Interior/Exterior air selection actuator replacement

Upholstery, floor mats, seats, window tint and anything inside the vehicle and not electronic
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blue_can
Posts: 209
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 4:21 am
Location: San Diego

Interior/Exterior air selection actuator replacement

Post by blue_can »

Has anyone ever needed to do this. In my case I started up the car one day and heard a regular thumping noise from under the dash on the passenger side. After some troubleshooting as well as visual inspection it looked like the actuator that moves the flap between interior and exterior air had become faulty and kept going once the flap had closed (in the exterior position) and kept apparently slipping, the flap would jump up and the whole thing would keep repeating.

The service manual made it look like a simple repair - remove the glove compartment and replace the actuator by removing the electrical connector and two screws.

In actual fact it was a difficult repair since both screws could not be viewed head on and the top screw was recessed and out of sight. There is an air duct next to it making getting a regular ratchet in there virtually impossible. In the end I had to use a inspection mirror along with a thin profile long handled ratchet that I picked up at HF. Still extremely tricky since it was almost impossible to turn the ratchet due to obstructions. Once the top screw was partially out it was no longer possible to turn it with the ratchet due to the duct and the fact that once the crew is loose the ratcheting action stops and I could still not get a grip to turn it with my fingers. At some point the actuator came loose enough to move it out of the way. I then managed to break the actuator off and remove the screw once the actuator was no loner in the way.

With the new actuator I could see no real way to install the top screw so I simply installed it with the bottom screw only. Due to the tabs designed to anchor the actuator and prevent it from turning while the flap is being opened/closed the single screw appears to hold it in place well and things are working.

I was curious to know if anyone ever did this repair and got the top screw in and if so what were the tricks you used to do it.

The whole repair ended up taking about 4 hours. From what I read in the service manual the alternative is even more work -remove the dash, recover the refrigerant and disconnect both the hearer core and evaporator and pull the whole HVAC module out in order to gain access to the actuator. Of course during initial assembly I'm guessing the actuator would have been installed prior to installing the HVAC module into the car and charghing up the ac, filling with coolant etc.

After the repair I opened up the old actuator and found that one of the teeth on one of the gear wheels had broken off leading to the problem. The plastic parts looked quite cheaply made so not sure how long the new actuator (OE replacement) will last.
'07 Vibe
Jacobmartin7
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2015 4:02 pm

Re: Interior/Exterior air selection actuator replacement

Post by Jacobmartin7 »

What I did was just removed the actuator all together, for 70$ I can do without recycled air. Fresh air is always better anyways! Plus I won't ever have to go through the trouble of removing that part when it goes bad again.
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trb
Posts: 1670
Joined: Thu May 08, 2008 4:06 am
Location: Houston, TX

Re: Interior/Exterior air selection actuator replacement

Post by trb »

LOTS of people have had to do this repair. There are several threads on it. Most people just open up the actuator and flip the gear 180 degrees and reinstall it. I think a few people have been able to get the top screw in from the threads I've read. Luckily ( knock on wood) I haven't had to do this repair on either of our 1st gen Vibes.
Thomas
the "Mustang Guy"
1987 5.0 LX Mustang
2016 Mustang GT - current daily
2004 Satellite Vibe &
2009 Red Vibe GT -twin's cars
2003 Neptune Vibe GT - prior daily
2010 Red Vibe GT - RIP 6/16/14
2006 Platinum Vibe - son's car
blue_can
Posts: 209
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 4:21 am
Location: San Diego

Re: Interior/Exterior air selection actuator replacement

Post by blue_can »

Thanks guys - have not visited the forum in quite a while and have not been following threads regularly. After I posted this I discovered the thread about this issue in another section so I linked my post here to that thread. I had no idea this was common problem but looking at the cheap plastic gears I'm not surprised.

After reading that thread it looks like some have been able to access the top screw by removing the airbag so I will probably try that.Not sure why I did not think of doing it on the day. I thought about various options but none of them looked like they would help - eg removing the radio. I also assumed the manual would have suggested other options if they had been viable. You have to wonder about the people who write these manuals sometimes.

As some of the others have posted you can get a replacement actuator for about $43 from Amazon (OE part) which is what I did. Did not know about the flipping the gear 180 deg until I saw that thread - if it breaks again I may try that.
'07 Vibe
blue_can
Posts: 209
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 4:21 am
Location: San Diego

Re: Interior/Exterior air selection actuator replacement

Post by blue_can »

Well got it done today by pulling the airbag out. Here's a photo of what you see of the top screw once the airbag is out.
20151122_144947 (600x338).jpg
20151122_144947 (600x338).jpg (109.39 KiB) Viewed 2177 times
'07 Vibe
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