blend door fix

[CKimball]

anyone torn their dash apart to fix this marvelous problem???... i wouldnt trust the dealers here to change the oil in my push mower let alone take my dash apart... . any tricks to know????... how long did it take ya... .

thanks in advance

Cameron

 

[JThiessen]

I never did get it "fixed" on my 03, but I did figure out a trick that worked every time for three months before I traded it in. If you turn the fan all the way off, the door should actuate - at least it did on mine. That made be believe the actuator wasnt gettting enough juice to power it. Kinda went hand in hand with the other electrical issues I had with it.

 

[RFogarty]

anyone torn their dash apart to fix this marvelous problem

What are your symptoms? I have warm air coming out of the passenger side vents and cold air coming out of the drivers side vents. Is this the blend door causing the problem?



Rowland

 

[rbattelle]

Experts like Sag2 say it's not that bad, but it sure seems bad to me. Steering column has to come out. There are 25 individual steps over 3 pages of the service manual. Not hard, per se, but time consuming if you've never done it. I think it would take me 20-24 hours to remove it.



Here's a big thread about the problem.



Ryan

 

[sag2]

It really isn't that bad, it just seems like it is. If you are only going to do one, it is going to take a while. If your doing a few of them as some technicians are, it is really fairly easy. And you don't have to pull the dash completely, you can roll it back and get it out, but it is still a big job. Follow the SM instructions if your not familiar with taking one out, and plan on a full day if your a novice.

 

[Kry226]

Truck goes in today. Selector on face vents, but air is coming out the feet vents. Hopefully they'll replace all of the actuators and clean out the musty smell and not take all week to do it. More to follow.

 

[CKimball]

thanks for the replys... . my stays on vent (which isgreat for AC!!) but sucks when I need to defrost the windows... . I just dont want some flat rate youwhoo touchin my 40k+ truck... . god knows the engineers didnt get it right so I am willing to bet the "tech(laugh cough) " couldnt either.....

cameron

 

[Boondocker]

I have a 2nd gen, but my blend has never worked right. It used to be just all hot or all cold, no in between. Just this month, the actuator started flipping out - back and forth actually. With the AC on, it would suddenly go from full cold to full hot and back. I put up with this until it got to be about 50/50.



With the ignition on but motor not started, you could hear the motor turning and the blend doors when they clunked at each end of the cycle.



The motor is visible under the dash and held on with a couple of screws and pins. I couldn't see a connector for the wires, so I removed the motor. This exposed the shaft that the blend doors are connected to. I stuck a pair of vice-grips on the shaft to hold the doors in the cold position.



This reminds me, my vice-grips are still holding it. Maybe I should try to fix it proper, or maybe I'll just turn it the other way come winter



Neil

There's nothing like having the right tool for the job. That's why they invented vice-grips

 

[JApol]

I had my truck in for the same thing along with the A/C problem.

Now the steering wheel moves up and down with bumps and it sounds like there is one of those plastic trees in the defrost vents.

I can physicly move the steering wheel up and down with medium effort.

I am just trying to find the time to do it before the weather turns to crap.

 

[Walker]

I fixed mine just by dropping the blower motor (3 screws), and reaching up into the duct, pulling out the broken door and sliding the new door up and in. You have to remove the actuator (2 screws), then pop out the dowel? that the doors slides onto (I hammer tapped it out, but found out it has squeeze tabs after the fact ). Easy to do in just a few minutes once you know the routine, and there's enough room to get to everything; just a little tight.

 

[CKimball]

I fixed mine just by dropping the blower motor (3 screws), and reaching up into the duct, pulling out the broken door and sliding the new door up and in. You have to remove the actuator (2 screws), then pop out the dowel? that the doors slides onto (I hammer tapped it out, but found out it has squeeze tabs after the fact ). Easy to do in just a few minutes once you know the routine, and there's enough room to get to everything; just a little tight.

your talkin about your 2001 correct?????. .

cameron

 

[Walker]

Nope. The 06. Broke the first month I had it. It's an issue on them and should be a TSB soon I'd think.

 

[CKimball]

ok... I am old but I was lead to believe that the 3rd gen dash(for the most part) and the ac set up are the same... 03 to 06. . if so then why are they having to pull the dash... . ?? different blend door????

cameron

 

[rbattelle]

I fixed mine just by dropping the blower motor (3 screws), and reaching up into the duct, pulling out the broken door and sliding the new door up and in. You have to remove the actuator (2 screws), then pop out the dowel? that the doors slides onto (I hammer tapped it out, but found out it has squeeze tabs after the fact ). Easy to do in just a few minutes once you know the routine, and there's enough room to get to everything; just a little tight.

Now that's pretty clever right there.



Ryan

 

[LesStallings]

Ryan, this sounds like the kind of thing you will try out. Please take pictures and post a detailed, blow-by-blow process for us to follow.



You will have a LOT of friends!!

 

[rbattelle]

Ryan, this sounds like the kind of thing you will try out. Please take pictures and post a detailed, blow-by-blow process for us to follow.



You will have a LOT of friends!!

I sure as heck would try it! But my blend doors are working fine for now.



Ryan

 

[LesStallings]

You must have warrantee remaining. The door does not start making noise until the warrantee expires.

 

[Kry226]

Truck goes in today. Selector on face vents, but air is coming out the feet vents. Hopefully they'll replace all of the actuators and clean out the musty smell and not take all week to do it. More to follow.

Took three entire days waiting for parts... picked the truck this afternoon.



Comments read: "Both mode doors cracked. R&R Upper and Lower Mode Door Assemblies and Actuator Bushing, Reassembled and recalibrated doors. "



Parts used (part descriptions abbreviated on invoice):

5073964-AA Door Defro

5127758-AA Housing H

5019632-AA Coupling

5073963-AA Door Pane



Doors work great and no visual or audible evidence that the dash was removed (no scratches or rattles). They also cleaned the evaporator core and the musty smell is history. Only 34K on the odo so all covered under warranty. I am a very happy man. Of course time will tell how good this fix is. Good luck to those still looking for a fix.

 

[LesStallings]

Having the part numbers will help. Thanks!

 

[Kry226]

Les,



I see you're in Nash-vegas. The work was done by Gary Mathews here in Clarksville and again, I am pleasantly surprised with the job... invoice showed $76/hr labor rate, which by all rights could be worse.



AND no forced "out-of-park-horn-honkin' recall. " They said they did it to one truck and the dude was needless to say... NOT PLEASED and probably left that service department a wreck by the time he was done :-{} . All three of their service writers told me that story. FYI. Good luck.