Removed driver side blend door actuator without replacing it

[pickle22]

Today I finally decided to take on the task of replacing my driver side blend door actuator. My car is a young 38k mile 2019 that has already got the passenger side blend door treatment about 3k miles ago. The passenger side one was medium level annoying but I got it done in a timely manner. The driver side one proved to be a huge pain in the rear for me. Through much sweat I finally got the driver side blend door out but could not for the life of me get the gear turned in the right manner to accept the new blend door. Eventually I gave up because it was hot af outside and I was tired of having my arm wedged up into the dash trying to manipulate the gears to get the right orientation. I turned the gear all the way to the position that seemed to block off air to the footwell and defrost vent. I drove the car this evening like that and I had cold air but no control over venting air to feet (idc about this) and defrost (idc about this until next winter). Just wondering if anyone has additional input on if I really need to get that new blend door in, because as long as I can get cold air in the summer in Texas that's good enough for me. If I never have to touch that blend door again then all the better. TLDR: I removed the driver side blend door actuator and didn't put the new one in. Have cold air still, can't vent air to feet/defrost but don't really care.

 

[Sam4]

Not trying to poke the bear, but what would happen if you plug it in, not installed? Would the gears sync? asking for a friend...

 

[pickle22]

Not trying to poke the bear, but what would happen if you plug it in, not installed? Would the gears sync? asking for a friend...

Honestly I have no idea, seems like most tutorial videos I saw people just manually turned the gear that controls the slot that the blend door gear goes into but I tried that for quite a while and couldn't get it lined up correctly with the holes for the screws. And I'm no idiot when it comes to working on cars.

 

[SteveS]

I did the drivers side one just a few months ago and I do not recall having to do any adjustment of the position. It just went in place. It was unlike the one on the passenger side where you had to make the recirc/fresh flap go to the right position.

 

[Sprinkle_Star]

I had to turn the gear manually quite a bit... I recall that process being the most time-consuming of the whole repair.