Blend Door, gray arm and heat....

T

TJKashin

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Ok, I know posting something about this is probably like beating a dead horse, but I just thought I would throw it out there. I have spent the last few days looking through many different posts on this site and others regarding the infamous blend door problem.

I bought the car last thursday, they told me it had heat but the air wasn't working, no big deal, I can fix most car issues anyways. After driving around a bit, it got excessively hot in the cabin, so I turned the temp down and that didn't seem to do anything. I got the car home and started reading some things on this site and decided to investigate the blend door and surrounding components. What I found is that the gray arm had broken and they had zip-tied it together with the steel arm from the blend door actuator. This allowed for heat. Upon further investigation, I noticed it did not move when the temp was adjusted, and looking further into that I found they had disconnected the wires from the blend door actuator.

I called my local Lincoln dealer and ordered the gray part ($4.50 overnight) and also the blend door actuator ($34 overnight). I replaced the gray part last night and plugged in the wires to the existing blend door actuator hoping that the gray part was my only problem. Well, I still have heat, but no movement on the cold side of things. My question is there a possibility that since that was disconnected so long that I need to perform some diagnostics to reinitialize the blend or am I in for a Springtime project of replacing that blend door actuator that I bought just in case?

All I can be thankful for right now is that it's stuck on heat and not cool for our lovely weather here in Chicagoland. Thanks in advance for any advice....

Tim
 
its not too bad, most can do it in a afternoon. pull the center console, only pull the pass side of the dash, pull the cluster/message center bezel, pull the message center and drop the glove box and its not to bad. i would recommend a good set of ratcheting wrenches (flex head retching wrenches even better)
 
Grey blend door arm

I just noticed my gray arm is broken and my heat is only 80 deg's. How did you replace the grey arm? Is it press fit on the shaft? Do you need to pull the dash? Thanks
 
you dont have to reinforce the new blend doors, they dont break like they used to, the whole thing has been redesigned the black arm is part of the new blend door, the old black arms could be pulled off, the new ones cant, they dont crack like they used to. they unplugged the blend door motor in your car so they wouldnt lose their rig job they did and have cold air blowing. you'll need to do the whole job, dont band aid it, just change it, you'll be happier you did trust me.
 
everytime i hop in my car i hear something creak now, sounds like the blend door, also does it when i shut off the heat, what do you guys suggest?

can i lube it up or is it going to fail then replace it?

thanks
 
chickenviii said:
its not too bad, most can do it in a afternoon. pull the center console, only pull the pass side of the dash, pull the cluster/message center bezel, pull the message center and drop the glove box and its not to bad. i would recommend a good set of ratcheting wrenches (flex head retching wrenches even better)
Click to expand...

Well if you only pull the passenger side, like the dealership did to mine, the dashboard will crack in the middle!!! Mine was done this way under warranty back in early 2002, the new part was out, but the A hole mechanic put in the old part, not to mention how many mounting tabs and so on he broke off on the console and the steering top cover. It took me about a day to remove everything and then pull the dash evenly back on both sides so as not to strain any pieces and even then there was not much space to work with trying to get the 3 or 4 screws back in under there to hold the crank in place.
Thanks to GMAN he sent me a complete step by step of all screws and nuts and so on he only missed one on the left side way up under the dash that was still holding the dash from sliding back.
GMAN do you still have the instructions and pics you sent me?
 
you have to unbolt the entire dash, but only need to pull the passenger side away from the firewall, i think thats what he meant, you are right you cant unbolt half of it or things will break!
 
yes i removed all the bolts, and just put the top left in the door jamb in a few threads and swing the dash back. as for the dash cracking and everything else breaking, sounds like you got a idiot, sux it happens to most as our cars arnt "mainstream"
 
I just received 2 machined aluminum blend air door arms made by brother in law. I will test fit and adjust first part of next week. photos and update then. IMG_1610.jpg

IMG_1610.jpg
 
turn_on68 said:
Well if you only pull the passenger side, like the dealership did to mine, the dashboard will crack in the middle!!! Mine was done this way under warranty back in early 2002, the new part was out, but the A hole mechanic put in the old part, not to mention how many mounting tabs and so on he broke off on the console and the steering top cover. It took me about a day to remove everything and then pull the dash evenly back on both sides so as not to strain any pieces and even then there was not much space to work with trying to get the 3 or 4 screws back in under there to hold the crank in place.
Thanks to GMAN he sent me a complete step by step of all screws and nuts and so on he only missed one on the left side way up under the dash that was still holding the dash from sliding back.
GMAN do you still have the instructions and pics you sent me?
Click to expand...

Exact same thing happened to me including the old part. GMAN sent me the step by step.
 
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