Barry_Vee

2011 Blend door actuator gear tooth failure at 80k miles. Mine made a repetitious thunk noise in the dash from behind the radio. Found Ford Tech Makuloco's video for this repair (Huge THANKS!). Took two hours to repair including a trip to my Ford Dealer's Part's Dept. for PN YH-1933, (made in China).

Tools Used:
1/4" ratchet/7&8mm sockets/8mm combo wrench/flashlight...Also used but not required PS20 Screwdriver/driver-1/4" adapter/ 1/4"x4" extension.

Since the part came from China anyway probably could save $20 ordering off the internet.

mortarman120

That's nothing I am on my third one and I just rolled 60,000

Barry_Vee

Maybe I will discover Ford's 24 mo. unlimited mileage parts warranty is real!

Feathermerchant

I just joined the club. Minen looks like yours with the missing tooth but the real culprit is the D shaped shaft in the pic. It turns the potentiometer (think volume) so the truck knows where the door is. When it sheared, the motor ran until the door hit a mechanical stop then sheared the gear tooth.
Autozone sent me the wrong one. Off to return it and to the dealer to get the correct one (hopefully) tomorrow.
Dealer sold out today. I need to get there early in order to beat the other club members.

Feathermerchant

Replaced mine today. Ford part was correct. Knocked backside screw out trying to get wrench on it. So its on with one for now. Pulled fuse 46 in BCM to reset climate control module. When I turned ignition on, I heard the dampers moving and calibrating.
New part has black colored output shaft. Maybe it will last longer.
Note: If you unplug the climate controls from the truck while working on it, I think that will have the same effect as pulling the fuse.

homeskizzle

Looks like I'll be changing mine sometime this weekend. Part is on the way. 78k miles on the truck.

Red89gt

Just did front and rear aux hvac blend dooor actuators in my fatherinlaws 2009 expedition.
Great design, sarcasm. Why do companies leave failure prone parts in their vehicles for so long without implementing a fix?
So nice to no longer hear them thumping and clicking at every start up.

GrasslandHVAC

Dear god do they still have this problem?
my 08 Ranger had it, 02 grand cherokee had it.
Painful

EDIT
The designs are all "different" but the key issues are all still inherent in the design, by using plastic parts and a calibration sequence that puts force on them.

Feathermerchant

Well my failure mode had nothing to do with pressure on the door. The little driveshaft to the feedback pot failed leaving the system with an apparent fixed position. There is very little torque required to turn the pot and it has no internal stops. The shaft breaking caused the motor to drive the door to a limit and eventually broke an output gear tooth. But still we CAN make plastics strong enough.
I agree that it is a bad design. As another has noted, the part number on the replacement unit is different and the output shaft (which also drives the pot) is a different color suggesting a change in material.

Augster

Mine apparently failed yesterday; started it up in the morning and was met with the cyclic clicking sound for about 10-20 seconds. Thereafter, it always does this when turning ignition switch to on. At least it eventually stops until the next ignition cycle.

I haven't determined whether it's the driver's (lower left) or passenger's (upper right) actuator (or it could be the floor/vent/defrost actuator), but I'm dreading if it ends up being the lower one since the entire dash panel has to be removed to properly replace it. Makuloco shows a shortcut method that involves breaking off the right side mounting eyelet to remove the original actuator and installing the new actuator without the screw for that same side, relying on the lower duct work to keep it in place since it rests up near or against the bottom of the actuator. But even he wouldn't recommend it for customer vehicles; he did this on a friend's F-150 to see if it could be done without removing the entire dash.

I do have an aftermarket repair warranty but this type of repair is not explicitly stated the HVAC coverage (driver-operated A/C controls and electronic A/C control module), and there is a $200 deductible. Certainly, if it's the lower actuator and is covered, I will go the warranty service.