Blend Door

[Calabrio]

The blend door seems to have broken in the Navigator.
I know this is the Mark VIII forum, but the question seems relevant and applicable here.

I do not want to spend a weekend pulling the dashboard out and replacing this part. And since I live in Florida, it's much more important that I have a/c than heat.

When the A/C is turned on right now, it just blasts hot air.
Can this problem be fixed by simply bypassing the heater core?

 

[GMAN]

If you bypass the heater core, the air will get cooler. You may want to look into the blend door repair on the Navigator first. I'll bet it's a lot easier to do than the Mark.

 

[Moes8]

bypassing the heater core may not give you the cooling you desire

 

[Marcus]

I don't know what year your Navigator is, but from what I've seen, it's an even bigger PITA to swap out the blend door than it is in a Mark VIII. For Marks, it's the actuator that breaks. In Navigators, it's the blend door itself, which is deep inside the air trunk, and requires most of the dash to come completely out of the vehicle. 10 to 12 hours is what I read on one site.

On all Fords that I've seen, the air passes through the AC evaporator first, then passes through the heater core second, depending on the position of the blend door. If you bypass the heater core, the air may still pass through it (depending on which position the blend door is stuck in), but at least it won't be hot.

I'd definitely investigate whether or not it is indeed the blend door first. There may be another problem with the AC system. I'm not an AC expert, so I'll leave that diagnosis up to someone else who knows the system.

Even if it is the blend door, there may be a way to lock it in the AC position.

 

[Calabrio]

This really pisses me off about Ford, although they might have gotten a little better these past couple years.

For example, with the Mark VIII, you design a beautiful, forward thinking luxury sport coupe. There's serious attention to design and detail. And then, to save a couple dollars on a car they are already charging a premium for, they stick on headlights that dont work. They wrap the interior in a plastic material that feels better to the touch briefly, but then scratches off. Ect. Ect.

The blend-door problems go across the entire Ford line.
The trucks and the cars. It's absolutely unacceptable for a company to build cars with such serious design flaws, especially when they could have been so easily avoided if the company hadn't cut costs.

It's really an outrage, and do to those design failure and the companies refusal to accept any kind of responsibility for it, it has made it very difficult to remain loyal to the so-called domestic builders.

 

[Moes8]

atleast you and your family wont die in a high speed crash like a Toyota


besides, i have had fords my whole life and yet to have blend door failure.

Same with my dad.

 

[Calabrio]

atleast you and your family wont die in a high speed crash like a Toyota

If you really want to go in that direction-
the NHTSA findings to day have demonstrated that the Toyota "problem" was primarily driver error. Crappy drivers pressing the wrong pedal.

And Ford has the second highest number of "uncontrollable acceleration" problems of any of the manufactures, just behind Toyota.

besides, i have had fords my whole life and yet to have blend door failure.

Same with my dad.

"All my life" indicates older models.
This is a problem that emerged in the late 90s.

You've tolerated other ridiculous penny-wise, pound foolish cost cutting compromises. As I mentioned, how are those headlights on your Gen1 Mark VIII? How about the a/c climate controls that crack. The rubberized trim that scratches when touched. How about the epically cheap hinges and top on the center console? Or the thousand dollar rear view mirror installed with "zero tolerance" that has a flimsy plastic gasket around it that turns to lasagna after a few years of normal sun.

 

[Aquabrit]

You forgot the door handles snapping off! :lol: My passenger one is right on the verge of going.