It all started one day when I got into my Explorer on a cold winter night. Went to start up the heat after driving a few minutes and my dashboard started cracking and thumping and making so many weird noises I thought there was a live animal in there! Pretty sure I jumped out of the car and everything....Unfortunately for me, I was just my blended door actuator! I was able to diagnose my issue by viewing a YouTube video that someone had posted of their same issue. I never received an estimate to repair but had heard of reports of it costing around $700-$800 to fix and I was not about to drop money like that.

The person who made the video also showed how to do a rigged up fix yourself, which I didn't follow exactly, but I do enough to make it work. Now, all winter and all summer I have to keep my temperature gauge on full heat or full a/c, there's no moving in the middle ground. If I remember right, when fall comes and I no longer need my a/c, I am able to stick my hand behind the dashboard through the glove compartment and manually push this little lever down to switch over.

When spring comes, I believe the door thumps its way over to where it needs to be on its own when I switch to a/c. All in all, its most inconvenient in the spring and fall when the weather is up and down and I cannot easily switch from heat to a/c.

God Bless the man who posted that YouTube video!!

Blend door on heater assembly was clicking and broke during winter. I had to drive 90 miles a day to get to work here in Colorado in the mountains.

When the door actuator broke it caused me to lose defrost and all heating of my truck.

Almost caused me to head on another vehicle coming home from work due to freezing windows.

Come to find out this stupid little blend motor cost from $590-$800 to get fixed.

Numerous complaints from owners and Ford has done nothing.

Cost me $590 for parts and labor and a couple days of lost work.

Two years ago the heat went in my Explorer. Clicking noise and blowing cold air. Brought it to Autofair Ford and paid $900 to have the issue fixed. A week ago, same exact thing is happening, clicking noise and blowing cold air, called Autofair Ford, because I did feel that spending $900 to have a situation fixed it should break again in 2 years. They indicated it was a slightly different issue and this time the cost to fix my heat would be $1800. I am not paying that, I will freeze this winter. I bought this vehicle used 4 years ago and have had nothing but problems, it is a money pit.

Stressed, Irritated...the list goes on.

Our air only works on one side, and not very well. Also:

Sick to death of all the problems. Ford just throws these things off the assembly line and then says "Oh so sorry, it's out of warranty". We actually won a lawsuit regarding a 2002 Explorer. The tailgate window exploded in my hand when trying to shut it. The car dealer knew it was a piece of junk and the judge called his selling it to us "the most egregious case of taking advantage she'd ever seen".

We had to replace the transmission in this 2004 model, replaced the visors and interior overhead console, one back seat belt doesn't work, again a cheap plastic problem, and the electrical/computer problem where a plug next to the computer melted and caused the engine to cut off while driving down the road, well that almost got us all killed. Turns out there is a group of wires near the rear and they were supposed to be suspended in some sort of harness and never were, so over time, the plastic coating rubbed off and caused at least one wire to ground out, which caused the plug near the computer to overheat and slide out of its socket, causing the engine to shut off. Once it cooled, sometimes the motor would start again. This cost us more than one battery, lots of time, being stalled at 2 in the morning with our daughter in the back seat. After $2500 spent in multiple visits trying to fix the electrical issue, and another $2600 for the transmission, and just under $1000 for the interior console and visors, add more $$ for visits to check out the Check Engine light and the ABS light... wonder what I'm leaving out... ? Oh yes, the air conditioning has been blowing hot on once side for quite awhile. The crack in the back window frame on EVERY SINGLE EXPLORER I see reminds me of the Ford Grenada back in the 80s.

Does anybody else remember the Ford Grenada? The gas cap was located behind the license plate and on every single Grenada, the spring on the license plate broke so they all drove around with their license plate facing the ground, wide open.

Owning one of these Explorers is like being in a club with other unfortunate individuals who have found themselves wondering if the $9,000 they've spent on repairs makes it worth keeping the car now. My mechanic calls it the "Ford Exploder".

This is ridiculous that something so cheap to replace is such a pain to replace! I looked up YouTube videos on how to fix it and you have about 20 different steps to removing the dash panel before you even get to the part and even then it's very hard to reach and replace or else I'd do it myself. Being that Ford has the resources and experience with the dash you'd think they'd give you a break but they want over $1000 to replace a $65 part that has failed.

So now I drive the kids to school in the fall and winter with no heat. I know I don't live in the Mid-West or where it gets freezing out, but if I did I would be irate because I would have no choice but to fix it. And what if I try to resell the vehicle? I would have to tell the buyer there's no heater! Just absurd how Ford handles these issues, or I should say doesn't handle these issues. An American car company should have a little more pride and respect for their customers.

Seems like many are having this same problem..not under warranty and would cost now.just not affordable and shouldn't of happened. Same car had cracked on rear on body exterior, heater/AC into 1yr of purchase and one month of being out of warranty rear end went out..thank you god it was still under warranty. Ford "would I buy again? I don't know." It seems to me this is one of many for the year 2004 and ford I FEEL WAS FULLY AWARE and should of recalled some of the issues as a courtesy to the people that have put their faith in the Ford name instead they just waited to see how many complaints they would inquire before they honor what ford probably already knew.

I, too, own a 2004 Ford Explorer who is having problems with the loud clicking noise regarding the heater/AC. My noise started to occur in the early spring months when I put the heater on HIGH or speed 4. When I turn the temperature knob down a notch towards cooler (still on 4 though), the clicking stops. Now that summer is here, and it's time to use the AC, I notice the AC unit isn't putting out much air. The air it does move is COLD but it only moves air on HIGH or or speed 4. The blower on 4 makes such a loud swooshing noise (like it's working overtime to try to cool the vehicle down) but the air it moves is minimal. This is the second time this has happened to me with this vehicle. I fixed it the first time about two years ago and the repairs were almost $800.00!!

Ford needs to do a recall on this! Out of pocket expenses are getting too much to keep this vehicle any longer! My husband has a Ford F150 truck that the AC unit freezes you out on. How can one company produce two vehicles with such different outcomes on AC/Heaters? Grrr to FORD!!!!

Update from Jun 19, 2012: Okay....so now I took it into shop and found out my blend door is broken (AGAIN) and my evaporator case is cracked! WTH!! Hmmmm total cost to fix it this time around: $1800.00!!! I have put more money into this vehicle than the Kelly Blue Book says it's worth so I guess I'm stuck with it for now, but that's the last FORD I will ever buy!