On Christmas Eve as I was leaving work when I started the Jeep I heard that ugly click, click, clicking sound coming from under the dash.
I have replaced several of the blend door actuators on the Jeep JK’s so I swung by my local NAPA and picked one up but didn't have time to tear into it until last Saturday.
After pulling it into the shop and cycled the blend door and realized it wasn’t the blend door actuator. I switched the modes and it wasn’t the mode door actuator either. I then hit the recirculating switch and BINGO, there’s the noise. CRAP! That’s the hardest one to access.
Access is less than ideal, especially for a big guy with large hands. I don’t know why they didn’t mount the actuator on the left side of the HVAC box where there’s plenty of room. But NO, they put it on the right side between the HVAC box and the right kick panel where there’s a whopping 3 inches of space.
Start by removing the glove box and the right dash speaker.
And this is where the culprit resides.
After the removal process I opted to open the original one and see which gear is stripped.
Sure enough, there’s the broken tooth. See pick pointing to the broken gear.
Reassembled, cleaned, wiring put back in place and new cabin filters installed.
As a follow up to the above repair.....
I thought I would follow up with some tips for anyone replacing a recirculation actuator in a Jeep Wrangler.
First I hate interior work but I’ve found that this little 1/4” extended length ratchet is the magic bullet for interior work. It has the long neck allowing access without the body of the tool getting in the way, it allows one handed removal of fasteners and has enough torque to perform the job but not so much that it strips the plastic bosses out nor too fast where it over-runs the threads pulling plastic threads out.
When installing the new actuator it is critical for proper spline alignment or the HVAC actuator will not calibrate. This is why I had to pull mine back out and re-clock the splined last night as it wouldn’t calibrate.
Upon removing the actuator from the package this flat spot on the output shaft should line up directly with the raised line on the body.
See two pictures below.
To do that the recirculation damper door must be fully raised (open) before installing the actuator assembly. Mine was raised but dropped slightly as I was engaging the splined originally. It must be pushed upwards then instal the actuator into the splined damper door for proper positioning.
Lastly after replacement a bi-directional scantool will make life easier by running a calibration cycle.
For the Snap-on tools the test is under HVAC system, then special tests and lastly actuator recalibration. Thus will run all actuators through their range to calibrate. After a successful calibration or passed message you can complete reassembly of the dash.
Lastly here is the part number for the Jeep actuator motors.
Dorman also makes one that is popular but the NAPA one is made by Echlin and I prefer it.
Thanks for looking.
Mike
