Could be... could be several other things. Your best bet is to pay some technician to at least tell you what is wrong. Then there are lots of folks here who can help recommend a repair. It is very unlikely someone can diag your problem from hundreds or thousands of miles away accurately. You dont want to spend money to fix what isnt broke. Its cheaper to know up front from a trained technician.
It could be anything from low coolant, to stopped up heater core, to broken actuator or broken blend door. It should not affect BOTH front and rear heaters at the same time so you should get heat from one of them. If you dont get heat from either I would look at coolant level first. The outside temp indicator will not affect the heater operation.
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My advice is just advice..Its free "IF THAT DONT FIX IT, SOMETHING ELSE WILL"
Thanks Homer. I'll take your advice, but it's definitely not the coolant (radiator coolant), that was the first thing I checked. And yes, no hot air in the rear nor the front.
Gerdva, the rear system is not dependent on the front system control. They have separate temperature control. So unless you have TWO blend door actuators or blend doors broken it has to be a coolant level issue. If both systems are broke then I would get a professional to look at it first to see what your exact problem is or you will just be throwing parts at it.
Edit... I am also assuming your engine coolant is getting to normal operating temperature.
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My advice is just advice..Its free "IF THAT DONT FIX IT, SOMETHING ELSE WILL"
I have 97 F150 5.4 vents only blow hot air... When i turn temp. control knob from hot to cold i hear a click sound under dash.sounds like something is operating . I need help!!!
I have been reading the posts and cannot find my symptoms, or i just missed them.
i have a 98 Expy, EB, 4.6l, 2wd. I have lost heat in the front. It first started by changing from blowing from the vents to the defroster when i would give it gas or if it had to down shift to get up a hill. Now the problem is that there is very little heat coming out at the feet, very very little coming out the vents no matter if it is set at panel, panel/floor, defrost/floor, with heat maxed out, you can hear it pushing alot of air that seems to go nowhere or out the defrost vent. The heat works great out the back. When i put it on max AC i can hear the door change and get max air flow out the vents.
Does anyone have any suggestion or can point me in the right direction as the wife and kids are darn cold in 30 deg weather with cold air blowing on their heads.
I was able to see that my blend door is working properly, without having to take it apart. It is a small white box, located under the dashboard, near the floor, in the center of the vehicle, closer to the passenger side. I used a flashlight to locate the blend door. Then, with the heater on, I turned the control to cold, and watched the blend door move (spin) 90 degrees. Therefore, my heater problem must be something else.
I was able to see that my blend door is working properly, without having to take it apart. It is a small white box, located under the dashboard, near the floor, in the center of the vehicle, closer to the passenger side. I used a flashlight to locate the blend door. Then, with the heater on, I turned the control to cold, and watched the blend door move (spin) 90 degrees. Therefore, my heater problem must be something else.
I havent ever been able to see the blend door itself move outside the plenum. I have been able to see the white post of the actuator turn, which only tells you that the actuator itself is working. Do you hear a distinct change in airflow sound when it opens and closes? If you do then it is likely OK. If you dont you likely have a broken door. Otherwise you could have low coolant or a clogged heater core.
Another clue to broken door is if you see large black plastic piece turning with the actuator post. That part is usually tucked well inside that you cant see it in operation. Meaning the door shaft broke and slid down the actuator shaft.
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My advice is just advice..Its free "IF THAT DONT FIX IT, SOMETHING ELSE WILL"
Sounds like you didn't take anything apart to see the door. Is this right? I used a flashlight to look under the dash where the center console connects to the dash from the passenger foot well and couldn't be sure what I saw. I did see something white in color but not clearly enough to discern movement.
So is the door black and the actuator white? I'm going to take another look--thanks for any advice/clarification
dbro8863
Quote:
Originally Posted by dherrera
I was able to see that my blend door is working properly, without having to take it apart. It is a small white box, located under the dashboard, near the floor, in the center of the vehicle, closer to the passenger side. I used a flashlight to locate the blend door. Then, with the heater on, I turned the control to cold, and watched the blend door move (spin) 90 degrees. Therefore, my heater problem must be something else.
