2006 LS - I think I found the cabin noise culprit - Please help

Uberck

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So I just finished removing the glove box on my 06' and I believe I have found the culprit to the noise I mentioned in an earlier thread. One member mentioned it to be something called the "recycle door/fresh air actuator" or something of that nature. Basically, I hear a hollow wobbling sound whenever I shut the doors, and all windows are up. I closed the doors and felt around and I could feel the vibration coming from the large black cylinder pictured below. It appears as though the entire dash would need to be removed to replace. Is this accurate? What is this thing and is it easy to fix? Also I noticed that the cable for the glove box door is just dangling, is this normal? Last two pictures were a latch I found just flapping around. I'm imagining it was connected to something at one point, I just don't know what. Can anyone please provide some input?

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Men I got the same sound on my 06 thinks for the information sure someone will give us both info on how to fix it hope the dash doesn't have to be removed. lol I remember when I first heard it I was sure the car hand been I. A accident I looked up the carfax on my on and it was clear I just always thought something hand been done to the fender on that side lol [emoji23]


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Men I got the same sound on my 06 thinks for the information sure someone will give us both info on how to fix it hope the dash doesn't have to be removed. lol I remember when I first heard it I was sure the car hand been I. A accident I looked up the carfax on my on and it was clear I just always thought something hand been done to the fender on that side lol [emoji23]


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So I just got off the phone with my friend. He says its the arm in the last two pictures needs to be connected to a door above the grate pictured. So he is saying it is NOT the large black cylinder. I mess with the heat and I can see the actuator arm moving, the rod however is just dangling from the actuator arm.
 
So it turns out it is actually the flap that went bad. A quick trip to the dealer, the flap isn't a standalone part, its sound as an entire housing assembly. The key here is... It's a discontinued part! I'm going to try junk yards. Does anyone have any ideas?

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I have to same problem with the rod that connects to a flap for the cabin air filter has broken in my 06. It seem to be a common problem with the plastic bracket which is one piece part of the flap, over time breaks. I haven't had time to address the issue yet on my car.
 
I have to same problem with the rod that connects to a flap for the cabin air filter has broken in my 06. It seem to be a common problem with the plastic bracket which is one piece part of the flap, over time breaks. I haven't had time to address the issue yet on my car.

Got the entire HVAC assembly from a boneyard today so I could mess with it and hopefully cover all the parts if need be. Just like you, the "lug" that attaches to the door broke in half so the rod came off. The video in the link below explains my situation. JB/Plastic weld may be in my future if the door cannot be easily swapped out.

https://goo.gl/photos/nSQXV2n3jFNSFcxv6
 
Update - So I got the door out of the HVAC assembly + the motor, 5 bolts (4 around door, 1 near inner blower) and the HVAC assembly splits right in half, giving you enough room to take the door out. Obviously gonna be a hell of a lot harder doing this in the car seeing how there's like no elbow room! Well, at least there's some hope that the whole dash doesn't need to come out!

Here's the new recycle door & motor

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Alright ladies and gents, so we've come up with a solution. Now that I have an entire 2005 Lincoln LS HVAC unit to use as a template, we are going to Dremel out the old hinge from the old door and screw in an aluminum hinge to hook the arm into. This should increase strength and longevity as this seems to be a common (and annoying!) failure point of the LS. Stay tuned as I will update this thread this weekend. Happy Thanksgiving Lincoln vs. Cadillac!
 
Thanks, I look forward to your solution. I'm sure that most of us will have to deal with this eventually.
 
great thread. same issue here on my gen1. need to pull the glove box so i can see what your seeing.
 
Or just look at his pics dummy.
 
So upon closer inspection, it appears the fault was the computer that reads the signal from the actuator motor (pins 3 & 5 on the actuator circuit board). There is a track inside the actuator casing that a gear rides on and a computer somewhere in the HVAC/Climate control system reads the resistance on the track and when it gets to a certain point of resistance, the computer is supposed to tell the arm to stop (sorry too lazy to crack open the motor again and take pics right now, if you really need them PM me).

In my case, the arm actually spins a full 360 degrees due to improper signal reading from wherever this computer is (proven by connecting 3 different functional motors, all with same result). This in turn led to the arm forcing and snapping the hinge right off my recirculate door. I ended up just screwing a screw with a piece of metal between the door & the grate in order to keep it closed (fresh air position). Oh well, at least I don't have to hear that annoying flapping noise anymore.

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The DATC reads/controls the AC actuators. It's all in the control head with the temperature display and the buttons.
Run the self test with the actuator connected.
 
Interesting... thanks for the info Joegr. Wish I knew this 5 hours ago. I already bolted the glovebox back on with no actuator connected.

http://lincolnforums.com/forums/threads/10710-Lincoln-LS-Automatic-Temperature-Control-Self-Test

Without unbolting everything again and doing the self test - If the DATC is currently reading the Ohms incorrectly from the actuator (3 different ones actually to eliminate possibility of faulty actuator), can I not just conclude that my DATC is faulty then?
 
Probably. What I don't know is if it might intentionally run the actuator all the way to hard stop to self calibrate or to get a good seal on the air doors. What happens if you stop the actuator arm?
 
A lot of force is needed to physically stop the arm. Upon first power cycle (key in ACC position) the arm moves about a quarter of an inch, it does this for about 3 more cycles, then on 5th cycles spins past circuit track to original position. I'm thinking this is the behavior that snapped off the hinge. I did this with the arm disconnected from the door, as the door's hinge is snapped off.

I don't know if you remember me asking you about my driver's side heated seat issue. It started acting up randomly (flash only upon cool/heat seat button press). Its working again after removing the seat filter, cleaning it, checking vent tubes, and reaching under seat to verify that fan spins. As I'm typing this I'm thinking it may just be the DATC going bad. If that's the case, I'm fine losing the fresh air / recycle functionality as its just too much of a PITA with very little gain...
 
The information you provided is extremely useful. I was ready to forget about it, but now I'm thinking about swapping out the DATC and giving it a go to see if the proper range of motion is restored lol.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/03-06-LINCO...ash=item2cb57da86b:g:XZ8AAOSwx2dYI81b&vxp=mtr

Must resist the urge. If I was to connect actuator to new DATC and get the same result, that would suck. God, I gotta fight this. 1st world problems man...
 
Well, of course you get 1242, since the actuator wasn't even there.
1262 might be a real problem, or a stored temporary issue that resolved itself. Can you change airflow to the defrost and then back again?
 
By change airflow to defrost I'm assuming you mean the front defroster, yes I can. The seats tripped again this morning. Working correctly after starting car again after parked for a few hours. I did have defrost + AC running when I first started car.
 
Part #5W43-18C612-BA for the 03-06 DATC system if anyone was wondering
 

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