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Replaced cabin filter and found extra part?

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asavage111

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Changed my cabin air filter for the first time. No issues getting it out. As I was unpacking the new filter this fell into the place the filter was. What is it and where does it go? Can’t find any diagrams.
 

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l1tech

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That's not an extra part! That looks like your recirculation door has broken which sucks because that requires pulling the dash board if I'm not mistaken.
 

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asavage111

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Interesting. First time it’s been changed and as I said, it just fell into the location the filter was. So what does it do? Is it needed?
 

l1tech

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It is the door that changes the air flowing through the hvac to come from outside the vehicle or inside the vehicle and it is pretty important in my opinion. In winter time sourcing air from outside the vehicle can make the heat be less hot and in summer the ac to be less cold. It also has an affect on how well the defroster functions. Hopefully your still under warranty because it is expensive to fix. I wouldn't worry about the dash having to come out of the vehicle, we do it all the time in the shop on various makes with no ill affects afterwards.
 

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You actually can see it clearly right behind the battery. I wonder if you can just reinstall it by taking the battery out for more room. Does yours have a broken tab?
 

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Cdubya said:
You actually can see it clearly right behind the battery. I wonder if you can just reinstall it by taking the battery out for more room. Does yours have a broken tab?
Click to expand...
If it fell down that means either the end that goes into the motor is broken or the end that secures to the box is broken. You have to remove the HVAC case and split it open to get to the door.
 

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asavage111

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l1tech said:
If it fell down that means either the end that goes into the motor is broken or the end that secures to the box is broken. You have to remove the HVAC case and split it open to get to the door.[/QUOT
Click to expand...
It is still under warranty thankfully! So is it a same day fix, provided they have parts? Would really love to see a schematic but I can’t seem to find one.

I honestly expect the dealer to say, “it’s not that important, you don’t need it.” So any ammo to help get it fixed is what I’m looking for. When fixed how can I confirm? Sounds like I sound put the recirc on and look close to the dash on the outside? Near the battery

As for it’s condition, it doesn’t appear broken in any way. Not sure how or why this happened.

Thank you!
 

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asavage111 said:
It is still under warranty thankfully! So is it a same day fix, provided they have parts? Would really love to see a schematic but I can’t seem to find one.

I honestly expect the dealer to say, “it’s not that important, you don’t need it.” So any ammo to help get it fixed is what I’m looking for. When fixed how can I confirm? Sounds like I sound put the recirc on and look close to the dash on the outside? Near the battery

As for it’s condition, it doesn’t appear broken in any way. Not sure how or why this happened.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
Pop the whole cover off that’s over the battery. Not the little access panel but that whole side like you’re gonna change the battery. Takes less than a minute to get it off. Now look down the firewall behind the battery and you’ll see the vent that slat belongs to. You’ll be able to see which one is missing and also have that knowledge to pass on to your dealership.

FYI to anyone else…that’s also the easiest way to see if your cabin air filter is dirty…you can look right at it without emptying your glovebox and taking all that stuff apart.
 

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asavage111

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Cdubya said:
You actually can see it clearly right behind the battery. I wonder if you can just reinstall it by taking the battery out for more room. Does yours have a broken tab?
Click to expand...
UNBROKEN said:
Pop the whole cover off that’s over the battery. Not the little access panel but that whole side like you’re gonna change the battery. Takes less than a minute to get it off. Now look down the firewall behind the battery and you’ll see the vent that slat belongs to. You’ll be able to see which one is missing and also have that knowledge to pass on to your dealership.

FYI to anyone else…that’s also the easiest way to see if your cabin air filter is dirty…you can look right at it without emptying your glovebox and taking all that stuff apart.
Click to expand...
 

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asavage111 said:
It is still under warranty thankfully! So is it a same day fix, provided they have parts? Would really love to see a schematic but I can’t seem to find one.