Actually, I took the blend door actuator completely out, by using a great amount of force. I took apart the actuator, and verified that all of the parts were in excellent working condition. Then I forced the actuator back in place.
After all of this, I realized that I can actually see it moving, if I watch it closely. It moved just fine, but my heater still did not work.
Then someone emailed me from this blog here, and told me to add water to my radiator. Low and behold, the heater started working after about 1.5 years. I guess that I drove around for 1.5 years without enough water in the radiator.
I hope this helps. Yes, the actuator in my 98 Expedition is white, and it is located under the dashboard, along the floor, about 2 inches to the right of the center line of the vehicle. Of course you will have to remove the center console to get to it. I removed my center console about 5 years ago, so that my kids could easily get from the front to the back, and vis-a-versa.
First, if you want to see a full explanation and pictures of the "nail fix" check the technical information below.
The information above is correct...this won't work on the Expedition. Generally, the problem turns out to be a broken blend door axle(see picture on ebay listing) and the factory fix requires removing the heater box and replacing the door with another plastic door that will just break again over time.
The plenum box on the Expedition/Navigator is the same box as what Ford used on the F150. There is a fix on Ebay for the F150, and the same fix works for the Navigator. As pointed out above, accessing the actuator motor is difficult on the Navigator as opposed to the F150. However, once you get to the motor, the repair is fairly straight forward.
Chris A.
Ford “Nail” Blend Door Fix
This is a description from the HeaterTreater Engineers on the Internet “Nail” fix for the Ford Blend door. The description will describe the fix and outline pros and cons of the fix. HeaterTreater does not accept any liability for the correctness of the enclosed information or the efficacy of the fix.The Ford Blend Door has two primary failure patterns shown in Fig.1. The door typically fails with either the connector splitting in half or totally breaking off at the top of the door. The Nail fix can only be done if the failure is of the split connector type.
Fig. 1
The first step is to remove the actuator motor and check to see if you have a split or broken connector(or no problem at all). There are two motor attachment schemes used on Ford. The older models used screws mounting the motor directly to the plenum box. Access the motor by fully opening the glove box and looking for the motor on top of the heater box in the upper left hand corner of the glove box opening. With the screw attachment, you will see two 8mm head screws(note that a 5/16 socket will also work) in the front of the motor. These are easy to remove. There is a third screw that is directly behind the white connector socket that has to be removed with a thin profile ratchet. Remove the three screws and pry up on the motor to remove it.
The second attachment method used on later models is a plastic housing that is screwed to the heater box with a plastic pinch attachment that the motor fits on to. The motor is removed by prying up first on the front of the motor and when the front connector releases, pry up on the back connector directly under and behind the white electrical connector. The motor will just pop out.
Refer to Fig.2 for the next step. Note that the photo is take on a box that has been removed from an Explorer to get a clear view of the axle. You can use a small mirror or just feel the hole in the top of the box where the motor axle extends into the box. Fig.2 shows what the top of the blend door looks like with the split connector fail mode. The “V” shaped remainder of the axle will protrude slightly through the axle hole. If the axle is completely broken, there will be no remnants of the door connector visible.
Fig. 2
If the blend door connection looks like Fig. 2, the nail fix can be attempted. For a completely broken axle, the blend door needs to be replaced.
The motor connector(shown in Fig. 3) is a “dog house door” shaped axle. Looking down at the connector, the right angle of the remaining portion of the connector in Fig. 2 would align with the lower right hand corner of the dog house.
Fig. 3
The end of the axle protruding from the motor will look like this:
The trick is to get a nail through the axle to contact the two edges of the remaining half connector as shown below
The nail is placed through the axle, contacting the two sides of the remainder of the connector. Rotation is achieved by constraining the broken axle against the heater box opening and turning the motor axle. Note that the nail is shown going through the axle from the lower left to upper right of the dog house. This forces the lower right corner into the connector as it was originally positioned before the connector broke. The standard fix found on the internet positions the nail as shown below.
