Hey Guys,
I’ve been stumped for about a week on this and I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I recently got in my car and went to adjust the temperature on the drivers side when I noticed that the temperature control knob on the drivers side was unresponsive. When I turned the knob (left or right) nothing would happen. Usually the temperature settings will immediately show you up on the display above the navigation screen as soon as you move the knob in either direction and it will show the current temperature settings you have and the adjustments you make. The passenger side works just fine, but the drivers side is stuck on 75 degrees. The auto button works on the drivers side, but I cannot adjust the temperature up or down. I am thinking that it could be the Left Hand Blend Door Actuator, but something is telling me that the knob itself has failed and is not sending a signal to the Blend Door Actuator. Ford wants $200 just to run a diagnostics test and I cannot justify that if its something as simple as swapping out the Blend Door Actuator. Any help would be much appreciated.
Without a diagnostic, that repair would be just a guess. I think the control behind the knob is broken and it needs a new temperature control module but I am guessing just like you. A diagnostic may very well tell you exactly the problem so it gets fixed correctly and the first time. You can spend a bunch of time and money - way more than $200 - trying to fix this without the proper diagnosis.
$200 sound a little steep, even from a dealer. Call another Ford dealer and ask them what their diagnostic fee is. My advice is to pay it, get it fixed right the first time.
I guess I do not see the connection between the blend door function and a setting not responding to input from the control. The control setting just tells the computer what temp you want and it should display regardless of what the output controls do. What happens if you lock the passenger setting to the driver’s side control? Do they both sit at 75? Personally, I might try interrupting power to the climate control module by removing its fuse for a short period to see if it resets before I started replacing anything. Barring that, I’d suspect the input control is not being seen by the climate control computer…