I honestly expect the dealer to say, “it’s not that important, you don’t need it.” So any ammo to help get it fixed is what I’m looking for. When fixed how can I confirm? Sounds like I sound put the recirc on and look close to the dash on the outside? Near the battery

As for it’s condition, it doesn’t appear broken in any way. Not sure how or why this happened.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
If you want to know if the recirculation door is working after they replace it turn the auto climate control off, set the vent positions to the blow out of the dash and turn the blower on high. Now turn the recirculation either on or off depending on where you started from, after a few seconds you should hear the sound of the air change and should feel a difference in the force of air coming out of the vents.

This is a major component of the HVAC system so the dealer should never tell you that this is not a big deal.

Part 18B259 is the air inlet duct assembly and inside of that assembly is the recirculation door. Part 19E616B is the actuator that drives the door. The door does not come out unless something is broken and you can not repair it in the car. The door is serviced in the assembly and is not available separately.

For a Ford tech who has done these it can easily be done in a day but I wouldn't rush them. I believe it calls for 8 hours of labor.

This door, or some part of the system that the door attaches to, can become broken due to actuator exerting too much force on the door and stressing the components. It's not an uncommon failure.
hvac case.png
 

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asavage111

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THANK YOU so much I1tech! - should change to A1-tech! Also want THANK YOU for your service!
 

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asavage111

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l1tech said:
If you want to know if the recirculation door is working after they replace it turn the auto climate control off, set the vent positions to the blow out of the dash and turn the blower on high. Now turn the recirculation either on or off depending on where you started from, after a few seconds you should hear the sound of the air change and should feel a difference in the force of air coming out of the vents.

This is a major component of the HVAC system so the dealer should never tell you that this is not a big deal.

Part 18B259 is the air inlet duct assembly and inside of that assembly is the recirculation door. Part 19E616B is the actuator that drives the door. The door does not come out unless something is broken and you can not repair it in the car. The door is serviced in the assembly and is not available separately.

For a Ford tech who has done these it can easily be done in a day but I wouldn't rush them. I believe it calls for 8 hours of labor.

This door, or some part of the system that the door attaches to, can become broken due to actuator exerting too much force on the door and stressing the components. It's not an uncommon failure.
View attachment 16610
Click to expand...
I took it to the dealership today. I politely shared I1tech’s last post to help point them in the right direction but mainly to show that I have a clue. Dealership just called to tell me they “fix it”. The bad news, it’s not warrantable since they didn’t change the air filter or it wasn’t done at a dealership. The good news, it’s only going to cost me .5 hrs labor it took them to “fix it. I disagreed that they “fixed it” and that it’s not warrantable. They are going to follow up with their warranty administrator. Hate to say I’m not surprised! Any additional advice would be greatly appreciated!
 

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I am extremely curious to find out how they fixed it. I admit I haven't had the pleasure of taking one of these apart...yet, but I can't for the life of me see how they managed to get the door put back in and have it be functional without disassembling the box but you never know.

Them charging you .5 is crap. There is nothing you can do in the course of changing the cabin air filter that would cause this.
 

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l1tech said:
I am extremely curious to find out how they fixed it. I admit I haven't had the pleasure of taking one of these apart...yet, but I can't for the life of me see how they managed to get the door put back in and have it be functional without disassembling the box but you never know.

Them charging you .5 is crap. There is nothing you can do in the course of changing the cabin air filter that would cause this.
Click to expand...
If it just pops in like the grille shutter slats maybe they reached in from the outside and popped it back in.
 

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UNBROKEN said:
If it just pops in like the grille shutter slats maybe they reached in from the outside and popped it back in.
Click to expand...
That makes perfect sense. If that's the case then Ford must be doing something different as of late with how they secure the doors inside of the housing. The traditional way is the door is sandwiched in the case in such a way that case disassembly is required to service the door being that they are not flexible enough to be bent in half to go back in. This still begs the question of why and how the door came out in the 1st place and I'm not a big fan of the "sometimes it happens" excuse.
 

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asavage111

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Everything seems to look good and the recirculation works better than it did before. Oh and I got them to warranty the repair. Thanks again for all the info and support!
 

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