99 windstar heater door problems

Please help anyone. I noticed 12Ounce had a solution for broken heater doors on the Windstar. Short of any other solution the dealer will charge $1500- $1800 for all new parts and tearing out the dashboard.

Thanks

Willfix

Will 12Ounce's solution work for you? I heard it was a difficult repair. How do you know for sure that it's the door and not the actuator that opens and closes the door?

I would check the actuator first.

Will 12Ounce's solution work for you? I heard it was a difficult repair. How do you know for sure that it's the door and not the actuator that opens and closes the door?

I would check the actuator first.

Any ideas on how to fix the door? I've replaced the actuator, but still no heat. Am told by the dealer, "then it's the door". Don't want to pay $465 for the entire box just to get a plastic door that works. There's gotta be an easier, less expensive fix. Also, how best to get the box accessable? I've gotten the front (cabin side) bolts out, but it's still hung up on the firewall side. Do I need to take the entire dash out to get at it? Help!

Any ideas on how to fix the door? I've replaced the actuator, but still no heat. Am told by the dealer, "then it's the door". Don't want to pay $465 for the entire box just to get a plastic door that works. There's gotta be an easier, less expensive fix. Also, how best to get the box accessable? I've gotten the front (cabin side) bolts out, but it's still hung up on the firewall side. Do I need to take the entire dash out to get at it? Help!

Have you seen the string posted by "Phordguy" ... ???

Never pulled the door out, but a couple of weekends ago I replaced the heater core on my 2001. It's not really a big deal to get in there, but it does take time. I had the heater core out in about 2 hours and I could see the door was right there.

The way to get at it via the heater core area is pull off the lower cover around the centre console, remove the ashtray (4 bolts), remove the floor heater duct between the heater core box at the firewall and under the centre console, pull the steel frame out from under the centre console (4 bolts), have to disconnect a few wire harnesses to get them out of the way (probably should take the negative off the baterry beforehand to prevent any possible damage to anything) and then the heater core box is bolted around the mid section (about 6 bolts - there is one at the back near the firewall). Then the box will not want to come apart because the heater core is attached to the hoses under the hood so you have to go out under the hood and disconnect the hoses.

Remove the windsheild wipers, remove the cowel cover (has some snap in conenctors that you pry off the windsheild area), then remove the cowel (about 14 bolts one or two under the cabin air filter. Then you have access behind the centre of the motor to where the heater core supply and return hoses are. The hoses come off easy enough if after removing the metal clamp you twist them break them free before pulling them off. I then lifted them up to prevent spillage (lost maybe a 1/4 cup of antifreeze). Once you get both hoses off, then go back under the dash and remove the heater core and box together. Then you can see the door up inside the box remaining under the dash. I never looked much beyond this point, since mine was already working, but if you take out the radio, controls and actuator, get some one to move the door around by putting a squared ended 1/4" socket driver in the hole while you watch up under the dash to see how the door moves or doesn't. Then you can fix it based on what you find. Maybe you can get parts from a junkyard? Its a lot of work and I don't envy you having just been in there, but it sure beats the heck out of paying for it to be done and is quite satisfying since it costs almost nothing for the parts and is really simple...just time consuming. The whole process start to finish including clean up and some breaks took me 5.5 hours and $60 for the core. I cut open the end of the old core where the antifreeze enters and it was about 50% plugged with antifreeze goop. Solved my heat problem. One way to check to see if yours might be plugged (unless you know for sure the door is the problem) is to warm the engine up and then feel the hoses at the firewall to make sure they are hot because the antifreeze circulates all the time. If it is plugged, it won't be as hot at the other hoses. You could also feel up under the dash and see if the black heater box warms up at all near the firewall because the heater core itself sits in the lower half of the plastic box. If it gets warm and you have no heat then the actuator or the door are the problem.

Great info. Thanks for the help!