End all be all actuator replacement thread (clicking sound, part numbers, video install)

[jarrettmcb]

Just came across a specific item on thingiverse.com. The item noticed was a 3d gear for the mk7 fiesta blend door actuator, the main gear cog. Would this be of good use to the community or are some cars having issues with the smaller gear decaying?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4512624

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Have you printed this and tested it out yet? If it works it would be much cheaper to replace the single gear instead of the entire assembly...

 

[LilPartyBox]

I downloaded his design and uploaded it to my Shapeways account. It cost me 27.35 2/19

Just came across a specific item on thingiverse.com. The item noticed was a 3d gear for the mk7 fiesta blend door actuator, the main gear cog. Would this be of good use to the community or are some cars having issues with the smaller gear decaying?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4512624

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

GREAT FIND!

I downloaded his design and uploaded it to my Shapeways account. It cost me 27.35 (2 day ship) to have them print it out in MJF PA12 Glass Beads. It seemed like a good compromise between strength and cost. It should arrive 2/19. About the price of the entire Motorcraft replacement, i know. But I'm hoping this will be the first and last time i replace it . If not, I'll just try different materials until I find one that lasts. But what I'm not doing is buying Ford replacements forever!

I also went ahead and opened a Shapeways 'shop' so that you guys can get in on it too. I didn't feel right making money off of something I didn't create but I also wanted to make it available to everyone. To that end, I didn't add any markup so it's being sold at the Shapeway cost. I only made the PA12 material and Aluminum (PRICEY) available. If anyone would like to try a different material just post here or DM me and I'll add the option.

Buy it here:
Ford Fiesta Blend Door Actuator Gear (UP975JM8W) by logicworkz (shapeways.com)

 

[jeff]

I downloaded his design and uploaded it to my Shapeways account. It cost me 27.35 2/19


GREAT FIND!

I downloaded his design and uploaded it to my Shapeways account. It cost me 27.35 (2 day ship) to have them print it out in MJF PA12 Glass Beads. It seemed like a good compromise between strength and cost. It should arrive 2/19. About the price of the entire Motorcraft replacement, i know. But I'm hoping this will be the first and last time i replace it . If not, I'll just try different materials until I find one that lasts. But what I'm not doing is buying Ford replacements forever!

I also went ahead and opened a Shapeways 'shop' so that you guys can get in on it too. I didn't feel right making money off of something I didn't create but I also wanted to make it available to everyone. To that end, I didn't add any markup so it's being sold at the Shapeway cost. I only made the PA12 material and Aluminum (PRICEY) available. If anyone would like to try a different material just post here or DM me and I'll add the option.

Buy it here:
Ford Fiesta Blend Door Actuator Gear (UP975JM8W) by logicworkz (shapeways.com)

THANK YOU for this. I just placed an order for the plastic one. Next time mine breaks I'll swap it in and see how long it lasts. Saw the aluminum, geez $67 but what an option, that will never break for sure.

Did we ever verify that this particular gear in question is the one that breaks most/all of the time? I can't remember, I've replaced several....

Maybe by trial and error by the year 2030 we'll have invincible actuators for our cars.

 

[gtx3076]

THANK YOU for this. I just placed an order for the plastic one. Next time mine breaks I'll swap it in and see how long it lasts. Saw the aluminum, geez $67 but what an option, that will never break for sure.

Did we ever verify that this particular gear in question is the one that breaks most/all of the time? I can't remember, I've replaced several....

Maybe by trial and error by the year 2030 we'll have invincible actuators for our cars.

Are you kidding? Ford just created a lucrative market with these actuator sales.

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[draxxus131]

I'm printing my gears this weekend, brother purchased a enders printer. I'll report back in the near future.

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[haste]

Thanks to the information in this thread, I just did the passenger side one in about five minutes. It's easy to get to even without completely removing the glove box.

Just the driver side to go. It's cold out today so I don't know if I'll do that one or not.

