Blend Doors Done.

It's been almost exactly two years since I reviewed my "likes and gripes", and after two years they are still accurate. In general this has been a great little truck with excellent MPG and low cost of ownership, and I'm extremely happy with it.

I decided to try my hand at fixing the climate control blend door actuators after our recent road trip. When it's just me in the car I can crank the temp to the extremes and use the fan control to adjust to taste, but with other people in the car I get the idea of setting it to a "known temp", say 72°. Also, I agree it is convenient to just hit one button and it automatically does it all for you. It's nice, and I get it now. And after driving 500 miles with a loud squeaky cricket in the dash and my wife in the passenger seat I decided it was time.

The first tip-off to the need for a fix was a TSB that Ford put out (Technical Service Bulletin) saying that you should replace the blend door actuators if the date codes are prior to 30808. Sounds like they got a bad batch of parts and didn't figure it out until too late. Anyway, I picked up a pair of new actuators on ebay for about $20 each from am-autoparts.

I found some good instructions on another site, and am summarizing them below. I tried for 2 hours to replace the upper actuator without removing the airbag, but it's just not possible.

The lower actuator is easy to find and change out in under 10 minutes. It is located near the center console by the passenger's feet. It is attached by two 8mm bolts.

The upper actuator is directly above the lower actuator, but buried deep in the dash.

Remove the three 7mm screws below the glove box attaching it to the dash. Open the glove box and squeeze the top edge and you can pull it completely out.

Looking up from below there are two bolts holding the air bag in place. If you don’t feel comfortable removing the air bag then stop and take it to the dealer. Remove the two bolts and then pull the air bag out towards the passenger seat. Note that the airbag dash panel is attached to the air bag. The panel is held in place by a few clips around its circumference that easily release by being squeezed in gently. After removal, disconnect the two air bag leads, there are releases on the sides and they pull straight out. Set the air bag aside somewhere safe.

Now you should be able to see the actuator looking in through the air bag hole with a flashlight. Remember it is directly above the lower actuator. You don’t have enough room to get to it, so you need to loosen the air ducts so that they can be pushed slightly out of the way.

Remove the trim around the vents and display above the stereo. Next there are three screws to remove from the vent tubes, all are are 7mm. All bolts are accessible through the air bag opening. Start at the left upper passenger vent, the first bolt is head facing up right near the vent exit. The second is a few inches below the first with the head facing the front of the car. The third is almost center in the air box opening on the metal support tube. The head of it is facing up.

Now that the vent is free to wiggle and move a little, you will have just enough room to squeeze your hand over to the actuator. I was able to lift the vent up and pull it forward enough to get my hand and a ¼” socket wrench with a 8mm socket on to the two bolts holding the actuator in place. Once loosened you should be able to use the socket and your hand to unscrew the two bolts and remove them.

The actuator should be able to lift up and out and then pulled into the air bag opening to disconnect the wire lead.

Attach the wire connector to the new actuator and shimmy it into the opening. Press it gently into place. You may need to twist it side to side to get the splines to align with the current opening of the door. Bolt it down and reassemble.

I am pleased to say that not only did I feel like a total boss after completing this procedure, but it was successful and no more crickets in the dash!! Huge win. And now I don't have to mess with the temp control either, just leave it set at 72° and on auto. It's easy when it works right.

Here are Ford's instructions for this replacement, which are similar:
http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/molurch/2012-02-02_010106_bdl.pdf
http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/molurch/2012-02-02_010044_bdr.pdf

31.51 MPG

156.9 MI, 4.98 GAL @ $4.059 = 31.51 MPG

85,303 total miles. 76 on De La Torre in Salinas.

A new low on MPG! Ouch. These were all freeway miles, coming back up from southern California on 101N. Also this was only the top 1/4 of the tank, I was just topping off. Perhaps it would have been better if I'd finished it off before refilling.

36.47 MPG

476.9 MI, 13.08 GAL @ $4.159 = 36.47 MPG

85,146 total miles. Chevron on Betteravia Road.

I'm surprised this tank was so high, as most of this was freeway driving.

35.80 MPG

508.7 MI, 14.21 GAL @ $4.299 = 35.80 MPG

84,669 total miles. Chevron in San Miguel.

I think the computer was saying 0 miles to empty around 495 miles, so clearly there is a bit of wiggle room there. This is the first time I've put more than 14 gallons in the tank, but I think it holds over 15. There's probably a 50 mile buffer even after it says 0 MTE.

33.08 MPG

454.2 MI, 13.73 GAL @ $3.659 = 33.08 MPG

84,161 total miles. 76 on Los Gatos Blvd.

Still raining and cold, still low mileage. Better than last time though.

New Speakers.

I forgot to record the exact date, but at some point in January I swapped out all four door speakers in favor of Polk Mobile Monitor 5"x7" - MM571. Apparently they are now discontinued, which must be why I got such a great price from crutchfield.com!

I have the "audiophile" trim level, which is a stretch, though it was definitely better than the standard trim I'm sure. There is an 8" sub in the rear passenger wall (which I might upgrade as well at some point), and the front 5x7 stock speakers did have a real tweeter in them.

I also picked up some Peel-and-Seal at Lowe's, the budget dynamat alternative. It felt cool when I was putting it on, like I was really optimizing things, but in the end I'm not sure how much difference it really makes. Ford actually did a fairly decent job of padding the doors under the plastic door panels, and the door panels were very straightforward to remove. There's the obvious 3 screws, plus a larger torx head hidden behind the door lever. As usually, Crutchfield's install kit was spot on, and made everything a breeze to install.

The Polks sound much better though, as expected. The highs are clear and noticeably brighter than stock, and the bass is tighter and hits better. These Mobile Monitor dual drivers included an external crossover network, which I wired inside the doors. One nice thing about these Polks is that they handle water and moisture really well. You wouldn't think about water inside your car door, but enough of the water that hits your window ends up dripping inside for this to be a concern long term.

31.96 MPG

439.5 MI, 13.752 GAL @ $3.539 = 31.96 MPG

83,707 total miles. Chevron on California Circle in Milpitas.

Ouch! I think this is the worst mileage I've seen in this truck. It's been cold and wet lately, and I've had the headlights on both directions for my commute. Hopefully that explains the sudden dive in MPG...