Does anyone know where to find the blend door motor and blend door on a 2003 Ford Windstar? I’ve already replaced the thermostat and heater core and all I get is unheated air. I was wondering if I could access the blending parts if I manually worked them it would free it up?
The blend door is located inside the heater box. The blend door motor can be accessed by removing the glovebox.
Tester
Thanks again!
Now, what are the chances that this is the problem, and can I work the door free, or should I just replace the whole thing?
I don’t think that you can work the door free and keep it that way. In fact, the plastic piece where the motor meets the door is probably broken. Confirm that this is the problem before you throw more parts at it.
O.K. here’s what I’ve done. I’ve taken the motor off and found a spring loaded door. It was closed off towards the driver side. I opened it towards the passenger side. As of now it’s open 3/4 towards the driver and 1/4 towards the passenger. I can’t find any cables or actuators that would open and close the hatch. Opened, it rests hard on an upraised piece of plastic. Is this right?
Wait! I looked even further and found that the door is hooked up to a vaccum driven actuator. I’m going to monkey with it and see what happens.
So I’ve got the door working fine. The actuator works perfectly. It seems that the door had “jumped the track”. I took the van for a ride around the block to warm it up to see how the heater works. Now I’ve still got the same problem of no hot air coming out. What next?
See this link
http://www.blenddoorfix.netfirms.com/
Your Windstar might be setup the same or totally different.
And ditto to what tardis mentioned. Dont throw any more parts at it.
I’ve got the door opening and closing. You can hear it function when I switch from AC to heat. I’m back to the original problem. All I have is air blowing when I have the heat on. I’ve changed the thermostat and the heater core. None of the fuses under the steering wheel and in the engine compartment are bad. I’m completely stumped. My Hanes manual has no more problem shooting suggestions.
I’m not sure that I follow all this. Your climate control has four or five vacuum controlled air doors that direct airflow. None of these control air temperature. The blend-air door is controlled by an electric motor. It doesn’t sound like you have found and correctly identified this door.
I’m beginning to wonder if there’s air trapped in the heater core. If there is you’ll get no heat.
To make sure there’s no air in the cooling system, get the engine up to operating temperature. With the engine idling, slightly loosen the the upper radiator hose clamp. Take a flat bladed screwdriver and slip it between the upper radiator hose and the hose neck on the radiator. Allow the engine to idle until all that comes out of the hose is coolant. Retighten the hose clamp.
Tester
Wouldn’t it be easier to simply feel if both hoses are hot? If they both are then it stands to reason that there’s flow.
Yes, you have water flow through the core, you just don’t have airflow. To get that, you need to find the blend-air door and see what’s wrong there. The blend-air door is not one with a vacuum modulator. It is electric motor controlled.
Roger.
Unfortunately my wife is taking the van for the afternoon. I’ll get right at it tomorrow. She just loves it when I tear the thing apart.
There is a good chance there is air in the system and it needs to be bleed.
Thanks 87 Ranger!
Although the Windstar actuator is different, the visual of what a blend door motor looks like was definately helpful. I disconnected it and ran it through the heater functions. Holding it in my hand I could feel it trying to work, but the acutator wouldn’t spin. I’ve got a new one arriving at 1:00 today for $40. I believe the problem is solved. I’ll report back after the new one is installed.
Since I’m alredy replacing the motor I decided to take it apart. One of the gears inside is copmletely stripped, causing the component malfunction.
Thank you everyone for your help and patience! The van now has smoking hot heat! It turned out to be the blend door motor. The original had stripped gears. I now feel I can completely build a heating system from scratch after all of the work I’ve done on this stupid thing. Once again thanks!
Glad I could help & that you found the problem. Congrats on the fix.