Repairing a broken Recirculate door (1 Viewer)

[bloc]

Well, decided to tackle this little project today. I consider this one of the weak points of our vehicles, even if the problem wouldn't exist at all with oil-change level techs that aren't idiots. But I digress..

My door not only was disconnected, the edge of it was broken.

If you haven't seen this area yet, it is behind the glove box after it gets removed. Immediately below the crack is where the pivot pin pushes into a keyed slot in the tapered end of the door.. an actuator on the side of this whole assembly turns that pin and the door swings forward or backward for fresh air or recirc.

To see if yours is busted, pull the cabin filter access panel in the upper front edge of your glove box, and while the ignition is on switch from recirc to fresh air.. the door should swing forward and backward.

Anyway.. I've read of the door being impossible to remove from the box in-place, so a few people use epoxy and seem to have mixed (get it?!) results. So my initial thought was to see whether the whole blower box could be removed from the vehicle to disassemble it.. without first removing the whole dash.

Basically, it aint happening.

Will cover that in the next post

 

[bloc]

So there are a few 10mm bolts and nuts to remove that actually hold the assembly in. Those are easy enough to find. Plus you have to remove the passenger side foot duct, and something of an electronic box behind that.

Here's the overview

After those three bolts come out, separating the box from the second box (A/C evap/heater core/distribution box) is.. interesting. Basically you have to release a tab on top of the junction, then swing the blower box downward clockwise to the right and it will release from a peg that holds it to the dist box.

Top tab.. couldn't figure out how to release it. Tried some light prying but no go.. (and other issues noted later) It's buried pretty far back there.

Lower hinge

As if releasing the tab isn't enough, a brace off the dashboard crossmember is in the way of the blower box swinging to the right

I think with some pressure that one can be cleared.. but even then, the lower plastic bar which is part of the dashboard assembly is in the way. You'd basically have to cut this and find a way to reattach it.. and I'm still not sure the blower box would come out.

The engine ECU might also be in the way.. it is mounted to the firewall and slides in next to the box.. presumably for cooling. But it would be easy to push into the engine bay.

So now I looked at getting the door out so I could weld it or repair it on a bench.

Next post.

 

[bloc]

Part of the reason epoxy doesn't seem sure-fire is the door appears to be made of polypropylene. Epoxy, even "plastic epoxy" that works on nylon, struggles bonding to it. You might get lucky with it mechanically holding onto an irregular surface like where the plastic hinge tore.. but I didn't want to deal with redoing all of this.. so I wanted to pull the door and weld it.

ANND.. the door isn't coming out either.. though there is one possibility.

So the door has two hinges.. with the right keyed pin removed, you can slide the right side front/back. Problem is the left hinge basically needs the whole box disassembled to clear its hole.

You could probably notch the plastic upright that is in the way, but then air would be allowed to bypass your cabin filter. I couldn't see a way to rebuild this upright.

Another option would be to get one of those compact hack-saws and cut the end of the left hinge off. The hole is open to the outside. You could then drill the center of the hinge (that area is solid plastic) and reattach the pin with a screw from the outside of the blower box..

It still may be a challenge to get the door out as it has a flange that swings up and seals on the front aspect of a "bridge" over the door.. but I think with the hinges pulled back toward the passenger it would come out.

I saw what I thought was a way to use epoxy and provide some reinforcement to help it hold.

Basically some brass #4 screws and the end of an old band clamp. It is low profile enough to keep from snagging the filter or upright face on that side, and should give some tension to keep all of the spreading forces off the epoxy.

I used brass because the screws would be too long to clear the flap on the other side, so with the softer metal I could just cut the end once everything was in place.

You can just see what's left of the end of the screw in this pic. It clears that flange just fine.

If you could source some #4 screws that were about 1/8" long you could use steel and avoid cutting them.

It is QUITE fiddly working in there.. I decided to drill pilot holes so getting the screws started wasn't impossible, and likely to knock the epoxy loose.. with everything drilled and tested, I used some of the 5-min epoxy with mixer nozzle on the crack, pushed it together, wiped the excess out of the keyed hole where the pin goes, and ran in my little screws and strap. let it sit for an hour before pushing the pin in... and so far it all works perfectly.

I'll check on it periodically.

Other ways to do this better.. maybe find a true polypropylene glue. Or try my method to hack the left hinge off and weld it or otherwise on the bench.

