my Explorer '98' blend door does not function. i took note of a thread in this forum on replacing the actuator, which I tested as described and found to be faulty. Thankfully i was able to easily replace the actuator per instructions by removing the glove box and so on...what a great article!

Unfortunately, I eventually discovered that the blend door is broken (looks like a plastic piece at the top is missing.

I could sure use some advice on how to deal with this problem.

DJ from NH.

 

Look at the Blend Door Fix thread again and look at the Blend Door Fix with pictures. If you changed the actuator and could see that a piece of the door is broken you're there, all you need to do is align the actuator and door up drill a hole in in the actuator and insert a finish nail and cut it to the proper length. Read and carefully follow the instructions, I did the fix a year ago and it works great.

 

I just did the blend door repair on my 98' Explorer today. On my 98' the actuator is held in with three screws instead of snap posts. I used a small mirror as the fix describes and saw the top of the blend door shaft. I drilled the small hole through the shaft and it worked the first time. You must take the actuator out and plug it back up and observe very carefully how the shaft moves. Make sure you know which position it is in, either full hot or full cold. Then move the blend door to that position by putting your finger on top of the remaining part of the black plastic shaft and turning it in the correct direction. Here is the link: Free Ford Blend Door Fix

 

You should be able to buy a blend door at oreilly's, got on there for my 97. Then, the previous posts should point you in the right direction. You can still see a little duct tape sticking out from under the glove box, but you can really be as creative as you want when putting the access panel back in place.