Cabin Filter Change and the Recirculation Flap Issues FIXED (2 Viewers)

[Trauma]

KenB,
For the life of me, I cannot figure out how you pulled the door out of the blower assembly. I was able to cut away the sides enough to pop the hinge points out as depicted in your pictures, but the door does not want to come forward no matter what angle I throw at it. Did you cut away the front edge of the blower assembly as well and if so, when the door was put back in after repair what does it rest on in fresh air mode? Appreciate any elaboration you can provide. Awesome advice on the 3M glue as well.
VR/ Greg

 

[Trauma]

Thought a reinforcing washer and some plastic epoxy would do the trick to fix the cracked flap - nope, lasted about a week.

 

[KenB]

For the life of me, I cannot figure out how you pulled the door out of the blower assembly.

Did you cut away the front edge of the blower assembly as well and if so, when the door was put back in after repair what does it rest on in fresh air mode?

Appreciate any elaboration you can provide.

Getting the door out required all of my patience. I walked away several times to cool off before I broke anything.
I did not cut away the front edge of the blower. My photos included everything I trimmed.
I pulled all of the broken pieces off the right side of the door before I tried removing it so it was as small as possible and so I wouldn't loose the lose pieces down into the fan housing. Once everything was glued back together I couldn't get the door back in the same way it came out. It was too big (and I couldn't remember EXACTLY how I'd removed it).
Make the door as small as possible by removing the cracked and broken pieces on the servo end.
As a high school shop teacher I teach CAD solid modeling. Maybe that skill helped me visualize how the part needed to be turned in space relative to the housing in order to come out. More likely I just got lucky through persistence.

Good idea on the washer.

Best of luck.

 

[ckkone]

Thought a reinforcing washer and some plastic epoxy would do the trick to fix the cracked flap - nope, lasted about a week.

I had great results with JB PlasticWeld Putty, held for over 2 years so far. Cleaned the surfaces with alcohol as best I could before I applied.

PlasticWeld Epoxy Putty

PlasticWeld is a hand-mixable, fast-setting epoxy putty that forms a durable bond to most major plastic types.

www.jbweld.com

 

[Trauma]

Getting the door out required all of my patience. I walked away several times to cool off before I broke anything.
I did not cut away the front edge of the blower. My photos included everything I trimmed.
I pulled all of the broken pieces off the right side of the door before I tried removing it so it was as small as possible and so I wouldn't loose the lose pieces down into the fan housing. Once everything was glued back together I couldn't get the door back in the same way it came out. It was too big (and I couldn't remember EXACTLY how I'd removed it).
Make the door as small as possible by removing the cracked and broken pieces on the servo end.
As a high school shop teacher I teach CAD solid modeling. Maybe that skill helped me visualize how the part needed to be turned in space relative to the housing in order to come out. More likely I just got lucky through persistence.

Good idea on the washer.

Best of luck.

Thanks Ken, I’ll hunker down and force the blend door to bend to my will. I am an engineer and naval aviator - I can do this!

 

[Trauma]

I had great results with JB PlasticWeld Putty, held for over 2 years so far. Cleaned the surfaces with alcohol as best I could before I applied.

PlasticWeld Epoxy Putty

PlasticWeld is a hand-mixable, fast-setting epoxy putty that forms a durable bond to most major plastic types.

www.jbweld.com

Wish I had your luck, used the same product but it didn’t hold. I imagine the nature of the blend door break has some significance on the effectiveness of the repair. Even sanded and prepped the surface with alcohol as you described.

 

[CharlieS]

I just tore mine apart following your directions (thank you!!).

My arm and cover are intact and they can be pushed together and click to where they work properly for one or two cycles, but then they come ("pop") apart again and stop cycling properly. No parts are broken in an obvious way.

Can that "tab" inside the male part (servo side) be pried outward to help the parts lock together?

Has anyone put anything inside the keyed place where they clip together that works to hold them? JB weld, epoxy, quicksteel, ???? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I have this on the shelf:

 

[Trauma]

Mine was doing the same thing - no obvious damage to the blend door hinge but upon careful inspection with a mirror, sure enough it was cracked along the bottom allowing the servo to turn freely. I just finished pulling the door/cover out as Ken indicated was possible and plan to glue it together with the suggested 3M products.

 

[CharlieS]

Mine was doing the same thing - no obvious damage to the blend door hinge but upon careful inspection with a mirror, sure enough it was cracked along the bottom allowing the servo to turn freely. I just finished pulling the door/cover out as Ken indicated was possible and plan to glue it together with the suggested 3M products.

I can report that I have discovered at least one variation of how NOT to remove the lid without damage... I cracked the left side while taking it out. Ugh.

While everything was in place, I cleaned the grease off with MAF cleaner, and then bent the inner tang on the male portion out, thinking this would solve my problem, once reinserted.

Turns out the real issue was the socket on the moving cover - the pivot point on the right side, female portion of the mechanism, was broken with pieces falling off.

Fortunately, I was able to retrieve the piece shown as missing above with a pair of tweezers. That procedure reminded me of the kids game "Operation" with the tweezers and the buzzer and light if you touched the side as you removed the plastic body parts (anyone else remember that?). I have the bits, now to see if I can bond them. I sense a 3M order in my future.

Does anyone know where I can get the 3m 8010 in small quantities?

 

[Trauma]

Amazon sells the 3M PR1500 (adhesive) & AC77 (primer) in small quantities.

 

[Bunga]

I just pulled mine...and nobody had broken it. There was a factory sticker (2019 LX) that warned about damaging it, and the filter had 3 pages of instructions, but it was very easy with the forum's help. The door should be taped shut and locked.

 

[Trauma]

A month in to the repair and it is holding strong using the combination of 3M Scotch Weld, washer and safety wire for added longevity. As Ken indicated, I can confirm that with patience the blend door can be removed to conduct the repair and then reinstalled.

 

[CharlieS]

I also repaired mine with the 3m primer, scotch weld and safety wire recently, and it seems to be holding up so far.

 

[bloc]

Something just occurred to me.

I know some of the 16+ 200s are having issues with the blend doors needing initialization randomly. Anyone know whether the earlier models need initialization at all?

I'm wondering whether a door that had been broken for ages allowed the servo to learn new end points.. and might now be risking jamming or putting more force into a repaired door than is necessary.

Thoughts?

I guess I could dig out Techstream and go messing around.. won't have time for a few days though.

 

[Trauma]

This could certainly explain why a seemingly solid repair doesn’t have much longevity. Not sure how to start an initializing procedure in the 2013.

 

[KenB]

Not sure how to start an initializing procedure in the 2013.

If you have TechStream go to Body Electrical / Air Conditioner / Utility / Servomotor Initialization. Run the initialization procedure. It only takes a minute. If it’s quite you can hear the servos moving around while they home.

The 2013 service manual (mine is a 2013, so that’s the year I’m familiar with) calls for this procedure every time power is lost or the battery is disconnected.

HTH, Ken

 

[breafree40]

Has anyone ordered and replaced the entire assembly themselves? Difficult? Thx

 

[CharlieS]

I haven't done this, but looked into it. You'd need to pull the dash to get to the assembly that has the flap.

 

[bloc]

Agreed.

That said.. dashes aren’t nearly as difficult to pull as they used to be. Still, I havent done the dash on my 200 yet.

 

[breafree40]

I’ve pulled the dash apart on most other vehicles I’ve owned... so I’m thinking I’ll give it a shot. Are we talking the whole dash (left right and center) or is it built in such a way that the right/passenger side of the dash can come off/apart without having to dissasemble the center infotaiment center, etc? Thx