2002 Chevrolet Impala 3.4 Cabin Air Filter Installation

Just a quick post for this month (I may post another one dealing with this same vehicle). This 2002 Chevy Impala 3.4 came into the shop for repairs. One of the things we checked for the customer was the fluids and filters. This is a pretty standard procedure (along with checking other basics as well).

We noticed that this vehicle was supposed to have a Cabin Air Cleaner in the HVAC system. The one for this vehicle was missing. Below is information showing how to know if the car should have one and where it is located.

First, the glove box must be opened.

If the vehicle comes from the factory equipped with a Cabin Air Cleaner, there should be a sticker (see below) in the glove box giving this information. In the case of this vehicle, the sticker was present. We proceeded to check to see if the filter was actually there; and, if so, if it needed to be replaced.

To gain access to the filter, simply push in on both sides of the glove box, until the tabs release (see below). There will be one on either side. Once these are pushed in the glove box will be able to drop down out of the way toward the floorboard.

Below is a picture of the glove box dropped down out of the way. This allows access to where the Cabin Air Cleaner "lives".

Next, the cover must be removed. It is simply a plastic cover with tabs holding it in place. The tabs, as seen in the picture below, are on the bottom of the cover.

Once the cover is remove, the area where the filter "lives" can be seen. As evidenced from the picture below, it is obvious there was no cabin air installed.

Below is a picture of the cabin air filter that was purchased to install.

Below is a picture of the filter installed.

From here, it is just an issue of reversing the steps and putting everything back together.

2003 Ford Explorer XLT 4.0, Clicking Noise in the Dash When Operating the HVAC System

This 2003 Ford Explorer XLT 4.0 came into the shop with a customer concern of a clicking noise in the center o,f the dash when he attempted to change the temperature from cold to hot. This vehicle has a manual HVAC control system. If he just barely moved the temperature knob, the noise would start. If he had the vehicle running and had the temp knob all the way to heat, the noise became louder.

This post is not so much a "how to", but rather a "why" post. It is not necessary to remove the entire dash to do this job; though, the service manuals call for that. I have found the job can be done by removing he center console and the cover beneath the steering column.

The issue is a common one on the Explorers around this year model. The culprit is a faulty temperature blend door actuator. Below is a picture of the actuator.

Internally, this actuator is made up of two small plastic gears. The piece that fails the majority of the time, causing this customer concern, is the smaller, black gear. If you take the actuator apart to see inside, you will see that this black gear has anywhere from two to three teeth sheered off of it. Below you will see the inside of the actuator and the black, plastic gear with the missing teeth.

Below is the small gear by itself. It may be hard to see, but in the pictures below, the two sheered teeth are at approximately the one o'clock position.

These missing teeth cause the gears to slip, not allowing the actuator to move the blend door to its proper location. When the gears hit this bare spot (the spot of the sheered off teeth) it cannot catch and so slips, causing the clicking noise in the dash.

We removed the faulty actuator and replaced it with a new OE actuator. We then tested the system, moving the temp knob from cold to warm and back several times. The noise was now gone and the blend door was operating properly.