Our best estimation is that this fix will kinda-sorta-almost-sometimes work. We have no way to conduct long term reliability assessments, so cannot make any statements about the life or potential damage that could be done by the nail fix. One concern is that the axle is not held securely in the center of the blend door connector. This will allow the axle to have some deflection from rotating about a constrained center point. The motor gears are designed to provide rotational force to the axle. If the axle moves out of alignment, this will produce a “twisting” force in the interface between the plastic gears. This could cause stripped gears or a meshing problem that could cause an unconstrained movement of the gears resulting in a “clicking” noise. In our best estimation, the forces generated by the motor during the calibration cycle that caused the original problem of a broken axle will most likely also cause this fix to fail over time. We would consider this to be a temporary fix at best.
OK so I've read all the posting about the AC/Heat issues but it seems to me that they are mostly about heat...here's my problem...please help me if you can...
Just today I turned on the MAX AC in my truck and it started blasting me with heat. I tried everything I could think of then called my hubby to ask if I was doing something wrong. He checked it out when I got home and found that the AC works fine in the back of the truck it is only the front that is blowing heat. It was a fairly warm day around 70ish but the thermometer in the truck said the outside temp was 60. Then after the sun went down and it started getting cooler the thermometer rose to 61. Hubby followed some of the directions on this site and discovered that we can't get to the plenum by removing the glove box. He will have to remove alot more of the dash, but he is concerned about accidently deploying the passenger airbag. He is a pretty good mechanic but old school and is kind of scared about working on this newer vehicle. He says that he can hear the door opening and closing when he moves the control from defrost to heat or to AC. Honestly I can't afford to take it to a shop or the dealer. It seems like ever since it hit 120K miles, everything is breaking. We gotten some great info about diagnosing MAF/Vacuum Leak problems and it saved me a lot of money. PLEASE HELP US!!! Any and all info/advise is GREATLY appreciated. Thanks...Suzyqu65 suzyqu1@verizon.net
Just make sure to disconnect the battery and allow a couple minutes for the modules to lose power. Ive handled about 1000 airbags still hot and active and never blew one. You would almost have to try to blow one. In fact in all these years Ive never seen one blown by a tech working on one. So dont wear yourself out with fear.
Its a big job to remove the instrument panel but as long as he has tools and some experience this job is very all systems go. You can even get just the blend door itself at the dealer and it can be replaced without removing the plenum. Once you get the console and dash removed, then take out the dozen or so screws retaining the top cover panel on the plenum and you can remove the door assembly and replace it in a few minutes.
I recommend setting the temp control to middle position BEFORE you start tearing down so the actuator is not binding the new door on installation. Once you have the door replaced, reinstall the dash and console and enjoy the fruits of your work. Good Luck.
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My advice is just advice..Its free "IF THAT DONT FIX IT, SOMETHING ELSE WILL"
The Expedition/Navigator use the same plenum box as the F150, so information on f150 forums is directly applicable to the Expedition. There is a new video on the heatertreater web site showing how to disassemble and repair these systems.
The blend door is on a vertical axis and the door can randomly swing back and forth when it is broken. The symptoms can be fairly random, but if there is lack of control over heat/cooling, the blend door is a prime suspect. The system can be repaired with an aftermarket solution that does not require removing the dash or plenum box. The Navigator/Expedition is a little tricky to work on since there is a center console blocking the underside of the plenum box, but this can be overcome with a dremel tool and a little creativity.
Before you go to the trouble of removing the center console, there are two things that you should check carefully.
1. The temperature control knob is plastic onto a metal axle and it can crack and slip. If you feel a "bump" when turning the knob, it is a likely indication of the knob slipping. The knob can be pried off and the axle turned with a pair of pliers to make sure.
2. Check the coolant level in the radiation, not the overflow tank, the radiator. On a cold engine remove the radiator cap. It should be full. If it is not full, there is air in the system and this will affect engine cooling capacity and the HVAC system. To make sure that coolant is flowing through the heater core, you can feel the two hoses going into the firewall. From a cold start you should feel both lines heat up at about the same rate and get uncomfortably hot. This is a simple indication that coolant is flowing through the heater core.
There has also been some discussion in this thread of Explorer/Ranger/Mountaineer problems. The same basic fail mechanism is responsible for the failure although the hardware is different. The same source will provide information on these systems also.
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