2nd rear blend door actuator in 6 weeks

2011 XLT had a clicking upper rear blend door when I bought it a year ago. I ignored it up until 6 weeks ago, when we were about to take the truck on vacation. I replaced it, and all was good. Then, per Murphy's Law, a day or so before vacation, it started again. I thought it might be the other (lower) rear blend door, so we tolerated it the whole vacation. I ordered another one, then today, pulled out the tray insert and the cup holder, and got out the stethoscope. I think it's the same one I replaced 6 weeks ago! I pulled the fuses by the passenger floorboard kick panel that you're supposed to pull and followed the protocol I read prior to starting it for the first time after I replaced it 6 weeks ago. As I said, it was good for 4-5 weeks. Should I be looking at something else as the cause, or was it likely just a faulty / cheap actuator?

Likely just the new actuator was faulty. A clicking from inside the actuator means some of the plastic gear teeth have broke.
I would buy a new Ford OEM actuator and go from there.


-Joe

Thanks. I didn't know if maybe you could turn the shaft that the actuator inserts into to operate the door manually to see if it was bound up in some way without doing any damage or not? I'll probably just do as you've recommended and replace it and hope for a better outcome this time.

Bolt snapper said:

Thanks. I didn't know if maybe you could turn the shaft that the actuator inserts into to operate the door manually to see if it was bound up in some way without doing any damage or not? I'll probably just do as you've recommended and replace it and hope for a better outcome this time.

Click to expand...

You can try that, but once the actuator is removed, the door will automatically spin to the heater position ( I think). The actuator holds the door in the desired place, and once it's removed, nothing is stopping the door from moving because of gravity.

You can try to remove the actuator and spin the shaft using a screwdriver or something, but remember to pull the correct fuses to calibrate the actuators after it's put back together.


-Joe

I have a 2013 I bought used. The rear actuator making crazy clicking when I first got it. I think the actuator has to learn its position as it is a servo. It sorted itself out after a while. I did note the battery had recently been replaced. Some of the Amazon aftermarket actuators come with a tool to set the blend door to the correct position before replacing the actuator.