Air Recirculation TICKING job complete reusing actuator

Technical info on the Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix including do-it-yourself info
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YotaGT
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2015 9:00 am

Air Recirculation TICKING job complete reusing actuator

Post by YotaGT »

My car suddenly developed an incessant ticking sound one morning on the way to the gym! I felt like Jeremy Clarkson on his way to Switzerland with his Ferrari 612 and the mystery buzzing sound.
I pulled over and narrowed it down to the glove box, later I opened that up an realized you can "close" your air vent with the dash button to stop it.

A week before this, my blower resistor went out, only blowing air with the fan set to the top 2 high modes. I already was spending $28 on that, I wasn't too happy to hear the air vent door actuator motor costs around $45-60.
Luckily you all know what you are doing! Someone mentioned that a few have successfully turned the actuator gear 180 degrees around to get passed the chipped teeth and rid of the ticking sound :D

Well.. I gave it a go, and SUCCESS!
If you'd like to do this DIY, make sure to have 6 stubby flat head screwdrivers, a 1/4" short socket in either size 7/32" or 5.5mm, one thin & long zip tie, and Lithium or Silicone based grease for lubricating the plastic gears.


First step is to disconnect the car's battery and apply the eBrake.. yadda yadda, at your discretion.
After unbolting the glove box door dampener (right side, Philips head screw) and popping the door off, to replace the blower resistor, find the plastic flap in the top of your footwell secured by two trim pins. Gently pull on the flap near each pin to back them out, then pull the head of the trim pin to remove them. The plastic flap will drop down towards you allowing some clearance while getting to the resistor. It is in front of this flap, over to the left, it is a black plastic piece with a cord coming out of a wide gray clip (could be white on yours). You should notice the similarity of the bolts positions on your replacement resistor to confirm this is it! You a pry tool to help undo the clip, and using a 5.5mm/7/32 socket wrench remove the two bolts to pull out your old resistor. Mine was made in Mexico, replacement part made in Japan.. yay *streamers and party horn*. Repeat steps to reinstall.


The actuator was something else... it is higher up, accessible through the glove box door opening.
You must unclip two cords for clearance, one large white one, and a small one leading to the actuator, best to use a pin or screwdriver to help with the clips.
Next, use a 1/4" rachet with a 7/32" (5.5mm is the correct size) short socket to remove the bottom screw.
I was able to squeeze my hand in there, and again, worked my solution from another forum member's advice. The only thing getting between the top bolt and the air vent tubing was the socket itself. Before you back the bolt out, you can fit a 3/8" to 1/4" adapter to increase your grip surface. Any other extension is too long!
So I wrapped a rubber band on for grip and slowly backed it off, then removed the adapter and use nothing but the shorty socket and a rubber band to continue backing the bolt out all the way.

Popped the actuator off.
Now, make sure to acquire about a half a dozen stubby flat head screwdrivers. Otherwise, you will need another set of hands to do the next step!
Gently push them all down the tops of the plastic clips around the actuator assembly to open them just enough to get past their locking notches.
Now that you have down the, the two halves should reveal a slight gap when pulled, use one of the flatheads to insert and gently twist the gap open, going around the actuator while keeping light pressure on the remaining screwdrivers to keep their clips open.
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The two halves should pop right apart. Now that you have snapped off several of the plastic clips, the remaining clips should still keep the halves together, but use the zip tie as insurance. Who wants to do this project again anyway xD..

Now make sure to take a picture of your gear assembly, some attach to only on side of the actuator, so you will have a free floating gear when a half is removed.
It's important to note what grease is on your plastic gears! If they are dried up, you should clean them and reapply the same grease, which will either be silicone or lithium based.
I was going to use some bearing grease, lithium based NGLI #2, which I read is ok for this application, BUT you should not mix two types of grease or it will harden over time. It looked like this yellow grease is silicone based, can't be sure. Best to clean it all out if you have no other choice.
Luckily, I found a fat glob of the stuff on the inside of my assembly being unused by the moving parts.

So, the coupling that sticks out of the side of the actuator is the largest gear on the inside. This gear will likely have the chipped teeth that are causing the ticking issue. Mine sure did, two teeth sheered and still hanging on, pressed against the next gear leaving a gap for each. Remove the hanging teeth, and by simply rotating the gear around 180 degrees, you will solve the jamming issue.
This will work as the gear does not rotate fully when used by the Air recirc. button on the car's dash.

Make sure to line it up properly so that it will reinstall onto the VENT DOOR Peg.
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If it is not lined up right, you will have to pop open the actuator again as those gears (and small motor) will not turn without electrical power. At this point, I used a q-tip to reapply any spare grease I found onto the bare side of the large gear, and in between the other gears where it was lacking.
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I lined everything up, popped it together and installed a zip tie.
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For the sake of my hot linked pictures not working in the future, place the actuator on a flat surface with the square portion pointed to the lower left and the curved portion to the upper right, the white plastic socket should stick out towards you, and will be mated to the peg sticking out of the left side of the AIR VENT DOOR when facing your dashboard.

