The cheap way to fix your Vic blend door acuator

The cheap way to fix your Vic blend door . Its a job that everyone dreads and can cost hundreds of dollars at the dealer but you can do it yourself and without removing the dash.In this video I will take you through it both the highs and the lows. I will show how removing three bolts and a nut will allow access to the blend door.
Get your blend door actuator here:ebay.us/eAxAQ1
Follow me on Social media:
Instagram: / photomikesgarage
“Like” the Facebook page: / photomikesgarage

[@Head2ToeTheatrical]

I got tired of taking my air bag and glove box out each season to manually move the actuator lever. Two years ago, I installed a cable in the glove box to move it quickly. I had never tried moving the top of the dash. You have given me some confidence to maybe fix it better one day. Thanks!

[@TheGor54]

Yeah.. I just used a welding rod .. 👍

[@danielmcqueen1024]

As a fellow Scottsman, I feel your pain... literally! My 2004 Vick LX needs the actualtor replaced! But being a Frugal Scotsman, I've got the actuator pried up and a wedge to hold the door closed for A/C and in the winter months I'll flip it to Heat :) And I'm left handed so this job really Suchs!

[@Zildjian_DW]

I pulled my glove box down. Then I took a 12" piece of coat hanger and bent an "L" shape on the end. I slid it under the blend door actuator arm and pulled it. It went into heat mode. Hopefully in the spring I can just push the arm back to get Air conditioning. I didn't have to remove one screw. Just a flashlight was all I needed.😃

[@johnfury6481]

This is the way.

[@ActualNonsense]

how hard did you have to pull? mine won’t budge. even with it raised past the metal lever

[@Zildjian_DW]

@@ActualNonsense i did have to use a bit of force. I believe I clamped some vice grips to the end of the coat hanger and pulled.

[@lucaskorbanka4182]

Thanks for the video. Dealer quoted me a whopping 2500$ dollars which sounds like a new record. Mines been broken for years. For anybody with an EATC who cant do the fix right away, try pushing OFF and FLOOR at the same time then pressing AUTOMATIC. This resets the EATC and (If your lucky) can result in switching to either hot or cold air once the reset is done.

[@pantherwavecrownvics]

I do this method every season lol, when it's summer it locks on AC and in winter it locks on heat lol

[@rollinontwojohnny3586]

$2500!! WTFrenzy! It's cheaper to fly that young man out too where you live and drive him back!

[@dougHw904]

I've had success removing a blend door actuator (twice) by using a screw driver and splitting it in two, removing the upper half, taking out the parts and then I could reach the screws with a wrench. Then to re-install I notched the two back tabs, put the screws part way in, put in the blend door and installed the front screw. the second time it took 30 mins, start to finish. There's a video on here of another guy showing how to break the blend door actuator in parts which was very helpful.

[@danielcombs5286]

Ha same, this is the method I use too .makes it a pretty easy job. Good stuff.

[@wedothis1563]

Where’s that video plz

[@danielcombs5286]

@@wedothis1563 do everything he does....but once you can see it....u plug it....get a giant flat head screw driver and separate the top plastic from the bottom plastic.

[@wedothis1563]

@@danielcombs5286 gotcha, does the top peice need to re-attach? Or just trash it and manually move the gear? Need to get mine stuck on heat to cold.

[@chuckfelton121]

For some people who are reporting issues with air only coming out the defrost vent need to take a look at a you tube fix that shows how to replace orings that are in the control panel. I have easily fixed strange a/c and heat issues in a 95 town car and 99 marquis using this method. On the marquis, a shop was saying i had blend door issues which turned out to not be true

[@DisneyUpBoilerUp]

UHHGGG. Now I know why my mechanic just quoted me $550 to do this. :/ . Not something I could do personally. Appreciate the video.

[@hendrixnut64]

Great vid...I have to do my 94 Town Car...yours is the only vid that shows how the actuator works with the the arm and rod...thanks

[@DG850post]

For future , they make ratchets that the handle is actually the ratchet and you can spin it back and forth for stuff like that it came in handy when I had to do them at ford.

[@JonathanHuard-mc3up]

i went to home depot looking for just this tool and had no luck, still got the job done though

[@DG850post]

@@JonathanHuard-mc3up amazon, they used to be only at advanced auto

[@Lorinidaho]

Wow, great tutorial!

[@TheBarth79]

Nice work.

