AC Recirculation not working - help

[jackjare9455]

Hey guys, on my way to get my son from school, I noticed my air wasn't blowing that hard. I figured out that even with the recirculation button on, the sound/pitch of my air didn't change. There was no noticeable difference between off and on.
If i turned truck off, and just used accessory power, and turned the fan speed all the way down, I could faintly hear the actuator trying to do something when I turned the recirc on and off, but it wasn't loud, and it didn't sound like it had a lot of oomph.
When I got home, i left the recirc button ON, and went outside of the truck and heard and felt fresh air coming in from the cowl area, so now I am pretty positive that the actuator isn't doing it's job.
I did some research, and found a lot of repair info on the hot/cold blend door, but not the air recirculation actuator replacement.
I also found a lot of info about broken doors, but I don't have any noise in my blower motor where a piece would have fallen. I wont know what's going on until I pull out the blower motor and investigate more, but I wanted to know what I was getting into if I needed to replace that actuator. Is this a dash out scenario? Anyone tackled this before?

 

[jackjare9455]

I took a minute to take a look before dinner… if I pull the access panel on the side of the dash, and the glove box down, I can just see it back in the back of the dash. I can visually see one bolt.

I think, if I pop out some wiring harness Christmas tree connectors, and remove a bracket… I MIGHT be able to get my hand back there through the glove box opening and blindly remove it… maybe…

Might have to call that friend with the small hands

 

[The Car Stereo Company]

it will probably take you 15-20 min to pull your center console to access it from there. much easier. do it enough times and you can be a pro like me. takes me less than 5 min to pull the center console. i have videos posted somewhere here.

 

[jackjare9455]

it will probably take you 15-20 min to pull your center console to access it from there. much easier. do it enough times and you can be a pro like me. takes me less than 5 min to pull the center console. i have videos posted somewhere here.

Are we thinking of the same actuator? This one is the fresh air/recirculation… it’s on the far right side of the passenger side of the dash… inches from the door and firewall.

 

[jackjare9455]

I have my fingers just touching it, right through here

 

[jackjare9455]

I finally took a moment to go out to the shop and get the blower motor off so I could get a look up in there... my blend door actuator is not the problem. My blend door itself is broken and wobbling all up inside there.

This guy explains the issue and the fix, it looks out of my physical range to do, I cannot get in there like he can, but I may have to give this a shot

 

[jackjare9455]

Just to update myself, I took a tip from this playbook:

I found some gun case expanding foam, and wedged it up in a tight grill spot, that holds the blend door on re-circ. There's no way I am spending 1700+ bucks to get the opportunity to swap between fresh air and recirc. If I want fresh air, I will crack a window.
I may attempt the repair where you put the door up in there, but after wedging my fat ass into the floor board and the associated pain in my side and back and shoulders and elbow, I am not super excited about the opportunity. For now, I have permanent Re-Circ, which is fine in Texas.