I got in my truck this morning and the warm/hot air wouldn't work. Nothing but cold. I take it in to get looked at, and (hopefully I understood this properly) the motor that controls the little door that allows the warm air to enter the cab is bad, so the door is stuck in the closed position. To get to this, apparently the whole dash has to be removed, and they quoted me 8.5 hours labor + parts, etc. The labor rate is $65 an hour, so thats $553 in labor alone, assuming it only takes 8.5 hours.

Does this sound right?

 

I didn't know there was a "door." I thought the hot water valve controlled all the hot air.

 

sounds about right i had a heater core go on my 96 explorer and the whole dash had to come out..it was almost 900 by time they where done

 

the dash has to be "dropped" but not totally removed

and its the blend door acculator thats bad

 

Geeze. My truck makes a noise like if the blend door or fresh air door is bouncing around. I'm not looking forward to $500ish to fix it.

 

How did they determine its bad without dropping the dash already?

Can you drop your dash before you take it to them to save some labor hours?

 

There are ways to test things before doing it. No need for a Tech to rip out the dash then put it back in to only do it all over if the customer decides to do it..

Also, you prolly can drop it.. But if you are going to go that far. might as well just by the part and install it yourself.

 

if you drop the glovebox, you should be able to see the blend door, but to get to the screws that hold it down, its accessible from the top, meaning drop the dash

 

sounds about right and 65 an hour is cheep atleast around here most places are around 80 to 110 ... droppin the dash isnt to hard ive done it plenty of times but that is up to you

 

I can't drop my truck off for an entire day to have them fix it for another 9 days... I'm just going to bundle up in the mornings I guess.

 

your in South Carolina, cant get too cold. lol

btw i would just drop the dash myself as well.

 

wow if mine ever goes im gonna do it myself for that much

 

where theres a will theres a way.. drop the dash

 

Don't know anything about the fix, but $65 is a bargain, i had some warranty work done in Sept just before it was up and the large sign in the service dept said $98 per hr

 

you wanna bet? lol

It may not get as cold here as it does up north, but its cold enough to make you glad you have heat, or in his case, wish.

 

it was about 26 degrees out at 5am this morn when i went to work....

 

It was 28 degrees this morning and i'm just 3 hours away from the SC border.

 

but its a lot different cold than it is up here. Ive been down there, i know what its like.

I rarely run the heat in my truck, it was in the 20s this morning.

 

Yea its a bad blend door actuator. To get it you must move the dash out of the way, 65 an hour is great, our shop charges 85. Its easy to diagnose actually. They need to get to your evaporator case which is the big black box under your dash that has your evaporator & heater core in it. Some cars allow you to change the actuator without dropping the box, but not in this truck.

 

what is your altitude compared to Columbia?

 

http://www.blenddoorfix.netfirms.com/

 

Actually, the evaporator is under the hood on rangers...

The evap box has to be removed and the heater box bolts have to be removed from the engine compartment(it mounts to the firewall). This is a pretty big job, but I wouldnt charge that much . While you are in there, you might as well change the heater core too... The part is cheaper than all of that labor again!

 

We were also told the dash needed to be pulled, but it does not. I do have small hands though....
When John and I did the EATC on my Ranger, I managed to remove the actuator from the JY Ex, and then install it in my Ranger without removing anything but the glovebaox. It's tedious, but with small hands and an extension on the ratchet it can be done.

 

I'll drop the glovebox this afternoon and see if the actuator is bad once I remove it, or if the little selector pin is just damaged. Thanks for the help, guys. I'll keep you updated on me getting it fixed at the shop or not. Because if I can avoid spending $1000, it's sure worth giving it a look-see.

 

In a majority of cases, it's the blend door itself that cracks (at least on Rangers and Explorers). So keep your eyes out for that kind of thing, too.

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