Nissan Titan Forum banner

How To: Fix annoying clicking heater/ac actuator under dash (w/pics)

539K views 366 replies 150 participants last post by  Jim Padget 
#1 · (Edited)
UPDATE: There seems to be two actuators that fail most commonly. The one in my posts below is for the knob that controls the vents like defrost to dash to floor ect. The other one that fails is for the temperature control knob. This happens when you move the control nob from hot to cold or vice versa and requires the dash to be removed to access for repair. In my case this caused the heater to not work. When I would go from cold to hot I could hear the little lever on the actuator inside the dash pop off the track and the vents would remain cold even with the knob turned all the way to hot. There is a solution to this. You start with the knob on cold turn it very slow like one tiny click at a time until you hear it pop off the track then you back it up a few ticks very slowly until you hear it pop back in the track then you can turn it all the way and it should "catch" and bring your heat on. It takes a little messing with but I can now get my heat to come on in the first try. It is annoying but better than no heat and the alternative will be tearing into the dash.

Original Thread:
A lot of people complain about the clicking actuator when going from defrost back to normal. You can fix it yourself if you have some patience. The updated part number is 27743-ZS00A. It is like 40-50$ from the Nissan dealership.


old one on left:


I believe there is a plate above the gas pedal (mine wasn't there) so remove that to start and lay on your back and look up above the gas pedal and you should see the actuator as pictured below. I propped my feet up on a chair.



Pull the power connector from the top of the actuator. There are three screws that hold the actuator to the mounting plate. Two on the bottom that you can see and one that is up top that you have to get by feel. They should be 5.5 mm unless like me yours had been replaced before.

Once the screws are free you can pull the actuator out and you'll likely have the white cam plate come with it. I did, so I pulled off the mounting plate that the actuator had been bolted to then re-aligned the cam gear as pictured below then put the mounting plate back on.



Now here is the tricky part. Maybe someone will have a better way for this but if you are like me I went into it not knowing and this was how I figured it out. Get the new actuator and plug it in, don't bolt yet. You'll notice it has a little gear with specific grooves to fit into the grooves on the hole in the cam plate. I plugged the actuator in and turned the vent knob until the gears moved and lined up with how I had the cam plate set then I was able to slide the new actuator into place and put the screws back in and was then good to go. You could probably just move the cam plate to line up the gears but it kept falling off for me.

So now I am clicking free and hopefully this helps save someone some time.
 
See less See more
3
#33 ·
In my case it is not in the center of the dash, nor in the heater box. If you get on the floor on the driver side look underneath up high, towards left of the center console and far back you will be able to see it. It is reall far back under there. If you have the clicking sound when you change it from defrost to vents/floors then go ahead and do that that way you can pinpoint the sound. You will be able to see the little white control dial that actuactes the vents. It will rotate back and forth, when you change the settings from defrost to vent/floors. You can watch it get stuck, and click out of control until it stops. I know it is frustrating, but is a relative easy fix. Dealers are guessing it is something way more extensive if they are quoting you guys that kind of high dollar. If you do a search on here, there is a couple other older posts that have good pictures of what I am talking about. Good luck to getting rid of you clicking sound!
 
#34 ·
ok guy's update on the actuator replacement!! well this past weekend i replaced the actuator that controls the hot and cold. it is so far back in there that i ended up taking out the entire dash to get to it. only way to do it! i tried every way i could think of to avoid taking out the dash. but my hands and arms are to big to fit in the tight spaces. it is a royal pain in the ***!!! to get it done!! if you do it plan on setting aside a big chunk of your week end to do it! don't get in a hurry and walk away when you get pissed!!! i did a lot of walking!!! i took apart the bad actuator inside of it a plastic shaft that one gear rides on broke so that gear was kind of floating around in there causing it to skip teeth making the clicking noise. all is working good and nice and quiet now!!! i broke one small trim piece that goes over the floor vent. and put a small scuff in my dash. does any body know if it is possible to get matching interior paint ? i have 05 kc xe dash is a dark grey color. the new actuator i installed is slightly different than the original. upgraded version i hope? i do not have a camera to post pics on line. good luck !!!!
 
#36 ·
I'm not sure which actuator you're talking about, but I did the same one as the OP, and it only took me about 30 minutes. That was almost a year ago, and I'm still click free.
 
#37 ·
The vent change actuator is the one in my posts. The one that requires the dash removal is the hot to cold actuator. These seem to be the ones that fail but there are other ones up in there all of similar design. I have to tackle the dash removal pretty soon now that it is getting cooler out, not looking forward to it.
 