[@BADBADGER18]

Basically same thing happened to me with my ranger, last bolt was mostly loose and i dropped my only ratchet that actually fit behind the dash, so i resorted to violence and smashed the last bolt out but ripped a bit of the ducting out, just went and got some aluminum foil tape and patched the small hole when i installed the new actuator, two bolts in the front are no issue with a ratcheting wrench but that back one was hell.

[@WJHandyDad]

good job!

[@leswilliamson3587]

Awesome video thank you so much

[@user-cu2tb4ku2t]

Thanks for the video. I was successful, but I can't believe pulling the entire dash forward is HARDER! This was a tough job. Bad part was I bought a replacement actuator, and it was defective. Paid my local garage to replace it and then I put it all back together. This took a lot of time, but it can be done for sure. Like standing on your head and licking your elbow!

[@rollinontwojohnny3586]

Oh, HA! I just let my dog lick it.

[@30pvfd]

Thanks Mike 👍👍👍👍

[@joelgomez5806]

Thank you bro 🙏

[@richardgerome4897]

Excellent video!!! Thank You 😉 I hope mine never goes bad…?

[@PhotomikesGarage]

Thanks.

[@Felipe-fuerte]

Subscribed 😆👍🏽

[@PhotomikesGarage]

Thanks !

[@DRBOY856]

Love your videos keep it up ❤❤❤

[@PhotomikesGarage]

Thanks!

[@Faygo2215]

I had this same issue found the thing that changes the ac fan controls (idk what its called) and I pushed it all the way in and pulled it all the way out on vent mode, it fixed the issue for how long I dunno but hey it worked kinda

[@jimkeskey]

They sell low profiel socket sets that might help with this fix.

[@thecamarogarage]

Curious what system are you using for your camera equipment? (Head Strap and particular camera? ) Thanks

[@PhotomikesGarage]

Most of that video was shot with a go pro and a head strap. Really tight area so was difficult to film.

[@ActualNonsense]

trying to push my actuator lever to A/C it’s raised past the lever but won’t budge no matter how hard i hit it or push it i

[@DavidMcclellan-di9tn]

I wish it wasn't so difficult, I'm gonna have to pay someone to fix mine. I have health issues. Mine has stripped gears or missing teeth causing it to start blowing warm air, I'm in west Texas, need ac

[@DieselRebel]

A shop in Ladner recently did my blend door system. Was a annoyance that was. Now I have a dead gauge cluster, apparently a common issue on the Panthers. You had that yet?

[@PhotomikesGarage]

That is usually a corrosion of the soulder joiñts in the cluster. I haven't had to deal with it yet.

[@mikesal8088]

It's a common problem starting in 2006 panther cars. The instrument clusters have cold or fractured solder joints. The LCD odometer display usually goes first. There are some good videos here; search Crown Victoria cluster. Several eBay sellers can repair these for $65 and up.

[@FrancisJFox]

When the blend door fails, is it when you only get air thru one duct system! Upper or lower?

[@thealliedspy4170]

The upper/defrost, I'm on my third one. It's a weak point of these cars...

[@shyecjj]

Bro not everyone has a "Liam" around to help on the difficult stuff.

[@OHUQTU]

You moved the dash backwards, not forwards (of course).

[@halnywiatr]

Done ... miserable ... but done.

[@michaelohalloran6380]

Easier to slide the dash forward.

[@klizzyykicks1712]

There’s no way these mitts can do that

[@mikec81]

easier to just pull the dash, you were already basically there, 4 nuts to drop the column and 2 or 3 more bolts holding dash in and its out lol

[@jasonyates3311]

Have you pulled a 5th gen panther dash yourself? I've seen videos like the one here, and I've seen one where the guy loosened the dash to get clearance from the top/back of the dash, but everyone says that is difficult; I've already got the radio and bezel out for cluster repairs and now I need to do the blend actuator as well

[@mikec81]

@@jasonyates3311 yes i have and its not hard, dont have to even take the radio out or airbag everything can stay in, 3 7mm bolts along the top, 1 11mm nut by pass. door, unplug antenna under glovebox, 3 8mm grounds pass. kick panel, 2 electrical connectors pass. kick panel, 13mm driver side of trans hump, 4 nuts for steering column (dont forget to unhook the shift indicator) done

[@t.j.bingman3311]

Yeah, super easy to pull the dash far enough for the blend door or heater core. If it all goes PERFECTLY, dash out, heater core/actuator swapped, dash back in, all in 45 minutes. Most likely a 2 hour job if you've never done it before.