Blend Door alternative repair?

That's not what breaks on our MK's They break where the shaft comes out of the blend door motor. The hole on the arm has to be lengthened so it doesn't happen again. Also slip a bushing over the shaft (compression sleeve plumbing stuff.) Ole Bruce did my 98 and he's done a few. I have one for him to do on the 97 Silver.
 
OchoMarko said:
I got extremely lost reading that, I guess if you've never done it, its quite confusing.
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the problem that link describes is typical with a lot of Fords; Marks typically have a different blend door problem; I recently saw a garage kept 97 w/ 47k on it for sale, the BDA was broken, my 96 w/ 186k on it has a working BDA
 
Gen 1 and gen 2 use different setups. The gen 1 is not as common to fail as a gen 2.
 
DieselDan said:
Gen 1 and gen 2 use different setups. The gen 1 is not as common to fail as a gen 2.
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when I was inspecting that used 97, MyGreat8 told me where to find the linkage to make heat...it's not there on my 96 :(
 
The procedure for your 96 is not the same as the link you shared though.
 
DieselDan said:
The procedure for your 96 is not the same as the link you shared though.
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unbolting and pulling the dash is different? i know the motor is different and in a different place, but the source of failure is the same though,si?
 
"you can get this box from the auto parts store, it'll run you about $53, but it works..." until it breaks again...

Well... I have done this on my old 97 about 7-8 years ago. I was much less experienced then than I am now. I followed a writeup that someone made and thought that it was very straightforward, relatively easy. The guy said $77 for a new BDA or $53 and the aggravation of trying to get your hands down into that hole in the dash to glue something together that will fail again. Jeremi on LinconsofDistincions made a thread showing how the design of the BDA makes it fail, basically that the motor will try to rotate farther than its stops allow, causing the arm to twist and eventually break. So the already weakened, now glued arm will likely break again, quicker in my opinion.

As for actually doing the replacement and not a glue job, I would follow the how to posted on LOD and just take your time. You can also find the article on reinforcing and modifying the BDA so that it will not try to move beyond its stops. For the $20 difference in "parts", I would just replace the BDA once, instead of gluing, and then replacing it anyway.
 
for my gen 1, my understanding of 'reinforcing' will be:
1) elongate hole in metal linkage that goes over motor shaft
2)put a metal ferrule around actuator shaft
3) make plastic stop smaller to reduce tension on the plastic gears when the arm moves, as DD described; hopefully dash removal is the same as in the gen 2 write up
 
dnsherrill said:
for my gen 1, my understanding of 'reinforcing' will be:
1) elongate hole in metal linkage that goes over motor shaft
2)put a metal ferrule around actuator shaft
3) make plastic stop smaller to reduce tension on the plastic gears when the arm moves, as DD described; hopefully dash removal is the same as in the gen 2 write up
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From what I have been reading that type of reinforcing it typically meant for the Gen 2 Mark Viii"s.... 97-98... 96 is still considered a Gen 1 but with a mix from the usually left over bin of miscellaneous parts ... cost cutting at it's finest from these auto makers.....
 
Yes, the gen 1 setup doesn't require any of that stuff you are talking about. The gen 1 BDA is pretty reliable, gen 2 requires work to make it less likely to fail again.

I could be wrong, but I thought a gen 1 BDA was only moving 1 door. A gen 2 is moving 2 doors at once.
 
BDA gen 1.jpg
gen 1

BDA diagram 3D.jpg


BDA gen 1.jpg
 
You sure your blend door is bad? They almost never go out on a Gen 1, while Gen 2 blend doors go out all the time.
 
Duck, I haven't opened it up yet, I just know I don't have heat and there's a clicking/thumping under the dash; I also ran the diagnostic sequence through the eatc which confirmed it. My understanding at this point is that it's either stripped gears in the actuator (which can be replaced with gears taken from a new gen 2 motor ?) or the bore in the air box is rounded out? in which case the shaft has to be built up to make a tight fit...?
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for gen 1's this thread tells about all that's needed:
http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/fo...oval&highlight=95+blend+door+actuator+removal
 
wow! for anyone reading this DONT CUT YOUR AIR BOXES! what a hack! fix it the right way and pull the dash, its not too bad
 
I replaced the actuator motor on my 96 nearly 10 years ago. Procedure is similar to the Gen II write up and mine was a broken internal gear. It is not hard, just time consuming.
Do yourself a favor and remove the message center display, it makes getting the bolts out much easier.
 
That link in the OP is for fixing the actual blend door inside the plenum, not the actuator, which is what's broke on yours. When Mark VIII owners say they've got a "broken blend door", they actually mean the actuator, or they just don't know any better. Anyway, there's no need to cut anything open. It will do you no good at all. Plus that car (whatever it is) is a totally different setup than the Mark. Just do it right. It's really not hard.

I don't know anything about a bore being rounded out. Where did you hear that? I'm just curious. Don't pay any attention to web sites about any car other than the Mark VIII when it comes to the blend door... Anyway, the clicking/thumping definitely sounds like a broken gear, and yes you should be able to swap in a gear from a gen 2 actuator. I've never done a first gen, but the procedure for pulling the dash out should be almost the same.
 
All I know us that my 98 is broken now for 4 years, don't want to pay my mechanic to do it, right after I spent a fortune to fix the air ride, and my memory is bad due to medication, and I wish I had somebody close to me that's done it, and knows exactly what to do, close to me in Central California! I got plenty of food & drink, and will do the work, so I know what to do! I'd really like to get it fixed. I still have to pay my mechanic a small fortune to fix my timing cover oil leak, because I don't have the tools to do it. I'm getting things fixed, 1 think at a time!
 
wkokaneeman said:
All I know us that my 98 is broken now for 4 years, don't want to pay my mechanic to do it, right after I spent a fortune to fix the air ride, and my memory is bad due to medication, and I wish I had somebody close to me that's done it, and knows exactly what to do, close to me in Central California! I got plenty of food & drink, and will do the work, so I know what to do! I'd really like to get it fixed. I still have to pay my mechanic a small fortune to fix my timing cover oil leak, because I don't have the tools to do it. I'm getting things fixed, 1 think at a time!
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I'm located in San Jose and have done a total of 3 blend door replacements (1 for myself, and 2 for a member from markviii.org). PM me and maybe we can work something out.
 
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