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How To: HVAC (Climate Controls) Broken Cable

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113K views 27 replies 19 participants last post by  sdgold09  
N
#1 ·
I've seen several posts regarding broken vent selector cables, and I decided that when I did mine, I would document them, so that others would be able to try and do this on their own. On a scale 1-10, I would rate this about a 4.5, and installation took me about 1.5 hours, documenting, (and the one minor screw up).

First thing you need to do, is remove the radio, and the four bolts behind it (7MM I think).

Image


Pull the face plate forward, and start unhooking the electrical connections. You will need to disconnect the hazard switch first in order to really be able to get to the rest of the connections.

At this point, you can either unhook the selector knobs,so you just have them to deal with, or leave them connected to the trim panel. If you are replacing the whole thing with one from a junk yard like I did, I'd just leave them hooked up.

Image


Remove the lower dash panel underneath the steering column (8MM I think), and let it hang. The other end of the cables are close to where your right knee would probably be. They look like this:

Image


There are three mounting tabs that need to be released in order to remove the cables.

Here:
Image


And here:
Image


Once the tabs are released, the cables will just slide up and through the back of the dash area:

First one
Image


Then the other
Image


I pulled these apart, so if you just got the cable from Ford, this is how they work. There is a release tab at the top of the selector, and then the cable assembly will just pull away like a hinge.

Release tab
Image


Pulling away
Image


What the good cable looks like
Image


The new ones just clip straight back onto the selector lever

Lined up
Image


Back together
Image


Reattach the cables to the trim panel. This is where I had a small issue. The cables will only attach back to their correct location under the dash, and the selector knobs will only go onto one spot on the control panel. However, if you take the cables off, they will go onto the back of either selector knob. This resulted in my temp knob controlling the vent output, and vice versa. So I would recommend swapping one cable at a time if you need to. If getting them from a junk yard, just don't undo them from the back of the selector knob.

New cables into the trim panel
Image


New cables under the dash
Image


At this point, all that is left is to make you electrical connections back, put the trim back in, and reattach the lower dash panel.
 
R
#4 ·
Even though you get the whole assembly,knob is stuck like glue.It's much easier to leave knob in and detach by releasing two catches one on bottom side one on top.Do bottom 1st but be careful not to pry it too much,it's looks like it would break easy in cold weather.

Now for blowing out vents,if there is no debris then replacing cables doesn't fix anything for the new cables are hanging up.Contacts was lubed but something else is causing the door to bind up.
 
T
#8 ·
My problem is the temp. selector cable, plus the fact that the knob down below that it attaches to "wont turn" which is why the cable went bad in the first place ! Other than replacing the whole box (Ford wants almost 500$ for one ), need to figure out a way of freeing that control up !! Thanks, Tim Klein
 
T
#11 ·
The cables go bad because the vent and temp. control doors bind up ! A common problem with certain years of Focus ! Taking the apparatus apart down below will give you access to the actual controls and allow you to free them up ! But they end up binding up again sooner or later ! Ford won"t address the problem anymore as the cars are too old and they have moved on !
 
F
#12 ·
I really don't expect them (Ford) to do anything about it. It is a poor design though. My 84 F-250 has the original cables for the heat selector, because back then they made things out of steel and not plastic.

That said, the job really wasn't difficult. Someone on YouTube recommended taking out the seat (?) but I'm not a very big guy so I didn't have any problems just sitting in the driver's footwell.
 
T
#15 ·
Just performed this job on my 2006 Focus, didn't have to take the seat out (i'm 6'2 and a big guy) and it took me about 20 minutes! The only tools I needed was a Flat-Headed screwdriver, and a 5/16ths nut driver. I did take some lithium grease and put on the door slider and any rotating point that i could find. Hopefully the one I got from the salvage yard will last as long as the one that was in the car from when i bought it new (yes, 8 years of reliable service out of this car) but we shall see! if nothing else they're 6 bucks at the salvage yards and very easy to replace.
 
N
#16 ·
Does anyone know of any modifications to make to prevent the doors from binding up? I just replaced the broken cables today and was disappointed to find the box still had bound doors. I was able to free the one by hand and it's moving freely...ish now, but as others have stated already, it will eventually bind up again next time I select dash or windscreen.

Cables were a breeze, but I'm afraid the HVAC box doesn't look to be so simple to remove to disassemble....
 
#17 ·
For the Temperature (blend) door IIRC some used silicone spray to help avoid it sticking at full travel (or just don't move it all the way).

For the location selector I leave it off the center position where it changes over from floor/dash to opening the defrost vents, and move it easy through that position where it can bind if moved fast when changing from left to right side positions.

So far no cable breakage (cross fingers).
 
