I have had the same trouble with a 2000 modle and now my 2003,the blend door actuator assembly is pretty much identical on these two units,I remove the lower shroud,pull the cup holder assembly and while laying on the passenger side floor on my back simply use a 1/4 drive ratchet and an 8mm socket to remove the 3 screws. With the ignition "on" slide the control lever to one side then the other the motor will either move smoothly both directions or it will click in one,or possibly both directions.At this point I recomend verifying free movement of the blend door,as on my 2003 I actually had a contol cable partialy inside the plenum interfereing with the door movement. The problem is the first and second driven gears break teeth off,usualy on the first gear,sometimes both...why these are still made of plastic I don't know,as they seem to break within 60,000 miles of use. Hope this helps