Noise in console or lower dash

Gary Johnson · Jan 18, 2020

I have a 2011 Expedition. Every time I start it, I get about 20-30 seconds of loud tapping noise in the front of the console or lower dash. Then it goes away. The heat seems to be working correctly. I ordered a new air duct control motor but when I pulled the radio out I found it was not the problem. It's working fine and not making noise. Anyone had this problem?

iimagine · Jan 18, 2020

Gary Johnson said:
I have a 2011 Expedition. Every time I start it, I get about 20-30 seconds of loud tapping noise in the front of the console or lower dash. Then it goes away. The heat seems to be working correctly. I ordered a new air duct control motor but when I pulled the radio out I found it was not the problem. It's working fine and not making noise. Anyone had this problem?

Sounds very much like a blend door issue.

iimagine

star-art · Jan 19, 2020

Very likely the Blend Door Actuator (BDA). Do you have manual HVAC or dual-zone electronic control? If it's manual, you're in luck because the fix is easy. Start by changing the position of the temperature dial to see if the noise goes away. On my 2009 EL XLT, if I put the dial to full cold I'd get the clicking. Backing off a bit from full cold and it went away. Because of this, I was able to just live with it.

If you want to replace the BDA, for manual HVAC units it's easily accessible in the center part of the dash:

If you have dual zone and it's the passenger side, servicing is similar:

But, if it's the driver's side of a dual-zone setup, you're in for a nightmare repair. Getting access to the driver's side requires pulling the entire dash out!

https://www.expeditionforum.com/threads/does-anyone-know-how-to-remove-a-2015-dashboard.42625/

Bobmc · Jan 27, 2020

Thanks for the video. My 2010 EB had the same problem. When I opened it up, the actuator connector was loose. Plugged it back in and all is well.

Don't understand how it could come loose like that, so I ordered a new one in case there was a reason it was disconnected, but for now it's working fine.

Gary Johnson · Apr 13, 2020

I replaced the door blend actuator right away and that wasn't it. The old one works fine. The sound seems to be coming lower down, more like under the console. Very loud knocking noise but goes away after about 30 seconds. Are there other door actuators?

notserpmh · Apr 22, 2020

Yes, there are 2-4 door actuators depending on which HVAC system you have. 1 behind the radio, 1 up and to the right of the pedals, 1 in the middle/passenger side near the floor board behind the center console (maybe your culprit) and 1 back behind the dash on the driver's side. The 1 behind the radio and the 1 by the pedals aren't that bad to get to. There are some hacks online to get to the one behind the center console a bit quicker (by sawing some of the hvac ducting instead of removing properly), but it's still a pain. I just had the one behind the dash go out and paid a local mechanic about $800 to do it because you have to tear out so much stuff and I didn't know if I would ever get it back in.

Noise in console or lower dash

Gary Johnson

New Member

iimagine

2016 EL XLT

star-art

Full Access Members

Bobmc

Member

Gary Johnson

New Member

notserpmh

Member

Similar threads

Latest posts

Staff online

Members online

Forum statistics

Share this page