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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.
 
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#67 ·
Subscibed...
 
#68 ·
Just finished replacing the same actuator for the second time(controls the vent positioning). The first time was almost two years ago. I took the bad one apart and you can see the broken tooth in the pic. We'll see how long it lasts this time.


Had a hard time getting a good pic, but here ya go

 
#70 ·
I hit send before I asked my question.... sorry.


Now my clicking only occurs when I change from defrost to floor or a/c

It started about two weeks ago.

If I let the actuator go until it completly breaks is that going to cause any other problems to the a/c system. I dont want to strip any of the gears or damage a control box. A 30 dollar fix is better now the a 500 dollar fix if I wait six months. Not sure if I can be flexable to get under the dash to fix the item, (thats why I want to wait to fix the item.)

thanks everyone.
 
#72 ·
<ine just started clicking last week, scared the hell out of me! 153,000 I can't *****, well I can but it won't do any good.
 
#73 ·
it took me one hour that's including looking for a 5.5 mm nut driver, which i did not find. once you remove the plastic shroud, the metal shroud and the gas pedal its not bad at all. One thing i had a problem with the nuts for the gas pedal they are specific to the studs on the fire wall.

thanks for the info, this forum is great.

'05 SE Crew Cab 113000 bought on friday 12.23.11
 
#74 · (Edited)
Just ordered both actuators, oh so looking forward to this repair... :ugh: I have a 06 Titan LE with power pedals. I'm going to try to get some decent pics of the repair process and post up.

My father was visiting over the holidays and was going mental over the clicking everytime we got in the truck. I'm thinking of recording it and setting it as his ringtone. :) I guess I have more patience, or I'm just glad it starts up when I get in...

Cheers!

Rob
 

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#75 · (Edited)
Can someone please clarify the difference between the two part numbers I see in this thread? I need the actuator that is right above the gas pedal and controls the defrost/vent/ac positioning. I think the correct part is the one with the "P", but just want to make sure. Thanks.

27743-ZP00A - $27.32
27743-ZS00A - $29.71
 

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#80 ·
Replace mine last night with part number 27743-ZSOOA Actuator A shipped from Courtesy Nissan, $29.71. Local Nissan dealer wanted over 40 bucks, parts guy claimed to have never heard of the problem and said the part number was actually the ZPOOA number.

In addition to the tools mentioned, you'll need the patience of a saint, flexibility of a 12 year gymnast and every curse word you ever heard.

I was able to move my power pedals back and forth, depending on what parts I was attempting to get at. Getting the white cam back in place was a pain, until I took off the plate the actuator mounts to (two screws) and was able to see the center of the white cam has a female opening and fits over a male stud, then the two vent control arms fit in perfectly. Then carefully put the plate back on, turned on power and moved vent control until the teeth alignment of the actuator and white cam was correct. All while lying upside down under the dash. What hoot.

Nissan did us a huge disservice by recognizing there is a problem with the actuator and only being willing to repair the last two years. I'm driving my last Nissan product.
 
#81 · (Edited)
This is exactly how i remember it.. The power gas pedals were a half an inch from the actuator and yes I too was having problems till i figured that the cam slid onto a stud. Of course having to take a break every 5 minutes didn't help cause my head felt like it was going to explode from being upside down.. Such a pain. About a month after I fixed this the fan speed switch broke so couldn't use the fan at all. What a joke.
 
#83 ·
Hello Guys;

i was trying to get mine done but i could not reach the third screw (the one at the top); there's a metal bar just besides the actuator and a plastic black box and the amp is attached to it; so there's no room to get my hands and tools to reach that screw; and i was going crazy; so the ones that already fixed this;could you please get me some directions on how to get to that third screw at the top? please heeeeeeelp

by the way i have a 05 LE

Thanks
 
#84 ·
Hey All,

I got the parts, *FINALLY*. Well, part anyhow. 27743-ZH00A, the lower actuator for the Feet, Dash ,Mixed,Defroster, etc. Thankfully not the upper one for the heat. I had ordered both originally from nissanpartszone.com, just to do them both since I was in there, but they did not have the replacement part no for the upper one. Took them a while to sort it out. Anyhow I had them ship the one they had and hoped for the best. I hadn't diagnosed which one till after I got the part. I usually have it on auto and just let it click when it wanted too. Just by luck it is when I switch from feet to dash air it clicks. cold to hot it's fine. I'm hoping to do the replacement this weekend. I have new rotors and pads coming today, that install is first. Just started squealing over the weekend, worse than the clicking in my book. :) Cheers!
 
