Thread: Fishin' Expedition Repairs and Mods

So owning 4 out of 5 older vehicles and all 4 had something to fix. The other day heading out to the river the heater wouldn't blow hot air, I could hear a clicking sound coming from near the blower area. After researching the problem I found out there are small plastic gears in the HVAC door motors that strip the teeth. This is the video I watched before attempting the repair. I will tell you this the Ford Mechanic (Very Good Mechanic, my Guru on Ford Repairs!) must have much smaller hands than mine. My hands are cut up from shoving them between all the metal and plastic.



You start out by stripping the Instrument Cluster trim off. Numerous switches are mounted within so you must unplug everything before removing. I had to remove the stereo too.



After clearing out the big stuff I had to remove the glove box too. I could not fit where I needed to to get my hands shoved up in the hole made by it's removal.



So the Blend Door Motor is way back under the dash. Under the radio the clearance was so tight I couldn't get a single finger to fit far enough back to hold the Gear Wrench on the back screw. I used my Cat Claw (Red Handle Trim Tool) to hold the wrench down while moving the handle between the tips of two fingers on my right hand working thru the Glove Box opening. I will say it now, that back screw was Never going back in from the start. Well I stuck to the plan, if I ever take the dash off I will install it then, until then though I will have cold AC and Hot Heat.



The back screw is the screw behind the Blend Door Motor Plug. The plug I had to slip a very long handle flat screwdriver in between the lower tap and the HVAC housing. Once I lifted the tap on the plug I had to rotate the screwdriver blade walking the plug out of the hole. The last picture is a shot of the space the Motor came out of, the screw laying on its side fell out from the back screw hole and rolled under the motor. BTW the angled pictures are because the space is so tight only the corner of my phone would fit to get a shot of what I was working on.



The Motor Drive Shaft only fits in one way so while walking it back into the hole it came out of I had to keep the air seal on the shaft while rotating the Motor till the shaft fit. Once the shaft started down the Motor still had to be rotated into its resting place before installing the screws I could get back installed. The replacement motor shaft position is not the position of the one you remove.



I could not have done this Blend Door Motor replacement without the 2 Gear Wrenches both 8mm, the Cat Claw, and a Telescoping Magnet.