A/C Actuators - 2001 Silverado

Hello,

I have a 2001 Silverado 5.3 liter extended cab. Recently have been having issues with the A/C system making lots of noise. I have identified the noise to two spots and I believe 2 actuators..

1) behind the glove box to the fresh air / recirc door there is a constant clicking / grinding noise. Toggling the recirc button causes the noise to oscillate and the recirc door can be moved by hand, so seems the actuator is basically gone...

2) When the mode is to face only there is a gurgling / clicking noise. When I move the mode selector a little bit off of face only, the noise seems to stop.

I have been looking and looking for a solid write up for the recirc door, can't even seem to find anything that is solid on the part number for that. Seems like I could probably get my hand up behind the glove box to take off that actuator and get the part number, read a couple of write ups that seem to suggest that it is incredibly tight and hard to get to, but it can be done.

Wondering if I just remove the top of the dash while going after the mode door actuator to make life easier? And do I need to get in there with the blend door actuator while I am doing the other two? No dual climate control, so does that leave me with only three actuators? I have the "automatic" a/c controls which are knobs on the dash, I believe these are automatic, not the slides that I believe are referred to as manual?

Thanks for any insight you can provide!!

Top of dash does not come off- whole dash swivels rearward after removal of steering column and top screws- if you can't reach in -then dash tilt back is needed. Definitely stripped actuators- rockauto has them cheaper than most others- no part numbers needed, just refer to what they do.

Hello,

I have a 2001 Silverado 5.3 liter extended cab. Recently have been having issues with the A/C system making lots of noise. I have identified the noise to two spots and I believe 2 actuators..

1) behind the glove box to the fresh air / recirc door there is a constant clicking / grinding noise. Toggling the recirc button causes the noise to oscillate and the recirc door can be moved by hand, so seems the actuator is basically gone...

2) When the mode is to face only there is a gurgling / clicking noise. When I move the mode selector a little bit off of face only, the noise seems to stop.

I have been looking and looking for a solid write up for the recirc door, can't even seem to find anything that is solid on the part number for that. Seems like I could probably get my hand up behind the glove box to take off that actuator and get the part number, read a couple of write ups that seem to suggest that it is incredibly tight and hard to get to, but it can be done.

Wondering if I just remove the top of the dash while going after the mode door actuator to make life easier? And do I need to get in there with the blend door actuator while I am doing the other two? No dual climate control, so does that leave me with only three actuators? I have the "automatic" a/c controls which are knobs on the dash, I believe these are automatic, not the slides that I believe are referred to as manual?

Thanks for any insight you can provide!!

on these not much is posted. my question is do you have air filters in your air box ?

Thanks for the replies! Too bad to hear that not much is posted. I guess it has been a long time since I accessed the top of the dash, I remember that I gained access to it once...

I do have air filters for the cabin air system.

Looking at RockAuto they only have actuators for "Heater Blend Door Actuator", they don't have a section for each actuator. When I read the descriptions, it appears they have one for:

Lower; Temperature
Mode
Bottom
Mode Door Actuator
Right; Temperature; Main Unit
Left; Temperature; Main Unit
Top

Quite a few options, do you need one for the right and left for temp? Would "Top" be the blend door?

Thanks for the replies! Too bad to hear that not much is posted. I guess it has been a long time since I accessed the top of the dash, I remember that I gained access to it once...

I do have air filters for the cabin air system.

Looking at RockAuto they only have actuators for "Heater Blend Door Actuator", they don't have a section for each actuator. When I read the descriptions, it appears they have one for:

Lower; Temperature
Mode
Bottom
Mode Door Actuator
Right; Temperature; Main Unit
Left; Temperature; Main Unit
Top

Quite a few options, do you need one for the right and left for temp? Would "Top" be the blend door?

on your vehicle the temp door stepper motor is most always the problem with these.. your problem is most likely the mode door. could be something crawled in there causing these problems. with air filters in place not much dirt can make problems in the air box.

J cat - thanks for the response.

I believe that I have a bad (failing) mode door and a bad (failed) recirc door. I unplugged the recirc motor today and the noise is 100% gone, going to try and find a way to get it out of there and replace that part. That will be a good start until I can figure out what I want to do with the mode actuator, which seems like it will be harder to get to.

see what

heatertreater.net

has to say about it.

J cat - thanks for the response.

I believe that I have a bad (failing) mode door and a bad (failed) recirc door. I unplugged the recirc motor today and the noise is 100% gone, going to try and find a way to get it out of there and replace that part. That will be a good start until I can figure out what I want to do with the mode actuator, which seems like it will be harder to get to.

post back how you got to this part to replace it.

Alright, this sucks :-)

VERY hard part to get to. Just remove the stuff from your glove box and open it all the way so you can get in there, lay down on the floor on the passenger side and reach up there with a mirror and a flashlight and take a look at it, there are two 7/32 bolts that hold it in. I tried a BUNCH of different ways to get to it, at the end of the day the only one that worked was putting a 5/16 deep socket on a screwdriver and basically just feeling around to get it on there, the top one isn't that hard, the bottom one is damn near impossible in my opinion (but obviously not completely impossible...)

This is the same as the blend door actuator, part # is 52472795. I opened up the actuator and found one of the main sprockets had cracked in half.

On a side note, it is dirty under the dash, more so than I would think it should be... someone mentioned that excess dirt can be caused from the air filters not being installed, but mine are... any other reasons it could be extra dirty under the dash?

Thanks for taking the time to post your experience with this repair. so your fingers need an eye to locate these fasteners, I have done many jobs like that before it is not fun. after doing jobs like this you will get very good at it. the filters do filter out air entering the air box after the filters but not upstream where the blower is. also some think that there is only one filter but there are 2 filters next to each other. on the new trucks NO filters..... not good in a dirty /dusty/pollen area. trucks should all have air filters since many are used in a off road unpaved environment .. GM saves some money at our expense.. the plastic does crack after 10 yrs or so .. when these 2007 GM vehicles hit 10 yrs they will start the breaking down to the point where they will require scraping.. no parts in the scrap yard with the 2007 and newer trucks ... that is what GM wants,, no old vehicles being driven increases their profit ..make them break after the warranty ends so bad they will require a new vehicle .. keep these as long as you can much cheaper than new , and more long lasting.

Updated the prior post, 7/32 bolt size, not 5/16. Much smaller :-)

Trying to get this actuator back into position, it is NOT easy. Such a tight space in there and getting it to line up correctly with the recirc door while getting the actuator in position is a challenge. Hopefully it will go in this weekend...

You can bet the screw head is 5.5 mm if it is brass colored (gold)

It is, I bet you are right and that the 7/32 just happens to fit nicely...

Final write up on getting this done:

Remove the stuff from your glove box and open it all the way so you can get in there, lay down on the floor on the passenger side and reach up there with a mirror and a flashlight and take a look at it, there are two 5.5mm bolts that hold it in. I tried a BUNCH of different ways to get to it, at the end of the day the only one that worked was putting a 5.5mm deep socket on a screwdriver and basically just feeling around to get it on there, the top one isn't that hard, the bottom one is damn near impossible in my opinion (but obviously not completely impossible...). If you pull out the vents from the passenger side, you can shove a light in there and can get a better view of everything. Also, there is a 5.5mm bolt holding on a wiring harness that is right in the way, pull that for sure.

Once you have the old one off, I found the best way to get the new one on was to plug it in and let it go half way between recirc and open, that is about where the door rests without the actuator on. Get it onto the rod that turns the door first and then get the screws in there.

Overall, not an hard job (there isn't anything technical about it), just tricky to get the parts in there!

Good luck!