Driver side Blend door actuator.....and breaking the plastic gears

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09-17-2018, 11:53 PM

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senor honda

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Driver side Blend door actuator.....and breaking the plastic gears

Driver side Blend door actuator any one do it?

2012 Charger R/T
I have the part, has anyone done this at home? Dealer says you have to unbolt the dash from the fire wall ???

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09-17-2018, 11:54 PM

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senor honda

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Disconnect and isolate the negative battery cable.

Remove the left side instrument panel silencer (the panels attached to the underside of the dash on the driver side). This is done by removing the pushpins that secure the instrument panel silencers to the instrument panel bracket, disconnecting the LED harness and removing the instrument panel silencers.

Remove the screws that secure the blend door actuator to the left side of the HVAC air distribution housing. Remove the blend door actuator from the air distribution housing and disconnect the HVAC wire harness connector and remove the actuator from the vehicle.

Installation is the reverse of removal and then run the Actuator Calibration. You need the dealership, or other equally equipped service garage, to run the Actuator Calibration procedure using their scan tool and software.

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09-17-2018, 11:55 PM

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senor honda

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well, replaced the driver side blend door actuator, took a while to figure the 2 mounting screws are TORX head,

thank god for a 8" long 1/4" flex driver adapterand a nut driver handle.

I was able to get to the screws on the left side of the steering column, other wise there is no room to get your hands in enough to remove the screws.. Works great now
thanks for all the help!

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09-17-2018, 11:56 PM

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senor honda

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Originally Posted by MiataRacerWhat is the symptom that told you it was bad?

Usually you hear a loud clicking sound and have little or no air coming out one of the vents... Every car made in the last 10 years (or more) uses these actuators, which are cheap plastic boxes with nylon gears that strip out. They go bad occasionally, but at least they are not as expensive as they used to be (the ones for my 2001 Chrysler 300M were $85 each, now they sell for $25 to $45)

I discovered that if you turn off the A/C or heat and wait 10-15 seconds for the system to reset itself to neutral before shutting off the engine they last a lot longer (you can hear the little motors whining as the reset).

If you just turn off the engine with the A/C running the actuators stay where they are, but when you restart the engine the computer thinks they are back at a neutral position when they aren't, so the little gears will slip cogs trying to get back into the right position, which eventually causes them to break.

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09-17-2018, 11:57 PM

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senor honda

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I may be doing this wrong...

It's hot down here in FL and I have never cut on the heat.

I sometimes set the A/C at maximum, and recirculate, and the fan at 7 on my 2018 Charger before shutting off the engine, in the belief that when I start it the next day, the A/C will come on cold sooner, before the sweat starts rolling into my shirt.
If it is always set to A/C are the gears affected at all?

Sometimes I just leave A/C at whatever it was set at....usually just A/C, recirculate, and fan about 3 or 4
before shutting off the engine.

What do you think about either way of doing the shutoff?

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09-18-2018, 11:23 PM

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senor honda

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I always turn the A/C or Heat off and wait until it is done resetting before I shut off the engine. I didn't on my old 300M and had to replace the blend door actuator three times. Since I've been turning the A/C or heat off before the engine I have had zero problems with the actuators on my 2013 & 2016 Chargers and the wifes Chrysler 200.

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09-19-2018, 07:11 PM

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senor honda

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Regarding the need to get new blend door actuators re-calibrated by a dealer - I found there is a way around this. From a previous post by me that refers to the two passenger side blend door actuators but should be equally applicable to the driver side one

1) with engine running set the H-C selectors (driver & passenger) to the mid point 72F,(2) turn engine off and wait the 3 to 4 minutes for the blend doors to close (you can hear this and it often sets off the clacking - wait until this stops),(3) disconnect battery,(4) remove the actuators and connect the new actuators to their power supplies but don't fit them yet to the HVAC unit,(5) reconnect battery and start engine, and cycle the temperature and air flow direction controls through their full ranges,(6) end by setting the H-C selectors to 72F again, and by turning off the engine and waiting again for all movement in the actuators to cease (observe rotation of the actuator gears and wait for this to stop),(7) disconnect battery again and fit the actuators to the HVAC unit,(

reconnect battery, start engine and test the system.