Hope this helps someone. If you guys have any questions let me know.. the truck is back together so I can't get any pics but it's all fresh in my head. I give that three hours, tops.

-bloc

 

[bloc]

Oh.. the molding mark can be decoded for the plastic type. Taken before the fix, so the door is crooked

 

[CharlieS]

Ugh, my rig has this too. The recirc hasn’t worked since I bought it (used, only dealer serviced)... Now at least I know why. Darn it all, this seems like a dash out repair (which means I will probably never fix it). Mine isn’t broken cleanly like yours, so I don’t think your fix will work for me.

 

[bloc]

Ugh, my rig has this too. The recirc hasn’t worked since I bought it (used, only dealer serviced)... Now at least I know why. Darn it all, this seems like a dash out repair (which means I will probably never fix it). Mine isn’t broken cleanly like yours, so I don’t think your fix will work for me.

View attachment 1932957

Ugh is right. I guess I assumed they would be breaking mostly the same way.. that is rough.

you might consider my idea for cutting off the left hinge pin. I'm sure it can be reassembled to be perfectly functional with the door back in place.. and if the door is out dealing with that demolished right side should be a lot easier. Or maybe plan to pull the dash and see if that method will work before you actually do it.

 

[m3fan]

This is super helpful and detailed. I have mine permanently in fresh air mode and have been dreading the fix. These photos help me understand what exactly to look for, which is key.

 

[bloc]

One other thing I forgot to mention.

If the dash has to come out I really don't think it'll be "that" hard. Certainly more time consuming than what I did.. but with how high quality all of the fitment has been on my rig so far, I doubt we'd be breaking a million plastic tabs and things.. I think with someone to help lift it the job actually wouldn't be too bad.. I've pulled the dash on a few other modern cars and as long as you find all the screws and electrical connectors it is just time consuming. I know I got the dash out of my Jetta in less than two hours.. for instance.

If my fix doesn't work I'll probably end up pulling the dash eventually, and will document it. Oh and then I can fully embrace my OCD and get all the dog hair from the PO's chocolate lab back there too..

 

[TonyP]

I think the FSM has dash removal procedures with all fasteners. I can post it up if you need it.

But yeah, it's an intimidating task but really not that bad (from the dashes I've removed). Pulling the steering wheel can be the biggest the biggest pain if it needs to be removed for clearance. Sometimes the column can be loosened and dropped instead. But with all the motors and sensors. Pulling the wheel might be easier. Granted I haven't done it to a 200.

 

[bloc]

I think the FSM has dash removal procedures with all fasteners. I can post it up if you need it.

But yeah, it's an intimidating task but really not that bad (from the dashes I've removed).

That has been my experience as well.

And thanks.. I do have access to the procedure but I’m really hoping I don’t need it.

 

[jerrick]

@bloc
I have a question for you. After realizing that my recirc door was not functioning, I realized that the right side pin was actually missing. When taking the access door off below the glove box, low and behold the pin fell out. Any idea on how to reconnect? My door hinge doesn't look broken, so if I can get this reconnected I hope I'll be back in business.

 

[bloc]

@bloc
I have a question for you. After realizing that my recirc door was not functioning, I realized that the right side pin was actually missing. When taking the access door off below the glove box, low and behold the pin fell out. Any idea on how to reconnect? My door hinge doesn't look broken, so if I can get this reconnected I hope I'll be back in business.
View attachment 2489662

Unfortunately I won’t be of much help here. The way mine was broken I didn’t need to get into the linkage on the side and am not familiar with how it is supposed to go together.
Quite a few people have posted in other threads where theirs had just become disconnected.. you might try finding those posts or maybe start a new thread to get better help.

 

[Sandroad]

@bloc
I have a question for you. After realizing that my recirc door was not functioning, I realized that the right side pin was actually missing. When taking the access door off below the glove box, low and behold the pin fell out. Any idea on how to reconnect? My door hinge doesn't look broken, so if I can get this reconnected I hope I'll be back in business.
View attachment 2489662

Here is about as good a photo as you're going to get of where that thing goes. It's from one of the previous threads. This is the right hand outside of the filter box. There are good descriptions of how to maneuver it in place in at least 2 of the other threads on this problem. The other one you posted your question in and the thread with the poll. IMPORTANT: Check your HVAC recirculate door and answer Poll

It's not an easy fix because it's an awkward place to work. I wonder how it came out without something being broken?