 

[Intuit]

^Same issue as @haste - missing teeth on the gears. 🙂
I barely used my actuators and the driver side one still failed around 40k.
Wouldn't have bothered with the conservative approach if it were just going to fail anyway.

Instead of doing one, I did both the driver and passenger side with the Dorman branded products.

The passenger replacement creeks, but otherwise no other known issues. Unlike the previous actuators, these don't move slowly or "struggle" with moving the blend doors with frigid temps.

Driver took a long time to install due to alignment issue on the gear. Might be able to use USB 5v power to match up the gear on the part to the gear in the car. Since it's a worm gear, can't manually turn the gear without breaking the part. Moving the door in the car may not be an easy option; might not stay there, hard to reach and not easy to see, even sticking a cell phone up there.

 

[haste]

My driver side was also misaligned. I was able to put the gear from the new actuator partially in the hole and just rotated the actuator to its normal install position.

 

[jeff]

I barely used my actuators and the driver side one still failed around 40k.

Glad to hear you guys are having success. I hardly ever use my climate control and 3 of these actuators have failed in 5 years. I'm pretty positive that the actuators move every time you start the car, it's a Ford thing. So not using them doesn't prolong them.

 

[LilPartyBox]

They do move everytime you get in the car. I've been on a broken one for 2 years now and my car welcomes me with a 'knock,knock,knock.knock' every single time.

 

[jeff]

They do move everytime you get in the car. I've been on a broken one for 2 years now and my car welcomes me with a 'knock,knock,knock.knock' every single time.

Next time you're in GA bring your car by and I'll install it for you!!!

 

[robbie_d]

My car did this for the second time a few months ago. The first one went about two years in around 20k miles and the second one went about four years in around 35k miles.... So for me every two years or 20k miles, whichever comes first, is when I should replace it.

I let the first one click for about three months. Upon disassembly I saw the missing teeth. Researching led me to believe the issue was in the sensing of position, not the gear itself. The metal contacts no longer complete the circuit and the car doesn't know the position of the blend door. The car may think it needs to close the door when it is closed so it just keeps forcing it. The motor running and forcing the gears is the issue. I have evidence of this from the second time I fixed the issue. I looked and NO TEETH WERE MISSING but it still did the clicking. If it were left to go longer, I'm sure I would have been the broken teeth and blamed it on that. However, I really think the issue is the car doesn't know the position of the door and forces things. The large amount of slop in the geartrain seeming allows clicking for a while before destruction.

If this were the case, then a new gear won't fix it. The stronger gear will eventually eat it's weakest neighbor. The design is (and has been) terrible and the fix is a major redesign of the system. Upgraded and replacement parts simply slow or delay the issue.

I plan on keeping the car for a long time. I order thee total last time so I have two more laying around. I know I'll need them soon enough.

 

[Sprinkle_Star]

My car did this for the second time a few months ago. The first one went about two years in around 20k miles and the second one went about four years in around 35k miles.... So for me every two years or 20k miles, whichever comes first, is when I should replace it.

I let the first one click for about three months. Upon disassembly I saw the missing teeth. Researching led me to believe the issue was in the sensing of position, not the gear itself. The metal contacts no longer complete the circuit and the car doesn't know the position of the blend door. The car may think it needs to close the door when it is closed so it just keeps forcing it. The motor running and forcing the gears is the issue. I have evidence of this from the second time I fixed the issue. I looked and NO TEETH WERE MISSING but it still did the clicking. If it were left to go longer, I'm sure I would have been the broken teeth and blamed it on that. However, I really think the issue is the car doesn't know the position of the door and forces things. The large amount of slop in the geartrain seeming allows clicking for a while before destruction.

If this were the case, then a new gear won't fix it. The stronger gear will eventually eat it's weakest neighbor. The design is (and has been) terrible and the fix is a major redesign of the system. Upgraded and replacement parts simply slow or delay the issue.