#85 ·
Okay, so now we have a third part number thrown into the mix. Is it 27743-ZP00A, 27743-ZS00A, or 27743-ZH00A for the defrost/vent/ac positioning?
 
#87 ·
Hello rdtshaw;

First of all; i don't want to be rude; i just want to help and fix this %$$@ing problem that we all Titan owners have.

i think that the part that you mention (27743-ZH00A )(27743N) is the vent mode actuator and not the defroster actuator.

The defrost mode actuator is the one above the gas pedal like Core2 mentioned at the beginning of the post (27743-ZP00A)(27743NA) which is the same as (27743-ZS00A) but this one is a newer version for this part (also as Core2 mentioned before).

here's another diagram w/description:


i will try again to fix it this weekend and i will try to post some pictures

wish me luck
 
#88 · (Edited)
@luismtzr, not taken as rude at all. the part I'm talking about is the vent position actuator, or mode door motor in the diagram. (27743-ZH00A), that was what I thought I posted. According to posts in this thread, I was under the impression that the upper actuator was the heat/cold blend(air mix motor), but I see it is up in the middle. The OP shows the upper actuator(defrost motor) being replaced? I had the function of the upper actuator wrong, and I had grouped defroster in with the vent mode. I thought it was one of the modes it controlled. I had intended it to be the vent positioning actuator. I corrected my original post. To be clear, the part I was refering to is the vent mode actuator (27743-ZH00A), the lower one. It is the one I have to replace in my truck. When I change the mode from low(foot well), to dash or mix; I get the clicking. Am I understanding?

Rob

also, Luck wished! me too, doesn't look like a fun swap either way. The diagram you posted is much better than the one I referenced. Thanks for trying to make it more clear, it is a bit confusing to say the least. Part number changes not withstanding.
 
#89 ·
Update;

Finally i was able to change this fricking thing; and it was a pain in the @ss; it took more than 5 hours to do it; my 12 year old kid helped me with the upper screw and he was my hero for the weekend; i had to disconect the black box and also the amp in order to get more access to the actuator; once i removed all the screws it was a little tricky to get to get it out; i would like to thank everyone for every little trick to do this.
 
#90 ·
5 freaking motors on this POS!!! Mine sounds like #5 but I guess I need to crawl under there and see for sure before I buy the part. If I have to pull the dash I will replace all the Air Mix motors (as they are referred to). On my previous Jeep I needed to replace the EVAP coil which meant removing the entire plenum (complete assembly) I ended up replacing the entire assembly (EVAP, Heater core, fan motor, all air mix motors and plenum. It was only $200 more than just replacing the EVAP and heater core.
 
#92 ·
On the diagram is shows 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 as motors. what happened to good old fashion slide style selectors. Never broke the cable and rod assemblies
 
#93 ·
#94 ·
Nice write up fella's!!
This is surely a feature that came w/ my truck that I am not particularly fond of haha.
I must admit tho it is a hoot! First time I noticed it I had a pretty good buzz on and herd it and thought there was demons in my dash.. haha
Well I was right, actuator demons!
 
#95 ·
I gave this a shot today and learned a few things that might be useful to someone else. It is much more difficult if you have the rockford fosgate system. The amp is in the way, and I couldn't figure out how to remove it. I unbolted the amp and unbolted the gas pedal and that gave me enough room to work to get the old actuator out. I ordered the wrong actuator, so I didn't get a new one in there. I just left it out. I'm not sure what ill effects that will have, but at least I won't have to hear that clicking for a while.

I ordered part number 27743-ZH00A, which is the lower actuator that is right behind the trim piece and is easy to get to. The part I should have ordered is 27743-ZS00A. It is the one that is a little higher up and is really hard to get to.
 
#96 ·
Thank You for this.. i have a 2005 Titan and mine does it sometimes, not all the time, but my mother in laws truck an 04 Titan does it constantly and it is soooo annoying... thanks for the info
 
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