B1081 - Left Temperature Damper Motor

[quangdog]

I happened to be in ForScan today adjusting a setting for my Ranger, and discovered a few stored codes in the FCIM: B1081:07-08 and B1081:13-08. This appears to be the dreaded blend door problem that these trucks frequently run into, and I understand that repairing/replacing that motor requires complete removal of the dash.

Ugh.

I'm a big do-it-yourselfer, but I'm *REALLY* not looking forward to doing this job myself. My truck is over 40,000 miles though, so out of the bumper-to-bumper warranty.... so I'm either leaving it alone, fixing it myself, or paying thousands in labor to my dealer.

I have not noticed any problems with temps not being what I want/need.... I've got a Lariat, and I just set the temp to what I want and the truck more or less does what it should to keep me comfortable.

TL; DR: Should I bother replacing this motor yet? Is there other stuff I should do while I have the dash out if I go ahead with replacement now?

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[SILK]

Man the number of the blend door posts each week is depressing. Seems like these 2019's have really started having issues with them.

Others have stated that they were able to get Ford to cover the majority of the cost of repair. I've stated in another thread but my unresearched belief is that Ford knows this is a fairly significant issue and are willing to cover the cost for people who spend time seeking help but the cost of repair is keeping them from issuing a recall.

If we were able to compile the issues posted in various posts here, does anyone know a conduit for getting them to Ford?

 

[airline tech]

I would put it in manual mode and drive it HI and LO, and listen for any popping or binding, plus IDK if Forscan will display these PIDS or not, but this is what you will look for.

Here is my post from another thread about it:

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/another-climate-control-question-problem.26820/post-619450

 

[quangdog]

Cracked open ForScan and looked for those PIDS. Unfortunately, the FCIM does not expose any PIDs at all to ForScan, so I'm not able to graph them. However, I was able to clear the codes and then run through testing the system - I always get what is commanded by either the physical buttons or the touchscreen... cold, hot, upper vent, foot well, defroster, dual zones set to extreme hot/cold with various combinations of vents etc... it *all* worked perfectly, and the codes did not come back.

Leads me to believe that the duct work itself(i.e., the plastics where these blend doors are mounted) likely warps in either extreme cold or extreme hot, which makes the tiny little blend door motors unable to swing the doors, and throws the code.

I assume if this happens enough times the motors simply give up / burn out / strip gears / mechanically fail permanently.

I don't recall when the last time was that I scanned the truck for codes, so these may have been stored a long time ago. Over the late summer and early fall I did wind up parking my truck out in the driveway overnight as my son was using the garage for major engine work on his VW R32... the truck wound up sitting out there through some pretty extreme temp swings some days we'd be in the 80's and then drop down to the 40's at night. It was out overnight for at least a few nights when the temp dipped down into the 30's or around freezing. I suspect that's probably when these codes were thrown.

For now, I'll keep my eye on the hvac system, but I'm hoping that Ford will have to issue a recall for these stupid systems before mine actually completely fails.

 

[Frenchy]

Leave the motor alone as that is not the issue. The issue is the HVAC Distribution Box. If the temp is switching normally for now then I say leave it be. If it is acting up then you need to get it scheduled with the dealer. It requires the AC to be discharged and recharged. It also requires the 1234yf refrigerant for the AC which is crazy expensive.

That's my input

 

[MountainGoat]

Leave the motor alone as that is not the issue. The issue is the HVAC Distribution Box. If the temp is switching normally for now then I say leave it be. If it is acting up then you need to get it scheduled with the dealer. It requires the AC to be discharged and recharged. It also requires the 1234yf refrigerant for the AC which is crazy expensive.

That's my input

So the manual fix where you drill the access hole and turn the knob in spring and fall won't work anymore? I had it bookmarked, iirc AZ scorp did it but now the bookmark goes nowhere...

 

[airline tech]

Basically the access hole was for one of the screws that hold the left temp door actuator on, he removed the actuator then manually moved the door then reinstalled the actuator, I believe he left the connector disconnected.

 

[Frenchy]

That would be a temp fix, but a big pain to set the temp when driving. I was able to move the temp door without removing the temp motor on mine. That is how bad the box was warped on mine and that was after 1 year of owning it....

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