same problem on my 06 zx5, i figured out the part i need but dont no what its called lol what do you call the part with the cables?

 

This part number might help: 2m5z-19b888-ba

I don't know what it's called officially too.

As for the issue. The cable is not the issue as we opened this up last year and found the cable to be working fine. The issue is the flap that sits behind the radio that controls the air flow. When turning the knob, this flap is turned. The problem is this flap is catching the walls when turning causing the vent selector knob to be incredibly hard to turn. I need advice on how to fix this flap

 

mine was stuck and i broke the cable assembly, after getting new cable assembly i went down where the cable attaches to and moved it by hand, mined freed up after that and i noticed it had grease on it, maybe yours does not have the grease?

 

Thanks for the response. I believe you're talking about the mount where the cables attach to. Yes that is greased too on mine. I will replace that cable too since it's also old but there's a door or flap that you see when you look down from the center air vents. When you turn the vent selector knob, you see this flap open or close. The problem on mine is that it gets caught by the walls and it gets stuck. You then have to carefully wiggle the know back and forth until the flap finally gets unstuck.

 

Mine does the same. I replace the selector switch assembly and greesed the lever. However still sticking going from floor to vent and floor to defrost. I assume that there is an acuator wore out or out of place. But i have found out if it warm/hot in the car it will switch easly.

 

On my '07, the vent selector cable broke because the mechanism was hard stuck on defrost. After removing the dash vent and duct behind it, I was able to reach in to the door and help get everything moving while turning the mechanism down in the footwell.

After I got it freed up , I lubed the door as much as possible with silicone spray, using a piece of small tubing attached to the spray can plastic tube. I then installed a new cable assembly and it worked fine.

I thought I would need to remve the dash to get the whole heater unit out to fix the problem, but so far it is still working. I don't really know why the door was stuck originally.

Rich

 

Hmm... Was the door out of place when you opened it or was it just hard to turn and lubricating it helped? And how did you spray down the vents? The doors are pretty far down the air flow duct.

 

Door was not out of place, just stuck.

As I said in my post, I removed the dash vents and the duct behind them. This gave me enough room to be able to get my fingers on the door.

 

I have heard and read that the early Focus's used a cabin filter and debris can build up and cause the door to stick when moving the knob that causes air to flow from vents to defrost.
Mine was sticking,more like something it had hit.Now my knob turns but without changing the direction of air.
Still trying to fix.

 

It sounds like you broke the control cable. That's what hapopened on my '07 when the doors inside the heater box were stuck. I could not get the doors moving again until I took out the dash vents and the air duct behind them. Just repacing the cable will probably only result in another broken cable if the doors are stuck.

There is a spot for a cabin filter on earlier cars, but I don't think many have one installed. If you did have one, there would be less debris getting to the heater box area.

Rich

 

I did see where if the fan is removed debris is taken out,debris is the culprit.
thanks for the help,
Robert
PS: I did see some chips that can add more horsepower and one for better gas mileage.Would these work on a Focus that has 115,000 on it.Is this on the forum also?