OK, here's the problem. I have a 2003 Explorer XLT, and last year i had to have the blend door replaced because it was stuck WIDE OPEN! (boy, that made for some COLD rides in winter!) it was under warranty, so it was all free (for me!) but took over 6 hours of labor because they had to pull the dash.
Now, a year later, it is doing the same thing (no longer under warranty, though) I took it back, and this time the delear said that the door was shattered( actually broken in half!) because something fell through the defroster vents and broke it. He said it was probably a pencil. Now i have NEVER put anything small on top of the dash (sometimes some paper for parking garage passes, gate passes, etc.) but never a pencil, pen or anything of that nature. I also don't think that a pencil could fall through it that easily, and don't think that it is even possible to get up enough momentum to break the door. I think that the dealer just doesn't want to fix the door again, because the part would be covered under a repair warranty (or if not I would make sure that it was added....) I think that this dealer if full of B.S., because this just doesn;t seem possible, and this dealer only really does a good job if you bought the car from them, which i didn't.

What do you think, is the dealer full of it, or is it actually possible? I won't pay to have the dash pulled, i'll just wait until they have to pull the dash for something else more serious (A/C components). I can just turn up the heat higher until then.

 

It's possible I guess, but until the plenum is pulled apart (and you're standing right there to make sure a pencil isn't "borrowed" off a desk to confirm the dealer's theory), who knows?

Steve

 

this is something many dealers have been known to do
I work on these things often and get a lot of customers from the dealer telling them this crap, they get mad and go to me instead
the truth is the dealer doesnt want to fix it again
the possibility of a pencil breaking the door in half is slim

by the way how do they know the condition of the door did they take it apart already?

 

They said that they were able to look at it with a flashlight, but weren't able to touch it or anything of that nature... I always thought that it was really buried in there and you couldn't even see it. If you can look at it, then why would you have to pull the whole dash to get access to it, why not just pull the stuff around it?

 

Yes, that's a bunch of -----. My blend door broke and I had to buy the whole fricking air exchanger, A/C condensor core, I think it was $275. The hinge on the blend door broke. I cut it very carefully on the new one, pryied it out and cut the one in the car, inserted it and patched it with expoy. 2 hrs later, working perfect.