Menace

Alright, there are a few posts regarding this but I just wanted to show the insides of the Actuators that become faulty.

For a while mine was clicking, and I just ignored it because everything was functioning fine (minus the click). Whenever I would switch out of Defrost it would click for a few seconds and that was that. Since I am addressing a few concerns with my car in the upcoming few days I finally ordered the actuator to fix this problem. There are four of them inside the car, and they basically open up panels in the AC vent to allow air to travel to different parts of the car. Mine was the "defrost mode door" obviously, but the only way for you to find out which one is faulty is by removing the plug and then cycling through your controls.

http://iihs.net/fsm/?dir=336&viewfil...ost%20Door.pdf Is the Ford Service manual regarding replacement.

Part # 4R3H-19E616-AB; Although I was told that 3 of them are the same and the fourth is a different part number... but not 100%.

This one was very tricky to get to because it hovers over the dash frame behind the glove compartment. I simply removed the glove compartment so I can get to it easier and was basically laying on the passenger seat upside down. (Four 7mm screws hold the glove compartment in, and are found right beneath it) The bolts to the actuator are 8mm, and very tight quarters. A 1/4" ratchet was all I could get in there, and ratcheting was difficult. Once I broke the screws loose a few turns I just used the socket and my fingers.

On the backside of the actuator it looks like a window crank. You have to make sure that the end piece of the crank goes inside the slotted arm (on the car). If you look at the manual and look to the left of the actuator you'll see the slotted arm I'm talking about. Also, the base of this "window crank" fits into the plastic posts. Again if you look at the manual you'll see right beneath the slotted arm is two pieces of plastic. The base of the crank goes in there and that will align your screws.

Obviously once you screw it all together it's just a matter of reconnecting the plug, and testing it out before bolting the glove compartment back up.

The only thing holding this together are pull tabs, and it's really easy to disassemble. When I took it apart it wasn't assembled correctly. The circuit board and large white gear were on the non-window crank side of the casing. Aside from that the only thing I noticed was wrong was a broken tooth on the large white gear. I also noticed beneath the small white gear was where all the grease collected.

Kind of hard to believe that broken tooth is what caused mine to "click"... unless there is some other unforeseen problem. I may hold onto it because it just may be fine after I removed the broken tooth and assembled it properly. The part is $27 (and that's the cheapest I found, shipped through Rockauto.com)

Inside the actuator. Large white gear removed and just showing the underside of the circuit board.


How it should look fully assembled, and you can see the broken tooth on the large white gear. Also highlighted the pull tabs.

BigDinTexas

Awesome to share what you learned. Glad it was a relatively inexpensive repair, but damn am I hoping I never have to deal with it... my big fat fingers would make it difficult.

Don

Menace

No problem. I had to lay in a very awkward position to get to it, but there wasn't any other viable choice for me unless you want to tear apart the dash. I know there is one behind the instrument cluster so aside from the "easy" one which is right to the left of the glove compartment, I think the one I replaced might be 2nd easiest.

Antonio323

This thread should be posted on the "How To's" for those that experience this annoying little problem and no longer have their warranty. Good write up!

wayne613

Seems oddly familiar... good job

CMcNam

Thanks for this, I have the same issue and this'll help. I'll get around to it...eventually...

wingless

My 2011 GT Mustang had the clicking failure for a long time. It would go CLUNK - CLUNK - CLUNK about four times every time I started the vehicle.

As far as I could tell the AC worked fine, except for the objectionable noise. There was obviously something wrong, maybe the dual zone control was not operating properly, but this was almost always a one-passenger vehicle.

This was just analyzed and repaired by me.

There are three blend door motors on my dual-zone HVAC system.

The glove box was removed. With me under the dash, the vehicle was started, to make the sound. I felt the strongest vibration from the passenger side front blend motor, so that is the one I yanked.

Of course Ford made one of the screws almost impossible to remove. The other two came out no problemo using a 8mm socket w/ 6" extension. The difficult screw required a combination wrench an 1/6 rotation turns to get it out. (That screw replacement required a magnet tool to get it started. My bet is that the dealership NEVER replaces that screw.)

Once the blend door motor was out I opened the motor to verify the failure. One tooth was gone on the final gear. Of course, the highest torque / lowest speed / most gear stress failed on that plastic gear.

The dealership parts department confirmed they have LOTS of this failure. Also a service guy started my car one time for another problem and announced I had the blend door motor failure. The listings for this part on eBay have sold thousands of these parts.

The new blend door motor was disassembled and appears to be identical to me, with NO design improvement to prevent this failure.


HVAC Floor Airflow Blend Door Motor Installed


Failed Motor Gearbox - One Tooth Missing


New Mopar YH-1801 AR3Z-19E616E Blend Door Motor


New Mopar YH-1801 AR3Z-19E616E Blend Door Gearbox


Parts Listing