#39 ·
the entire dash!! i mean all of it!! still was a tight fit even with the dash removed. i was close by my nissan dealer today so i decided to stop in there and ask what they would have charged to replace the hot and cold actuator. GULP!!! $947.72 labor!!!!! the actuator was about $35.00 nissan service guy said 12 hours to r&r dash. 2 day repair. i hated every minute of it and hope i never have to do it again!!!!! but at that price i feel a lot better now. i broke a trim piece that goes over the floor vent $42.00. $8.00 for a bottle of interior touch up paint. scuffed dash in a couple of small places. and i found a few screws that nissan left out when it was being built $1.00. so for about $50.00 and 14 to 16 hours of my time? i guess it was worth it?
 
#42 ·
So im not sure what noise it is that is the indicator of a problem, but on a road trip this weekend, my heater started blowing cold, then a little warm when i revved it up, then its been all cold. I cant seem to smell coolant when I blow the air, so I dont think its a leaky core. How do I know if its this actuator, or the confusing few posts talking about full dash removal? Sorry, its Monday and im still half asleep but i want my warm air again!
 
#43 ·
Sounds like air in the coolant system..bleed out the air and the heat should be good to go.
 
#45 ·
if your coolant level is low or recently got low then you refilled there could be air. Run it with the cap off the overflow tank for 10 or 15 mins and see if that fixes the problem. If it was actuator related you'd have the clicking when you turn the knobs and it wouldn't matter about revving the gas.
 
#49 ·
i just took my truck in and they did a recall on this part and now my ac doesn't create as much air and every time i turn it on cold it frosts my windshield and not me.....plus im in texas and the heat doest help....
 
#51 ·
Yeah I originally took my truck in because of the suspension (lower control arms I think) and then they told me that there is also another recall that hasn't been sent out yet having to do with the ac clicking sound everyone is talking about. They told me I would probably get a letter in the next few months about it but they'd just go ahead and fix it for me. I didn't have the problem yet but it seems a lot are experiencing it...if you go to your dealer and ask them about it they should do it for you for free! It only takes about 30 min and they told me I was the first person to have it done lol
 
#52 ·
Holy crap, that's what that noise is. At first, i thought it was power adjustable pedals since it was under the dash. I quickly realized that those are not even an option on the truck. :lol: Then I thought it was something to do with the power seat trying (and failing) to move... I may have to look into this.
 
#54 ·
I'm not sure on the one that takes 2 days to fix but they told me for the clicking they haven't sent out the letters yet so anyone experiencing this problem go have them fix it and don't waste your money!!
 
#56 ·
Had (free) oil change done at the dealer today. Service manger noted recall letter on this issue forthcoming (I own a 2010). Stated it would take ~2hrs to fix. I passed (for now) as I have not experienced this issue.
 
#58 ·
Can someone please help me out with this. I have tried this on my dads titan and it seems a lot harder than it is made out to be. The actuator is in a very tight spot. On his titan the actuator is held in by 3 screws ( 2 bottom ones 7mm top one 5.5mm) the top one was very tricky to get out. Also the black mounting plate has 2 more 5.5 mm screws.

I Have everything removed but am having trouble lining up the white cam piece. No matter what I do it keeps falling off. Do i put the mounting plate on first? or do i screw on the actuator to the mounting plate then screw on the mounting plate?

Please help Thanks!
 
#59 ·
my truck starting doing this...and its soo damn annoying. i guess ill have to figure out as i dont see myself doing a task like this lol
 
#62 · (Edited)
I ended up getting the fix done. I was two seconds from giving up on it because of the stupid white cam gear. I had to remove the floor vent trim piece that snaps off and remove whatever computer module that is right next to the actuator to gain access to the top screw. The white cam gear has to have the 2 levers connected to it but the center of the gear also slides into a black piece that keeps it from falling. I lined up the gear and screwed the actuator to the mounting plate then carefully installed the mounting plate on with the actuator attached. Another problem I had was the electrical connector for the actuator was in a very bad spot. The harness has very little slack in it. I don't know if this was the proper way but I connected it last after mounting everything up. It was a big pain to get it connected but doing it last seemed like the only way because as i said the harness has very little slack in it. it will help to have 5.5mm and 7mm wrenches also a 7mm deep socket to get the top screw for the actuator. One person above said it took him 30 minutes to do this and that has to be a lie. It took me maybe a little over 2 hours. It is in a very tricky spot and requires you to be upside down for a little while. I suppose it is possible that certain parts vary on different year trucks making some years easier but have no idea. My dads is a 2004. Its good to have the vents working again for the summer. If anyone has any questions i can try to help.
 
#66 ·
OK guys help me out. I have hot going into the heater core and cool coming out. This judged by grabbing the pipes in the engine bay. So I assume that the regulator in the engine bay is working or at least opening so I get hot water to the heater core. With the truck off and the key turned on when I turn the temp control know one click at a time I can hear the motor moving along with me turning the dial. So I don't know if this is the problem. Oh yeah very little heat is what I am having trouble with. Also when I go from hot to cold I can hear a difference in the sound of the air plus it doesnt blow as hard on hot as cold.
 
Top