Popping Noise From Rear A/C Blower '03 Expo

[Tdh777]

After snooping around with a flashlight, I think I found out what the culprit is. It's a little foam-looking door that when closed, allows the air flow to the roof vents, and when open, routes the air to the floor. I took pictures, though I dont know if they'll load up.
On the 03 Expedition, it's the big vent looking thing in the third row seating on the passenger side. If you sat in the third row seat, on the right most seat(looking forward), it would probably be by your right knee. If you look in there, you'll see the little square foam looking door.
The problem that I see is that upon opening, or closing , it doesnt stop. When fully open/closed, it continues to try to open/close, as if something isn't telling it stop. So basically the motor is "tripping." Eventually, it stops, especially if the AC is on full blast and the door is open(floor mode.)

Hopefully this helps? Id like to see if this is the problem with your vehicles. My dad wants to "open" it up tomorrow to see what's wrong. If we do( and maybe fix it) Ill post our findings.

BTW, I did this with full cold and full hot.

This is correct. There is another actuator in there that looks almost identical to the blend actuator for hot to cold. It does change vents from top to bottom and it's plastic gears strip. I have this sound also but am to lazy to change the part as it's a pain in the arse. Cheap though.. I believe it's around 57$

 

[GAINMOB]

Yulp... that's for both parts... common prob... easy fix...4 screws each... hardest part is taken the panel off...30 minute job including putting panels back on or less

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[jstone5241]

It is a switch that needs replacing. Take off cup holder in right rear panel a remove parcel holder too. You will find a light tan switch about 3 inches square. 3 or 4 screws hold it in. Remove and take to O’Reilys or another part store. Ford changed part in middle of year in 2004 and may have other times. It cost $35 or so. Easier than it sounds. Will fix your problem. Good luck!

 

[JJBovenzi]

I bought both actuators on eBay for around $15 each shipped. You just need to verify if you have the 'cross' or 'D' style shaft. You'll clear see which one it is when you pull in out.

 

[ShotgunEarl]

This thread has been a huge help to me, as this forum often is...time to pay it forward.

These are for the rear/auxiliary....both of my motors were gone (2005 EB Expy) but the lower one was making the most racket.

Ford # on the upper part motor (the one that can be reached through the cup holder/tray being removed), responsible for air direction ceiling/floor:

2L2H-19E616-AA ----> This translates to Motorcraft # YH1743


Ford # on the lower/side mounted motor (responsible for hot/cold blend):

3L1H-19E616-AA ----> This translates to Motorcraft # YH1749

NOW - for the lower motor, hot/cold blend door - I could not find that Ford # anywhere on the internet...!!! The upper motor was all over the web but the lower was a mystery. I initially ordered the wrong part from an online retailer (autopartstomorrow.com) but by the time I figured that out they'd already shipped it - still have to deal with the return. Went to Ford locally here and the guys at the parts counter initially gave me the wrong part # as well (GRRRRR!!!!). Turns out that Ford changed the part # on the lower to 3L1Z-19E616-AB which converts to the Motorcraft part # YH-1749 as mentioned above and the dealer cannot even cross-reference the original # on the part (3L1H-19E616-AA)!

I stayed away from the Dorman parts altogether after reading a bunch of different forums that reference this problem - the general consensus is that the Dorman parts will fail much earlier than the OEM parts and thus, even for the cheaper price - I avoided the possible hassle. YMMV and all that, choose your own path, grasshopper.

I paid ~$50 shipped from autopartstomorrow.com for the upper and $67.xx with tax for the lower from Ford. Could have done better on the lower but I gave up looking for correct part # online and went to the dealer in case I was wrong again - and again, they managed to get it wrong the first time, too and had to refund me in full for the part but we put our heads together and managed to get the correct part the second time. The dealer closest to me (Huntersville Ford) says they normally stock these because they sell so many of them....go figure!

Hope the above helps someone!

5 years later and this guy saved me. Spent two hours trying to get the cheap Dorman part in (wrong size).

Also this video I found on YouTube helps a lot.


And this is the part at RockAuto

http://www.rockauto.com/en/parts/motorcraft,YH1749,heater+blend+door+actuator,10721

I am sure I will be using this forum more as my 2005 is finally starting to show it's age.

 

[WakeZone]

After changing both actuators once, my temp actuator started popping again. I said screw this, reached down through the tray access and unplugged it. It stays on cold unless I plan to go up north in the winter, no more popping, everyone happy.

 

[DASAGT]

change out the two rear air blender door actuator

 

[Want3d]

There is a part on amazon by dorman it is an air defuser or something like that. Look it up on youtube there are quite afew videos on that .

 

[James W Moore]

I have an 03 Explorer sport, it is too short for the 3rd row seat options, but I also have an 04 Expedition, that does this NON stop. No one ever rides in my 3rd row and this be easily bypassed?

 

[Transporter]

This is very easily bypassed and if you don't need rear heat can be easily permanently fixed.

Just watch the YouTube Video from the prior posts above. It has all the details on what is causing the noise and how to fix. So after watching it, simply decide if you wish to fix it or permanently remove the bad/broken parts, set the rear controls to Cool, and set the damper in the cool position (just don't ever switch rear controls to heat again).

I totally disabled mine 3 years ago setting it to Cool Only. Then 18 months ago I had coolant leaking into my front and rear floor boards so I had them completely bypass the rear heater because with two over 100 pound dogs in the back, who needs rear heat anyway (have to turn the AC on back there sometimes in late Fall and early Spring).