hose splice connector to just take it out of the loop altogether.
The lever to stop coolant flow in max AC is an efficiency invention from Ford. It's a good idea and will make you feel more "green", but it isn't a critical component for operation of the HVAC system. The HeaterTreater replaces this lever and installing a new door would solve the problem with the broken lever, but I'm not sure that it's worth the time and effort to replace the blend door just to get a new lever. The HeaterTreater would certainly be much less expensive than a dealer fix for the problem, but I'm not sure that it's worth the cost to fix it just to improve AC efficiency.
Check the heater hoses going into the firewall. My guess is that your valve is stuck and no heat is being transferred to the heater core. This may just be a 59 cent fix with garden hose parts from Home Depot.
HeaterTreater
ONLY THE HEAT WOULD WORK AND NOW NOTHING WORKS.
THE CLICKING NOISE IS STILL THERE.
WHAT DID YOU FINALLY DO ABOUT THE PROBLEM?
"JIM"
GOLDEZZ
The actuator motor is self calibrating and will seek the full open and full closed position and electronically record the information and regulate between the two extents in response to the temperature request. It sounds like the motor is not calibrated and is stuck in the wrong position. If you haven't already done it, you need to force the system to reset to correct the problem(learned this from Bill Gates). You can trace the fuses and pull/replace or just disconnect the battery, wait for all capacitive charges to dissipate, and reconnect. This will force a full system reset and the motor might come to life. If the computer was running with a stripped motor, it is "confused" and will have to relearn the new motor.
Information on how to check the operation of the motor independent of the automobile controls has been completed and will be posted this weekend on www.heatertreater.net. This will enable you to check the motor when it is disconnected.
The clicking sound you are hearing is the gears slipping against each other. If you let it continue, it will eventually strip the gears(see problem above). The gears are plastic and will take some slippage without permanent damage, but will eventually strip. The slippage occurs because the gears are flexing and getting out of planar alignment. The computer control system drives the motor to a stall point and detects the end point by recording the voltage surge from the stalled motor and uses this to "know" the extents of movement and regulate the door position between the two stall points.
The most common cause of the gears getting out of alignment is a broken or cracked connection to the blend door. This allows the motor drive shaft to "tilt" and results in the gears getting out of planarity. You can remove the motor and inspect for any damage to the gears by gently prying the motor case apart. You will also need to inspect the blend door connection to the motor for cracks or obvious breakage. You can feel the top of the blend door axle or use a small mirror. Again, this is not SOP Ford diagnostics, so you will have to be a little creative.
Additional information and pictures of what to look for are available on heatertreater.net. The standard dealer fix is to remove the dash, steering column, and plenum box to access the motor and blend door. Figure 8-12 hrs labor at whatever the going rate is in your area plus parts and new refrigerant and anti-freeze. The HeaterTreater fix is done without removing the dash and is well within the range of most shade tree mechanics. You can do a $1k+ repair at 1/10 the cost of taking it to the dealer....and end up with better components that won't break again.
http://www.heatertreater.net/Ford%20Explorer%2002-08.html
The lever that pushes the button is on the passenger side buried deep under the dash panel. Even my wild-child youngest son couldn't kick it and break the lever. The question is why the lever broke in the first place. It would be possible if you really tried to physically break it, but it would take a contortionist in a frenzy.
Two things to check:
1. The lever itself has no effect on the heater, only the opposite concern of making the AC more efficient. If the problem is related somehow to the lever, it would have to be that the switch is also damaged and stuck open and shutting down coolant flow. You can locate the vacuum actuated valve under the hood and see if the heater hoses are hot on both sides of the valve. This would indicate that the valve is open(fail safe mode) and heat is reaching the heater core. This doesn't explain how the lever broke, only tracing symptoms that could be related to the lever.
2. The blend door can break off from the axle, allowing the axle to spin past the point that it would normally stop at. If the axle is turning past the normal stop point for max AC, it would also torque the lever harder against the vacuum switch and has enough force to break the lever. If this is the case, the door could be broken off an lying dormant in the bottom of the box, blocking any air flow through the heater core. This would explain the broken lever and lack of heat. If the heater hoses are delivering hot water through the firewall into the heater core, this would be a likely explanation.
What we need to know is whether heat is getting to the core and if it is hot, why the blend door is not allowing air flow through the core. The actuator motor is located under the driver's side dash and is tricky, but possible to get to. You need to locate the motor, remove it and examine the motor side of the blend door axle. You should be able to turn the door with a flat angle bracket piece of metal and manually switch between AC and Heat by positioning the blend door differently. If the door is OK, the motor has to be suspected. Check the HeaterTreater web site for information on how to check the motor with a 9V snap battery. If the door is broken, you have a choice of paying the dealer an arm and a leg to repair it, or do it yourself with the HeaterTreater fix. It's not easy since Ford did not anticipate HVAC failures and access to the components was not planned as a standard repair operation. That's why the whole dash has to be removed for the dealer approved repair. The HeaterTreater takes a little "creative persuasion" and a couple of bandaids, but it can be done, and once done you have metal components that will never break again. heatertreater.net
My fix is not working any longer, so it lasted less than one year. I'm going to try and see if I can get it to work again. I put a lot of money into my Explorer this fall (what was I thinking?!?), so I don't want to invest a lot more, but I (or more specifically, my wife) needs heat!
-H
I posted too soon again. The blend door fix is still in tact. It looks like my heater core is plugged. The hoses through the firewall are not very hot. How hard is it to replace the heater core on a '97 Explorer? Or can I blow or flush it out?
-Huskero
The Explorer also has a vacuum actuated valve on the heater hoses to turn off flow of coolant through the heater core when running Max AC. The problem could just be a malfunctioning valve that is easy and cheap to replace. You can always just take the valve out of the loop and connect the two connections to the valve to each other with no valve in the loop.
HeaterTreater
First problem: When driving with the a/c on and you accelerate, the air cuts out and blows hot air, but once the engine catches up with the idle, or you let your foot off the gas pedal it will begin to blow cold air again.
Second problem started this winter: no heat... Originally it was a northern vehicle, so it originally had removed the thermostat, but when I moved south we reinstalled one. The truck will never get the temp gage more than 1/16" past the "C" from C to H, and now there is no heat coming out of the vents, but its too cold to tell if the a/c is working. Also, when you turn the knob from the blue "cold" area to the red "hot" area you do not hear the door opening or closing. I am not even sure you are supposed to hear it. You can however hear the vents change from foot/face/windshield settings
Does anyone have a clue what could be the problem? I read up here about a "blend door", but have no clue what or where that would be, or how to check it.
Thank you for anyone who can help. :sick:
Check the heatertreater web site at heatertreater.net for diagnostic information and pictures of the most common fail modes. The actuator motor is located on top of the plenum box and can be accessed through the glove box opening. The motor is frustrating to remove, but you need to do this and examine the connection to the blend door.
This is a common problem and there are lots of suggestions and procedures to effect a repair. The HeaterTreater is not the cheapest, but is the easiest and is proven over hundreds of successfull installations. If you just want to fix it once and be done with it, we can help.
HeaterTreater