Blend Door Actuator (heating and cooling)

PlenaBarba

PlenaBarba

New member
I've got a 2011 JK that when I went to turn the heater on this past weekend, just blew cold air from every vent. After lots of Googling and messing with my jeep, I determined that it is not the dreaded casting sand causing the issue. There is no sediment in my coolant, plus, I've got 44,000 miles on the jeep and it seems to mostly affect guys under 15,000. So my thought is if its not casting sand, the heater core is probably just fine.

So that leaves the blend door and blend door actuator. After talking with 3 dealerships, their thoughts and at this point I agree, is that it is the actuator. The part is $20ish and the cheapest dealer wanted $300 for labor. I've not been able to find a write up on changing this actuator on this or any other forum for a JK, only TJs and Cherokees. I have seen about the heating core and that is quite an involved process requiring under the hood work as well as removing the dash.

Has anyone changed the blend door actuator? I should think I could get away with just removing the dashboard, but that is just a guess. Any thought or pictures are greatly appreciated before I jump in.
 
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No experience with the jk blend door actuator but did replace one on an f150 a few years ago. It was making a distinctive clicking noise as the broken output plastic gear wasnt able to fully engage blend door "hing" gear.
You may be able to access through the glove box opening if you can remove it to help diagnose it. Ive been looking at picking up a camera scope one of these days that would be handy in this case. Good luck and post up what you find out.
 
Man I thought I remember seeing a post about this. I'll search for it and post it up if I can find it. I had a blend door problem on a previous car...not fun.

Good luck!
 
MTG said:
Man I thought I remember seeing a post about this. I'll search for it and post it up if I can find it. I had a blend door problem on a previous car...not fun.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

I believe Eddie posted something about Plan C and his blend door fix.
 
Wow am I relieved! 3 bolts and a plug! This was literally a 2 minute job that the dealership was going to charge $300.00 for. I bought the switch from the dealership ($40), but you can find it cheaper online.

Step 1: Remove the glove box. (It pinches out from the top sides if you've never done it before)

BlendDoor_zpsca68aeea.jpg

Step 2: Remove the electrical connector and three screws holding in the actuator.

Blenddooractuatordiagram_zps7ee237bd.jpg

Step 3: Gently pull the gear out of the door housing.

Step 4: Replace actuator, screw in, connect, and you're done!
 
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TCJK11 said:
Wow am I relieved! 3 bolts and a plug! This was literally a 2 minute job that the dealership was going to charge $300.00 for. I bought the switch from the dealership ($40), but you can find it cheaper online.

Step 1: Remove the glove box. (It pinches out from the top sides if you've never done it before)

View attachment 107582

Step 2: Remove the electrical connector and three screws holding in the actuator.

View attachment 107583

Step 3: Gently pull the gear out of the door housing.

Step 4: Replace actuator, screw in, connect, and you're done!
Click to expand...

Interesting. Having the same issue with cold from all vents. Checked everything else (rad fluid is good, lines going into/out of heater core are hot both in the engine bay and in the dash). Just not responding when being changed from cold to hot on the middle switch.

The actuator you changed seems to control where the air comes out, though...not the temp change? (Mine's a 2012 JKU...). I took that actuator off and played with the white plastic parts...all it was doing was switching vents (floor, dash, defrost).

Or am I missing something here? :D
 
if you have the auto-climate control then you'll have no control when you switch from cold to warm/hot.

I had it on my GC and it was the worst feature, just as it would get warm the AC would kick in and freeze us all out then the heater would bake us as it tried to balance the climate to the settings (never successfully worked). I forget what I did to disable the auto-climate, it had a manual setting but the auto-climate would override it. I found the fuse and pulled it to get full manual control over the system.
 
jeeeep said:
if you have the auto-climate control then you'll have no control when you switch from cold to warm/hot.

I had it on my GC and it was the worst feature, just as it would get warm the AC would kick in and freeze us all out then the heater would bake us as it tried to balance the climate to the settings (never successfully worked). I forget what I did to disable the auto-climate, it had a manual setting but the auto-climate would override it. I found the fuse and pulled it to get full manual control over the system.
Click to expand...

Nope...just normal. I didn't opt for such fancy options ;)
 
more info

I'm having heat issues on my 2009 JK. I tried following the steps on this thread after pulling out my glove box but the blend door actuator is not there. Does anyone have any more information on where the actuator is actually located on a 2009 JK?
 
did you figure this out rob?

Im having that same problem.
Radiator fluid and heater core was flushed and is good, hoses are hot and act. door works fine. All vents are blowing cold while on heat still. Any suggestions?

robplumm said:
Interesting. Having the same issue with cold from all vents. Checked everything else (rad fluid is good, lines going into/out of heater core are hot both in the engine bay and in the dash). Just not responding when being changed from cold to hot on the middle switch.

The actuator you changed seems to control where the air comes out, though...not the temp change? (Mine's a 2012 JKU...). I took that actuator off and played with the white plastic parts...all it was doing was switching vents (floor, dash, defrost).

Or am I missing something here? :D
Click to expand...
 
im having the same problem and its not the actuator

Im having thw same problem Rob had.
Water Hoses going in and out are hot, heater core was flushed and fluids were clean. The radiator fluid is clean. The actuator door works fine, but all vents still blow cold air when in heat. Does anyone know whats wrong? I cannot figure it out!
Thank you
 
Chanceman52 said:
Im having that same problem.
Radiator fluid and heater core was flushed and is good, hoses are hot and act. door works fine. All vents are blowing cold while on heat still. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Chanceman52 said:
Im having thw same problem Rob had.
Water Hoses going in and out are hot, heater core was flushed and fluids were clean. The radiator fluid is clean. The actuator door works fine, but all vents still blow cold air when in heat. Does anyone know whats wrong? I cannot figure it out!
Thank you
Click to expand...

Welcome to WAL.
 
Hmmm. I just noticed my 13 rubi doing a similar thing. As I turn the temp up nothing happens until the very last click on the heat dial. Cool, cool, cool, then whamo blazen heat!
 
Blend door actuator fix?

Have you had to go back and do anything else? I am having a similar with my 12 JK. I have blazing heat on Pass side but only warm on drivers side. I have removed glove box, I watched the actuator move. So i am wondering if it is not the core. I am 45000 mi, so of course no warranty.
 
I have a 2010 with 114,000 and started last week. Passenger side is fine, but drivers side blows cold. I have ordered the actuator to replace it.

Try selecting the recirc button, I then got heat on the drivers side. That is getting me by until I get it fixed.
 
Journeyman said:
Hmmm. I just noticed my 13 rubi doing a similar thing. As I turn the temp up nothing happens until the very last click on the heat dial. Cool, cool, cool, then whamo blazen heat!
Click to expand...

My '13 Rubicon just started doing this. Did you ever figure out the issue?
 
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