I plan on keeping the car for a long time. I order thee total last time so I have two more laying around. I know I'll need them soon enough.

I wonder if there's a specific process when replacing or disconnecting the battery. Otherwise, I'm not sure what else would cause the hvac system to lose its calibration.

 

[LilPartyBox]

My car did this for the second time a few months ago. The first one went about two years in around 20k miles and the second one went about four years in around 35k miles.... So for me every two years or 20k miles, whichever comes first, is when I should replace it.

I let the first one click for about three months. Upon disassembly I saw the missing teeth. Researching led me to believe the issue was in the sensing of position, not the gear itself. The metal contacts no longer complete the circuit and the car doesn't know the position of the blend door. The car may think it needs to close the door when it is closed so it just keeps forcing it. The motor running and forcing the gears is the issue. I have evidence of this from the second time I fixed the issue. I looked and NO TEETH WERE MISSING but it still did the clicking. If it were left to go longer, I'm sure I would have been the broken teeth and blamed it on that. However, I really think the issue is the car doesn't know the position of the door and forces things. The large amount of slop in the geartrain seeming allows clicking for a while before destruction.

If this were the case, then a new gear won't fix it. The stronger gear will eventually eat it's weakest neighbor. The design is (and has been) terrible and the fix is a major redesign of the system. Upgraded and replacement parts simply slow or delay the issue.

I plan on keeping the car for a long time. I order thee total last time so I have two more laying around. I know I'll need them soon enough.

Ur theory is sound.

I plan on keeping mine too. Hence the Shapeways gear i just ordered. If it turns out to actually be stronger than the OEM gear, I may prove ur theory true.

I'm very tempted to invest in a 3D scanner and printer but i just don't have the life bandwidth right now to add yet another DIY hobby. But eventually I would love to scan and print all of it's gears in aluminum or CF. I bet the stronger gears would cause the motor itself to burn up instead!

Next time you're in GA bring your car by and I'll install it for you!!!

lol as long as it kept blowing air i just ignored it. Thx for the offer!

 

[haste]

I found if I don't leave the system on automatic the driver side actuator doesn't move unnecessarily. I usually leave it on feet/defrost in the winter and the main vents in the summer. The passenger side is a different story. I haven't figured that one out yet.

 

[Capri to ST]

I found if I don't leave the system on automatic the driver side actuator doesn't move unnecessarily. I usually leave it on feet/defrost in the winter and the main vents in the summer. The passenger side is a different story. I haven't figured that one out yet.

That's good to know, thanks for posting that. I leave my system on the same settings, because I just like controlling things manually. I do sometimes use the recirculation button.

 

[Crystals]

Driver side actuator just failed. 44k miles and it’s the first time, though the passenger side one failed about 10k miles ago.

Air still goes hot and cold but just blows through defroster vents now. Heard a NASTY plastic grind sound from the dash this morning.

Is the Dorman version better than OEM?

 

[Sprinkle_Star]

Gosh, my car is out of the three year warranty - I hope the passenger side breaks instead of the driver side one lmao

passenger side is soooooo much easier to replace

 

[Intuit]

................. Is the Dorman version better than OEM?

Just based on the fact that I don't hear it struggling to move the blend doors in frigid temps, they may be. Only time will tell though. Dorman as a manufacturer in general I think has a better trackrecord. We already know that the OEM simply doesn't hold up and there's been nothing to indicate that the part has since been redesigned or replaced with a compatible one. I see no point in buying OEM again.

 

[Crystals]

Just based on the fact that I don't hear it struggling to move the blend doors in frigid temps, they may be. Only time will tell though. Dorman as a manufacturer in general I think has a better trackrecord. We already know that the OEM simply doesn't hold up and there's been nothing to indicate that the part has since been redesigned or replaced with a compatible one. I see no point in buying OEM again.

I'll give it a shot. Nothing to lose, really.