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It dawned on me today my "terminology" was wrong this whole time. I did not have a stuck blendor my actuator that I needed to fix was under the driver side of the dash the actuator for the ( i dont know ) "diverter doors" I totally facepalmed this. But hey I have learned a ton in going thru it and even figured out how to fix my ashtray that wont stay closed. Large sigh.
I have a similar problem, my floor and and vents work fine but my defrost does not have any air (well extremely minimal) flow. Unfortunately I've waited to research this and it is now very cold here in Mn. My concern now is 1. this looks like a pain but and 2. in the cold, any plastic pieces are prone to breaking or snapping if there are many. Excellent instructions though so that will help immensely. Thanks for that! Will hopefully attempt this soon.
Thanks!
This problem showed up today in my truck. No defrost and no floor. It was tough to hear if the actuator is still working.
Since owning the truck the last 7 years every time the door would switch it would make this loud "creeaakkk" sound. Like opening an old house door.
I thought I did hear that creak sound but very little today so hopefully its just the foam problem.
Tomorrow I'll try to see if I can hear the actuator trying to work then tackle the job during the week.
If by chance it's the actuator, can this be replaced the way getting to it the way the OP got into fix the door foam?
Any body know the part # for an '07?
I see there is a long shaft and short shaft model when I search online.
Great write up dirt tracker.
EDIT>>>>> I just went out to my truck and stuck my ear to the vents. I hear the actuator making noise and trying to open and close but sounds obstructed.
So I'm guessing since I hearing the actuators then it must be foam.
The actuator can be seen on the drivers side down near the floor. Get yourself down on the floor, looking up behind the stereo area and you can see that actuator. Switch the panel blower and see if it tries to change.
Yes you can buy and change the actuator, it is very simple.
The foam issue is a much more involved job
Last edited by Dirttracker18; 03-26-2018 at 10:03 PM.
You need to take the actuator off, and try and move the lever with your hand. If it moves freely it's just the actuator that needs to be replaced(easy), if the lever that it moves is jammed, watch out!
Happened to me, took 3 days, the old method. I can't imagine doing it under 50 degrees............... I'd rather get a power invertor and use a hair dryer on the glass and wait till spring
Also as I pointed out earlier run the truck and warm up the interior I did this in 30's temps it sucks! Plus warming it up, if you have to take the center part off to gain access to the doors to see if the foam fell off well it will make that piece much more flexible and easier to remove. *Note heat it up to install too*
Did this job in under an hour. I got lucky that when I finally removed the black cover from over the damper the piece of foam was loose. I reached in and pulled it out of the left side no problems.
The hardest part was getting the black cover back in. Had to heat it up with a hair dryer to make it pliable.
Getting the white trim retainers out was easy with the proper tool and got lucky I bought the correct size retainers to replace the white ones.
At Pep Boys the retainers I bought were- Ford trim panel retainer 456803B
The weather has finally warmed up to a point where I can get to this task. In fact I am in the midst of it now and have some questions.
I have things torn apart, the middle duct work is removed and I have good visual of the vent doors and the foam. I don't see or feel any foam that is out of place, folded over or fallen off. I have plugged in the controls to test the movement and the doors open and close freely and tightly. Here are my symptoms, if I put the controls on defrost only, I get VERY little airflow through those vents but it blows like no tomorrow out of the floor vents? If I put the settings on anything else, that setting works fine. Just seems to be my defrost. Is there another "door" that controls the air flow to the defrost vents? Again, keeping in mind the middle piece of duct work is removed right now but that piece looked like it was for the dash vents. Any thoughts?
The air does not come out of the dash vents at all in mine. If I get on the freeway the air will barely come through, but the actual blower does not come on. I have had a new Blower, Blower Relay, and resistor put in and the air still will not blow out of any vents. Do you think this is something that may help my situation? I really need help so bad, I have not found anything else to do! Was your Blower working?
Originally Posted by Dirttracker18
. . . or how to save 14 hours in one day.
Perhaps it is out there already but I did not see it. Most people claim about 16 hours of repair time for stuck vents due to fallen or damaged foam. However I had seen a few posts where people said they made the repair simply by removing the centre section of their dash and completing the work in a couple of hours. What I didn't see was a guide on how to make this time saving repair. No one discussed how they saved this valuable time.
So I went on a quest (as the cold weather starts to move in up here) to repair my functioning and stuck vents.
As many of you, especially if you are reading this, have discovered is that your vents are stuck in the front dash position. At this point when you turn the dial on your vent position switch it will not change to defrost or floor. You have one of two issues, or both, happening. Either the motor that moves the vent doors has quit or some foam has come off the vent doors inside and jammed doors from moving.
The diagnosis is fairly easy, simply look under your dash on the drivers side up high and you will see the actuator for the vent doors. When you switch from vents to floor or defrost, the actuator should attempt to move, even if jammed.
If this occurs the foam has likely fallen and jammed the doors. If it makes no attempt to move it is likely dead and in need of replacement. This second possibility does not mean you do not have foam jamming things up though. The foam may have jammed and eventually burned out the actuator. So replace the actuator and test again.
Now if you find the unit jammed, you will do some research and see post related to $1000 dealer repairs and/or two days of work to remove the entire dash back to the firewall to access the vent doors.
There is another way!
First, remove the dash trim around the stereo and HVAC controls by gently prying it out. It has snap in connections that simply pop out. Then carefully remove all the electrical connections so you can completely remove the trim piece and HVAC controls. Then remove the 4 screws that hold the stereo in place. Pull the stereo out and remove the electrical connections.
It should look something like this now.
Notice the screw I have partially removed on the right hand side in the above image. You need to take this out to start the process.
Next remove the screw on the opposite side
By removing these screws you have some wiggle room to move the tubes attached by these screws.
Now you have to pry out a couple of push style connectors. Do yourself a favour and get two of them from the dealer. They are cheap and may break when trying to remove them, due to their location. I will post a picture at the end to give you an idea of what to look for.
Here is the first one to remove with a large white head. It is on the right side of the opening and below the horizontal steel tubing you see in front of you. It is tough to see and this picture was taking with a phone camera under the location and facing up! Pry this plug down and out.
The second plug like this is found under the dash on the drivers side. Get down on the floor (ya I know its tough to do) and look up to see another large white plastic head like so.
You can now remove the entire front of the HVAC vent system by pull out on the right and then down on the left. It is tight but it can not only be moved out of the way but taken completely out.
You should now have something looking like this
Have a look at what I found! Look at the left hand vent door toward the bottom. You will see a chunk of foam sticking down, compare to the right vent door.
I reached in, it was not easy as I have big hands, and I finally managed to get a grip on that piece and pull it down and out. Now you can really see the issue.
There's your problem! That piece of foam bent over is stopping the vent doors from opening and closing properly.
Check to ensure you have solved the issue by plugging the vent controls back in, turning the key to ignition, not started, and try changing the controls and the doors should fully open and close. When this occurs your should have air blowing through the correct location now. You may find you have foam issues on the opposite door, or possibly both!
Reassemble in reverse order. You can see from the following picture that I may be in need of doing this job again sometime as the foam on the front left is in bad shape. I left in place for the time being as it is functioning.
Finally here is what those push in plugs look like, after you break them!
Good luck and I hope this helps out some people that find themselves in my situation.
12-09-2016, 03:51 PM
