Do you mean a flexible shaft on a 1/4 drive ratchet? This is about all I can figure out, so if that's what you mean, it's a big help. I have good sockets & handles & extensions but no flexible shaft, yet. What you say is about all I could figure out: I have fairly small hands but still cannot get a wrench on the remaining one or two 8mm screws holding the old actuator motor in place, even with a lot of the dash & console now sitting in the back seat.

Can you recommend a type or brand of "flexible shaft", or anything else? I really appreciate any advice, thank you!

 

Gear wrench makes a flex shaft . I have a few in 1/4 drive . you should be able to get one at a parts store in some brand or the other. A flex head wrench with a ratcheting box end is helpful . I own mostly Snap On ratchets and sockets , but many make ratchets with a flex head , the head swivels on the handle much like a breaker bar head . A 1/4 drive wobble/ universal joint would help also . As would a short handle 1/4 drive ratchet .

 

I recently replaced the blend door actuator on my wife's Taurus. Opinions on the web ranged from remove the dash, junk the car or ride with the windows open in the summer. I finally settled on removing the ash tray plus the glove box and purchasing a 10 inch extension for my 1/4 inch ratchet. Two screws were removed with an adjustable wrench while looking through the glove box opening and two screws were removed with the ten inch extension through the ash tray opening. Being able to see the screws was the most important aspect of the task I researched and thought about various ways to solve this problem for about a week before proceeding. The actual job took about 1/2 hour. The most difficult part of the job was trying to find a comfortable position while working.

 

Here is a good write-up for changing the Blend Door Actuator for the 3rd Gen Explorers:

How To: Replace Blend Door Actuator in 3rd Gen Ex. - Ford Explorer Ranger Enthusiasts "Serious Explorations"®

 

To all with a similar problem:

I recently suffered the same problem as all of you -- suddenly my '04 Explorer had no heat control (center Red to Blue **** on the standard manual control in my base model XLS).

I have to thank a lot of you guys, and this Ford-trucks site, for your invaluable assistance. Like many of you, I was quoted "about $700" at the dealer I bought the vehicle from -- but I decided to try fixing it myself.

I am not an auto mechanic; I'm a musician with a decent set of tools who likes to tinker with stuff -- and avoid paying anyone $700 for anything I think I can successfully do myself.

Following everyone's advice on this site (& referring to a few popular online vids), I replaced my '04 Explorer "heat blend door actuator motor" over about 8 hours in the last two days and it's all now working perfectly. Per many of you, I bought a Dorman replacement motor at Advance Auto Parts for $57.50 (part #604-209 for an '04 with Manual heat control).

I want to offer some advice to others. A tool I found critical to removing & replacing the 'actuator motor' is an 8mm swivel-head wrench -- not a standard socket wrench (which will not fit up under the area above the gas pedal where the motor is) but one of those sideways sockets that are applied like a standard open or box-end wrench. This was the only thing I bought besides the Dorman motor. Everything else was done with 1/4" 8 & 10mm regular socket or screwdriver handle wrenches.

As many of you advised, the only severe obstacle to accessing that pesky motor is the lowest lip of the center dash console right over the gas pedal: some of you have used a Dremel 'moto-tool' to remove a section of it -- I don't have one, so I used a standard jig saw to carefully remove about a 1 by 5-inch section of the lower dash (making sure that big fat elect cable was out of the way), and now that it's all back together, you cannot notice a chunk of plastic is gone, nor does it rattle or squeak, etc.

Also, when removing the several panels nec to access this problem, I used a standard-sized flat blade screwdriver to "un-clip" stuff, BUT it was double-wrapped in a dishcloth -- I have no scratches or marks on my re-assembled dashboard.

Many of you advised about "lining up the new motor's shaft position to the old one's": excellent advice and easy to do. When the old motor's removed (mine had the predictable stripped gears in it), and before it's installed, plug the new motor into the factory socket and with the key turned On, use the "blue to red" temp control to rotate the drive shaft to the same position as the removed dead motor. NOTE: all other work before and after this MUST be done with the negative battery post disconnected to avoid setting off the airbags!

I have successfully done this repair myself (June 7-8, 2013), everything's working perfectly (just as factory original), and I'm sure any patient person can also do this. You DO NOT have to remove the glove box or the "center instrument bezel & stereo", but you DO have to remove the entire center floor console, the metal bracket and "driver's feet" heat duct next to the gas pedal, and the panels above & below the steering wheel: tilt the wheel all the way up to remove the lower panel, then tilt the wheel all the way down to remove the upper panel -- AND THEN go disconnect the negative battery post again!

I hope this helps others like me: many of you gave great advice, and with your help I've got my heat/AC control back perfectly for about $60 and a new wrench. I saved over $600, spent several hours learning how my car is constructed, and if ever needed I now know how to take the damned dash of an '04 Explorer apart!

Thanks again to many of you and to this site: saved me a ton of money, and now that it's fixed, it was kind of fun!

 

The gears are available on the market, FYI:

Blend Door Actuator Gear Rebuild Kit (Fits most Ford Lincoln Mercury 1990-2012)



Cheers!