The official Blend Door thread
I just had my blend door and frame replaced on my '99 F150. I had my shadetree do it. He has done several in the past. A good AC mechanic. The part was $40.00 and he charged me $360.00 for labor.
Does anyone know it the new frame/door (and yes it was a Ford part) had been re-engineered not to break? Hate to have to go thru this again sometime in the future.
Regards
'99 F150 XLT Sport
Extended Cab
Does anyone know it the new frame/door (and yes it was a Ford part) had been re-engineered not to break? Hate to have to go thru this again sometime in the future.
Regards
'99 F150 XLT Sport
Extended Cab
This blend door issue is such a damn nightmare. I heard the "creaking" underneath the dash and a little to the left of the rubber tray on the dash. Well when the creaking stopped so did the a/c. I popped my hood and ran the auto a/c to see if anything was cooling and i did locate a line that was frosty cold. I am guessing this means it's not a freon/leak issue but that damn blend door. Does anybody have some pics or something that can help me take my dash out and locate the blend door. I can't afford mechanic labor rates when I am paying $100 to fill this thing up. PLEASE HELP!
I finally dug into mine saturday and got it all done. I used the 20 page instructions posted on one of the threads on here. Thanks a million for those!
It took me about 8 hours of work and I replaced the heater core and flushed the whole system. The part replacement was easy, the dash removal took the time. It really wasn't too bad with the instructions, just time consuming. The blend door was completely broken off from the part connected to the acuator. So it still turned, and the door swung wherever it wanted.
It's all working great . . . except now my A/C isn't working for some reason. I didn't touch that system at all, but I hear the relay click on, the compressor spin up for about 1-2 seconds, then the relay clicks off. Repeat about 5-10 seconds later. Not sure if something electrical got blown when disconnecting/reconnecting the battery? Initial reading says maybe system low on freon? Or too high/blockage and high pressure sensor kicking it off? I'll have to start searching the threads on here and perhaps start my own if I can't reach resolution. It was working fine so far this year before I did the work (of course only if the blend door happened to blow in the breeze in the right direction for cold air).
Anyway, I thank all those that provided tutorials and reference on the blend door. I hope I never have rip that dash out again!
It's all working great . . . except now my A/C isn't working for some reason. I didn't touch that system at all, but I hear the relay click on, the compressor spin up for about 1-2 seconds, then the relay clicks off. Repeat about 5-10 seconds later. Not sure if something electrical got blown when disconnecting/reconnecting the battery? Initial reading says maybe system low on freon? Or too high/blockage and high pressure sensor kicking it off? I'll have to start searching the threads on here and perhaps start my own if I can't reach resolution. It was working fine so far this year before I did the work (of course only if the blend door happened to blow in the breeze in the right direction for cold air).
Anyway, I thank all those that provided tutorials and reference on the blend door. I hope I never have rip that dash out again!
Last edited by jolle; Jun 24, 2008 at 10:34 AM.
I had to pull my 99 Expedition apart to replace a bad heater core. Its not too bad a job if you can remember where all the screws go. Alldata Do It Yourself , www.alldatadiy.com has some general instructions on how to take the dash out. The Expedition was a little more difficult because of the console. Be careful with the airbag during removal. Most of the plastic on the dash just pops off and the screws holding the dash can be accessed from behind there. The glovebox, instrumentation, and airbag come out. The steering wheel must be dropped and the entire dash lifts up and pulls out. I did it by myself but I suggest 2 people pull the dash out. After that you can get to the air conditioner pod. I would suggest at least a day or day and a half if you are doing this by yourself.
Is that what the annoying moaning sound my ac makes when i change settings, like from normal to ac, to recirc? Its not a squeak more of a low tone moan. i have an 04' f150 with 85K. i guess it cools ok not a cold as i would like, i havent put a thermometer to it just figured it was so damn hot in houston that was the problem.....
I am bout to dig into my 2003 Expedition to determine if my blend door motor(actuator) is bad or if the blend door is cracked. Where are the directions to do this that everyone is talking about? It sure would help.
The replacement part (Ford) has not been re-engineered, it is the same as it was. There is another way of replacing the blend door without tearing the dash apart. I am in no way affiliated with the website but only offer it as an alternative to those of you not wanting to spend the $ to pay someone to take your dash apart or for those of you that will do that job yourself. I had an issue with my Ford Expedition that I thought was my blend door, instead it was the actuator, but, I did replace my blend door myself, cost around $170. The job wasn't difficult and only took me about 2 hours. The website is heatertreater.com. It is a guy (I think) that sells replacement blend doors that are made of metal instead of plastic. Access to replace it is made thru the plenum with a dremel. He includes all necessary parts, including dremel bit and template and aluminum tape to repair the cut. Again, try it, or don't try it but it was an easy job and I wouldn't hesitate to go that route again as I have no desire to remove my entire dash to replace a part that will only break again.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Bleand door problem
I had checked everything so the only things left that could cause me to have no heat was either the blend door or the blend door motor(actuator). Took the dash apart today on my 2003 Expedition and removed the acuator. I took it apart to see if there was anything obvious. Found broken gears inside only allowing about 25% travel. Verified blend door functioning correctly and put it all back together. I now have heat. Good thing because it is cold in upstate New York!
Actuator part number
I picked up a new blend door actuator, went to install it and it is the wrong one. I bough part # 2l3z-19e616-ba. 2002 F150 Screw. No ATC. I removed part # XL3H-19E616-BA. It looks identical other than the shaft comes out the other side. Everywhere I look it calls for the part # I bought. Any ideas.
Had to do it for the rear air flow selector in the rear of the Expy.
If you go to a junkyard, and reach around the rear of the Expys and Navis, you can pull the actuators out, and take out the gears. Got a bunch of them for a dollar
Too bad I lost half of them somewhere in my car
. Need to do another junkyard run. 
To Boss 302, have you tried opening the broken one and seeing if the gear is what is broke (most likely). Then open up the new one, and take the gear from there and put it in the old one. Should be the same.
If you go to a junkyard, and reach around the rear of the Expys and Navis, you can pull the actuators out, and take out the gears. Got a bunch of them for a dollar
Too bad I lost half of them somewhere in my car
. Need to do another junkyard run. 
To Boss 302, have you tried opening the broken one and seeing if the gear is what is broke (most likely). Then open up the new one, and take the gear from there and put it in the old one. Should be the same.
Last edited by ELVATO; Nov 9, 2009 at 12:13 PM.
Had to do it for the rear air flow selector in the rear of the Expy.
If you go to a junkyard, and reach around the rear of the Expys and Navis, you can pull the actuators out, and take out the gears. Got a bunch of them for a dollar
Too bad I lost half of them somewhere in my car
. Need to do another junkyard run. 
To Boss 302, have you tried opening the broken one and seeing if the gear is what is broke (most likely). Then open up the new one, and take the gear from there and put it in the old one. Should be the same.
If you go to a junkyard, and reach around the rear of the Expys and Navis, you can pull the actuators out, and take out the gears. Got a bunch of them for a dollar
Too bad I lost half of them somewhere in my car
. Need to do another junkyard run. 
To Boss 302, have you tried opening the broken one and seeing if the gear is what is broke (most likely). Then open up the new one, and take the gear from there and put it in the old one. Should be the same.
That is exactly what I ended up doing, taking apart my old actuator and installed the guts from the new one, for some reason the new actuator didn't work at all, after I replaced the gears and motor from the new actuator in the old one it worked fine. Odd but true.