L
#18 ·
So, I find myself wondering exactly what's wrong with my 07 ST heater controls. It was always a bit stiff, from the factory, and sometimes was worse, depending on the weather IIRC. My son has been driving the car for about a year now. I just got in it the other day and noticed that the only air that is coming out is on the floor vent. It doesn't matter what position you put the knob on, it's only coming out on the floor. And the AC still works.

I have no idea how long it's been like this. I keep telling my kid to let me know when something doesn't' seem right about the car, but he's a teenager. [?|] Great kid, but forgetful. Does anyone have any ideas? Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
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#21 ·
Well, you say A/C works - that means the fan is working.

Only blows on the floor no matter how the knob moves - knob isn't moving anything.

Earlier posters said the '05-'07 had cables like the earlier cars (some other actuators came along later) so it looks like a cable failure.

You can peek at the cable connections to the HVAC box under the dash on the driver's side of center to confirm, pics in that link I posted.

How "stuck" or not is yet to be determined.
 
E
#22 ·
Two cents from a new user. I bought a 2007 Focus, 133k miles, for my son to drive to school. It had the usual stuck selector door. I had read about cleaning the door with silicone. I have a solvent, sol-u-mel, made by the Melaleuca company, that is pretty good at removing sticky stuff, but not too aggressive. My wife has some small syringes for refilling ink in printer cartridges. I took off the panel under the steering wheel and disconnected the cable. I tried shooting three syringes full of the solvent, at various angles, down the center vents, where it might run down and hit the door. (In retrospect, I probably should have tested the solvent on the plastic of the HVAC assembly, but didn't.) After each shot, I worked the doors from the actuators on the side of the HVAC box. Put it all back together, and let it sit overnight with the windows open a bit to let the solvent smell dissipate. The doors to divert the airflow worked, but didn't move well. Then two weeks later they stopped working. I believe the cable was already damaged. I ordered and installed a new cable, thinking things would be stuck again, but no binding. That has been a few weeks ago, and it is still working well. I told my son to keep the selectors away from the extreme positions, where they would be more likely to bind.
I'm not naive enough to think it is a permanent solution, but optimistic enough to hope it gets him by for a while. And it was certainly easy.
 
A
#23 ·
You can avoid selector extreme positions at the 2 ends of the HVAC cam slot but not at the middle positions, you have to cross over 2 sticky positions there as well. There are 4 sticking points in all.

The lowest shaft you see in the HVAC airbox is the one that causes all the trouble, it sticks solidly in both extreme locations, but those get used twice each in the cam action to make the 4.
 
#26 ·
Please dont spam every thread related to the HVAC with a generic comment. I am going to assume you read all the posts/threads you bumped and none of those fixed your problem and you just are not good at phrasing questions. Just bumping lots of threads saying you are looking for a solution is not the solution.

Now that you have researched all of the related posts, what is specifically not working? What specific question(s) do you have? If one of these threads more closely resembles your question, post a follow up. If not, create a thread that identifies your exact issue. Tell us what you have tried to do and we can suggest something else
 
#28 ·
nomind said:
I've seen several posts regarding broken vent selector cables, and I decided that when I did mine, I would document them, so that others would be able to try and do this on their own. On a scale 1-10, I would rate this about a 4.5, and installation took me about 1.5 hours, documenting, (and the one minor screw up).

First thing you need to do, is remove the radio, and the four bolts behind it (7MM I think).

Image


Pull the face plate forward, and start unhooking the electrical connections. You will need to disconnect the hazard switch first in order to really be able to get to the rest of the connections.

At this point, you can either unhook the selector knobs,so you just have them to deal with, or leave them connected to the trim panel. If you are replacing the whole thing with one from a junk yard like I did, I'd just leave them hooked up.

Image


Remove the lower dash panel underneath the steering column (8MM I think), and let it hang. The other end of the cables are close to where your right knee would probably be. They look like this:

Image


There are three mounting tabs that need to be released in order to remove the cables.

Here:
Image


And here:
Image


Once the tabs are released, the cables will just slide up and through the back of the dash area:

First one
Image


Then the other
Image


I pulled these apart, so if you just got the cable from Ford, this is how they work. There is a release tab at the top of the selector, and then the cable assembly will just pull away like a hinge.

Release tab
Image


Pulling away
Image


What the good cable looks like
Image


The new ones just clip straight back onto the selector lever

Lined up
Image


Back together
Image


Reattach the cables to the trim panel. This is where I had a small issue. The cables will only attach back to their correct location under the dash, and the selector knobs will only go onto one spot on the control panel. However, if you take the cables off, they will go onto the back of either selector knob. This resulted in my temp knob controlling the vent output, and vice versa. So I would recommend swapping one cable at a time if you need to. If getting them from a junk yard, just don't undo them from the back of the selector knob.

New cables into the trim panel
Image


New cables under the dash
Image


At this point, all that is left is to make you electrical connections back, put the trim back in, and reattach the lower dash panel.
Click to expand...
 
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