Repeat the other steps to bolts everything up.
Test your car, fan blowing on all settings, annnnnnd the pinnacle moment of truth.. I clicked my dash air recirculation button and waited as the vent door quietly whirred closed.
That's how you save $50. Let's hope it lasts!
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YotaGT
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Re: Air Recirculation TICKING job complete reusing actuator

Post by YotaGT »

It did not last.
It takes over a minute after clicking the open vent button for the door to fully engage, and I must have not waiting long enough. Instant clicking when I returned to my car.

Perhaps the gears do rotate fully, don't see why not. This hack is busted... good thing the rebate check came in from KYB.
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ColonelPanic
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Re: Air Recirculation TICKING job complete reusing actuator

Post by ColonelPanic »

Bummer that the old flip trick didn't work for you! I've never tried it myself, with it being such a pain I usually just buy a new one. Been down this road twice now, it sucks! :?

Amazon has the actuator with prime shipping for about $45 if you have a membership.
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Jbenrod
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Re: Air Recirculation TICKING job complete reusing actuator

Post by Jbenrod »

2020 UPDATE to my old post from 2016 below: The Dorman replacement that I purchased failed in less than 15k miles. Therefore I don't think it is going to be any better quality than other sources for your replacement actuator. Probably going with a cheaper unit from Amazon will give you the same results.
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I just had to replace this actuator a few weeks ago and elected to go with the aftermarket Dorman replacement. Perhaps they have used a better material so that the gears will last longer. Only time will tell. Fwiw, here is what I wrote to describe what I concluded after doing the autopsy of the old actuator.
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...My guess is that the plastic has hardened and gotten brittle with age (as most plastic does) and that is why a couple of the teeth have broken off. However, I don't understand why there is no damage to any of the teeth on the smaller gears since it would seem they would have more torque and contact usage than this largest one. It could be because the large gear has constant torque on it to hold the blend door in it's full open or closed position but if that is the case then I would think all the other gears would have to have constant torque on them too ?

Of course there is little real incentive for the manufacture (GM) to offer to sell just the one problem gear for $2 or 3, when they are selling the entire replacement unit for $40-50. Which would contribute more to overall profits? (And the unit volumes don't appear to be enough for the aftermarket to develop and offer this gear even though this is a very common failure in several different lines of GM vehicles in this era. However I guess the aftermarket has recognized this opportunity because the replacement actuator unit I purchased was made by the aftermarket in South Korea.

GM could have spec'd that this gear be made from better materials to prevent it's teeth from failing - however if it makes it through the warranty period (and it does do that) it is no loss to them - only to the consumer.

I have read that only 180 degrees of the gear teeth are ever used and that one can rotating the gear to get new life after the first failure. In our case, you can see that this was done by the prior owner (he told me he did this recently) and that is why the failures are 180 degrees apart. Since the second side did not last nearly as long as the first side, this would suggest that it is probably the plastic material itself that is breaking down after time and not so much because of usage.
Last edited by Jbenrod on Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:06 am, edited 3 times in total.
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YotaGT
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Re: Air Recirculation TICKING job complete reusing actuator

Post by YotaGT »

ColonelPanic, I'm going with Rockauto's offering... which goes along with Jbenrod's choice. I need some parts, Rockauto is cheap, and they offer the ACDelco everyone buys for around $42, or the Dorman for $37.50.

JbenRod, in regards to your piece, I think I can bounce you a few ideas to mull over:
...My guess is that the plastic has hardened and gotten brittle with age..
Yes
..don't understand why...no damage to any of the teeth on the smaller gears...could be because the large gear has constant torque on it...then I would think all the other gears would have to have constant torque on them too ?
All of the gears are connected, I believe the profile and thickness of each respective gears teeth determine the force applied, or honestly they all are subject to similar torque. The smaller gears are likely tougher as they are all made of the same material (black plastic likely the same), but are more compact. What is more resilient to pressure, a 6 inch disc of styrofoam, or a dime sized piece?
little...incentive for..GM...sell just...problem gear...when..replacement unit for $40-50.
Well that's a ****ing given :lol: but really the logistics of repairing an.. inferior quality piece, as you put it, explain that decision. No mechanic is wasting his time risking redoing that labor (profits aside, he's got bigger fish to fry) when he can just buy the whole damn assembly when it costs pennies more to manufacture. Well, cheap items are peddled for profit in this economy so $40 is cost of time and security.
GM could have spec'd that this gear be made from better materials to prevent it's teeth from failing
Ehhh that's how GM is known to design their vehicles. Cheap cars must make compromises. Logistics considered, I would rather have the actuator break than the peg to the vent door, given the choice. I did notice that the Matrix uses a different actuator assembly altogether. I checked an 05 Matrix, but they are should be the same and The Vibe did have a GM chosen HVAC system.
I have read that only 180 degrees of the gear teeth are ever used
Probably correct, my rotation repair did not work but it is still worth the effort IMO.
...this would suggest that it is probably the plastic material itself that is breaking down after time and not so much because of usage.
This right here^^ Vibe owners are probably better off attempting the DIY repair while ordering the replacement actuator as soon as possible.
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