Popping Noise From Rear A/C Blower '03 Expo

[shperkins]

T50 Torx

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

Elvato are you sure it's a T50 you used? Just want to be sure before I go buy one. Home Depot and Lowe's don't have it but I think Sears does.

Thanks!

 

[shperkins]

Popping noise

Elvato are you sure it's a T50 you used? Just want to be sure before I go buy one. Home Depot and Lowe's don't have it but I think Sears does.

Thanks!

Ha I think I beat it. One motor at a time, I waited until the doors were in the right position (upper and blowing cold) and unplugged the motors.

 

[smo0othride]

Elvato are you sure it's a T50 you used? Just want to be sure before I go buy one. Home Depot and Lowe's don't have it but I think Sears does.

Thanks!

T50 is what you need for removing the seatbelts

ACE hardware carries them for about $9, I got one on ebay for about $4.

 

[EXPO 03]

Hi Guys
I have removed both motors and gear boxes from my Expy, per your outstanding instructions, and have found the exact same thing, broken teeth on the gears.
I am going to be shopping the local pick ur part yards for these parts.

One question I have is where would the part be located if I were looking to take it off of an Explorer (1998 -2002) as listed in the above post from ELVATO. Would it be located in the same vicinity as on the Expy or under the dash somewhere?

Anyone know where to look??

Thanks

 

[ELVATO]

Not too sure as I can't look it up right now. If the explorers had rear air, it'd be under one of the rear panels. If not it'd be under the dash.

I'd you can find an older expedition, and look under the rear quarter panel. Those gears seem to work pretty well.

 

[Milkman]

Does anyone know if there is a fuse for these motors, and if so, what is it?

 

[AZWildcat]

This is a great thread that has now saved me hundreds of dollars. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to it!

I thought it would be good karma to add my two cents after installing a new blend motor last night - in my case it was the upper motor (the one that directs air through either the ceiling vents or the floor vents) on a 2005 Eddie Bauer model. I followed the excellent step-by-step directions offered by exodus125 in posts 38 and 39, with the exception that I replaced the entire motor instead of just the gears. I purchased the motor (Dorman Part #604-213) from Amazon for $42.14 which included tax and next-day delivery.

A few observations:

1) As long as it's the upper motor that you're replacing it is quite easy to go through the cupholder and the tray as described by exodus125. If you're replacing the lower motor you'll have to remove the entire panel to get access. Fortunately it seems like it tends to be the upper motor that fails most often.

2) It is surely easier to use a 5/16" ratcheting wrench to remove the three screws, but I didn't have one and didn't feel like going to get one so I just wiggled a 3/8" drive ratchet in there with a 5/16" socket and it did all of the hard work for me. Once loosened enough I finished unscrewing them with my fingers.

3) The trickiest part is lining up the cross rod in the new motor with the receptacle that it goes in properly. I ended up just removing the old one from the old motor and using it to turn the receptacle to the proper position. MAKE SURE THAT YOU'VE SET IT TO MATCH THE SETTING ON THE CONTROL (IE; EITHER CEILING OR FLOOR). To direct air through the ceiling vents the receptacle should be turned counterclockwise as far as it will go (around 1/4 to 1/2 turn). To direct air through the floor vents the receptacle should be turned clockwise as far as it will go.

Replacing the top motor is a REALLY easy job - if you can change your car battery you can complete this in less than a half hour. The lower motor will take more time only because the entire panel needs to be removed - not a difficult job by any means, just a little more time-consuming.

If you have this problem PLEASE do not pay someone $200 or more (maybe a LOT more) to fix it for you. Anyone can do this themselves and save a boatload of money.

 

[nuttychewz]

Great help, two questions

I have an 05 expedition and i get both the clicking sound and also no heat when i switch temp to hot. I for now want a quick fix on just getting door to stay to roof vents. Heat dow work on roof vents, correct? In another car i have heat only comes out of floor vents while the roof ones are just for a/c. Also, this sounds like I have a problem with both the upper (door) and lower (temp door) motors?

Thanks

 

[mindgame]

If you dont ever need to use hot air in the rear, you can just remove the blend door actuator, and extract the D-shaft out of the unit and stick it back into the hole. (If by chance, you turn the air on high, and the pressure locks the blend door into the hot zone.)

Leave the motor control disconnected.

Works for me here in Hawaii..

 

[Ron1978]

Anyone got a gear for sale I thing mines bad in a 2006 king ranch, it started loud thumping when using rear air, I have not took apart yet , but symptoms sound like all the above!