Here's the crappy pix.
Rear panel off, two blend door motors circled in red. Picture is flipped, so this was all on the passenger side of the Expy. The top red circle is the door that decides which way the air goes, while the lower one is the air temp blend door.
Here's the motor with the cover off. The bottom, black gear was the one that had a couple teeth missing.
Crappy closeup of the bad gear. It's 2 gears in 1: a bigger, flatter gear, radius of about a pencil eraser, and a smaller, taller gear, with a diameter of a pencil eraser. The smaller gear (the bluish looking blob) is the one with missing teeth)
I tried trying accessing the motor though the cup holder hole (left after you take it out) once I put everything back in place, but you can't fit a ratchet in there to take out the holding screws of the motor. The best you could do is disconnect the temp blend door motor, and maybe the air direct motor. So, it seems you really do have to take out the whole rear panel if you want to replace both motors.
Either way, as a temp fix, I took off the cover of the air direct motor, and set it to where the door would be in the roof vent setting, closed it, and left it disconnected. Since it uses a worm gear, the motor doesn't let door move, unless the motor is spinning.
According to rockauto.com, these cars use the same door motor, so I guess if you wanna look around a junk yard for these, you could take the motors out:
FORD--EXPEDITION--(2002 - 2004)
FORD--EXPLORER--(1998 - 2002)
FORD--EXPLORER SPORT--(2001 - 2003)
FORD--EXPLORER SPORT TRAC--(2001 - 2005)
FORD--RANGER--(1998 - 2004)
FORD--RANGER EDGE--2005
FORD--RANGER FX4--(2005 - 2007)
FORD--RANGER SPORT--(2006 - 2007)
FORD--RANGER STX--(2006 - 2007)
FORD--RANGER SUPER--1998
FORD--RANGER XL--(2005 - 2007)
FORD--RANGER XLT--(2005 - 2007)
LINCOLN--NAVIGATOR--(2002 - 2004)
MERCURY--MOUNTAINEER--(1998 - 2002)
If anything, you could try taking the gears out of the motor, and having them as back up, especially since the Expy has 2 of these motors in the rear AC, and they seem prone of failure.
Here are the directions to taking off the rear quarter panel. Should take a couple hours to do the whole thing.
First, you have to remove the C pillar. This is done:
1. Set the seat belt slider thing to it's lower setting.
2. Expose the nut that holds the seat belt, and take it off. I used an 18 mm socket, though I think it's really a 17 mm nut. When putting it back on, this nut requires 30 ft-lbs of torque. Set the belt aside.
3. Above this, there should be a piece of trim in a circle shape. Pop it off, and loosen the bolt. I used a 5/16 socket. It's retained in there, so it won't come out, but you'll know when it's loosened all the way.
4. Carefully pop the whole trim piece off.
Next, you have to take out the D pillar trim piece. This is done:
1. Expose the bolt that holds/guides the top of the 3rd row seat belt. Again, it's behind the little cover that pops off. Use a T50 star bit to take it off. It comes off all the way. When torquing back in, use 30 ft-lbs of torque.
2. Remove the headliner trim piece that is between the rear light and tail gate, or between both D pillars. Just carefully pull down.
3. Carefully remove the D pillar, first by pulling down on the horizontal part, then forward on the vertical part.
Now we get to the good part.
This is how you remove the rear quarter trim piece. I did all this with the 3rd row folded down:
1. Remove the rear trim piece that's between the carpet area and the bumper (aka the long trim piece that mostly surrounds the rear latch). Carefully pull up on it.
2. Open the jack access carpeted thing, and remove it. Basically, pull it up about 30 degrees, and pull towards you.
3. Take out the jack, and whatever else you have in the carpet.
4. Remove the 3 black plastic pins that are towards the front of the black carpet thing (assuming you're in the back, facing front towards the motor). Pull them out with pliers. If you want, you can also take out the 2 black screws that hold the latch for the jack assemble access. I used a 5/16 socket.
5. Take out the 2 black screws that hold the black plastic and split carpet (the 2 "flaps" that sit sit behind the 3 row seats) combo. I used a 5/16 socket. Carefully pull up, as it is also retained by clips.
6. Take out the 3rd row seat belt anchor on the floor. It come out with a T50 star bit. When torquing back, use 30 ft-lbs of torque. It'll be attached to a black metal piece that goes into the floor. I guess it's there to stop it from rotating.
7. Remove the pin from this:
I didn't have to since it was broken on mine.
8. Go back to the second row passenger side door, and remove the lower second row seat belt anchor. Lift up the flexible plastic piece and the bolt should be right behind it. I think it uses the same T50 star bolt as the rest, but I can't remember. When torquing it back, use 30 ft-lbs of torque. It makes it easier if you fold the second row seat forward, as if you are exiting the third row seat.
9. Remove scuff plate to the second row door by pulling up. It'll be attached to the black weather stripping so don't be surprised it if also comes up.
10. The final moment is here. Carefully pull on the rear quarter panel towards the center of the vehicle. Disconnect the rear power point plug. It should look like the first picture I posted in the beginning.
To take out the blend door motors, I used a 5/16 socket.
To install everything back, reverse the whole installation.
Hope this helps whoever maybe be having the rear AC clicking sound
