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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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#103 ·
Thank you admin (bestatchess). Also, from the e-mail I sent to my dealer one week ago before I knew what the problem was, the estimate I received today was $1500 for parts and labor. Seriously?

Thanks to you guys, I found out what the problem was and discovered that it is a task that can be done by myself. Total cost to me =32$ for the part and a few hours of frustrating labor.
 
#108 ·
Finally replaced the actuator on the driver's side footwell that controls the defrost/vent/ac positioning. I ordered part #27743-ZP00A since its the same one that was already in there, and when I ordered it from Performance Nissan they confirmed that this was the correct part. For those of you who don't have the RF stereo, consider yourself blessed when it comes to performing this swap. That damned amplifier is right in the way, and there is no way to remove it or the brackets.

The entire event took me about 4 hours, and here is why:
Disassembly - 15 min.
Trying to remove the amp and brackets with no success - 30 min.
Couldn't find my 1/4" drive extension, go to neighbor's house to borrow one, get caught up in coversation about guns - 45 min.
Neighbor had everything BUT 1/4" drive extension, had to run to Ace to buy another - 30 min.
Trying to get my little fingers into the tight spaces to remove the bolts -30 min.
TV break to keep from going insaine - 1 hr.
Finally replacing the actuator and puting everything back together - 30 min.

:bangit:
 
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#109 ·
Finally replaced the actuator on the driver's side footwell that controls the defrost/vent/ac positioning. I ordered part #27743-ZP00A since its the same one that was already in there, and when I ordered it from Performance Nissan they confirmed that this was the correct part. For those of you who don't have the RF stereo, consider yourself blessed when it comes to performing this swap. That damned amplifier is right in the way, and there is no way to remove it or the brackets.
:bangit:
Damn I have two are are clicking the one on the drives side and the other sounds like its to the left of the radio on the passanger side..and I have the RF sound system..im soo not looking forward to this :crying:

So part#27743-ZP00A is the drivers side above the gas pedal does anyone know the part# to the other i need??:bangit:
 
#110 ·
What happened to the pics showing how to repair this item? I had the dealer do it for $200. Problem is the darn thing doesn't go all teh way back to cool so I figured I'd check on it. Not sure where to get a small person to use, thoughhttp://www.titantalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif!
 
#111 ·
My truck has made this annoying noise for a few yrs now...glad I found this thread. The truck makes the clicking noise even when I don't mess with any of the controls. I turned the knob that adjusts the amount of air blowing and I didn't get the clicking noise, however when I turn either of the other two I get the clicking noise and it sounds like it comes from the middle of the dash and another area back there too...Probably gonna be pullin the dash soon cuz that noise is startin to make me crazy. Mostof the time I drive with my music turned up loud so I don't hear it.
 
#112 ·
I have a 2006 4X4 SE Crew Cab and just started experiencing this problem. I'm not sure exactly which one of my actuators is busted.

The noises happen only at start-up and shut off of truck and last for approximately 5-7 seconds of the clicking noise until it stops. It doesn't seem to be tied to any of the actual air conditioning knobs are anything like that as I can have AC/Heater everything completely turned off at start-up and still get the clicking noise. Is it possible that some other actuator has failed that's not the AC/Heater one talked about in this thread...

any suggestions?
 
#113 ·
okay so I have the clicking noise when I switch from defrost now to max ac and it's a very loud distinct click in the cabin. Then when I turn on the truck sometimes and when I shut off the engine I get a faint ticking noise coming from more under the hood that is far more noticeable from the outside than inside. I can get the small quiet tick to also do this when I switch from max cold on my temp toward the middle then turn the knob back to cool....

can someone point me out what actuators I need to replace please? thanks
 
#114 · (Edited)
I had this problem too, and thanks to this thread I was able to fix it myself. I wont embarrass the dealer who quoted me several hundred dollars to do this. It took me about 3 hours, but I removed the seat and sub in order to give myself enough room to work. I also had a satellite radio, gas pedal, BCM, and some other wiring I need to clear out of the way for proper access. Once I had the old one out I split it apart and sure enough there was a broken tooth.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the inside of one of these little jewels. The part number that worked for me was 27443-ZP00A, $36.73 from NissanPartsZone and that included the freight.




 
#117 ·
The entire part.....
 
#118 · (Edited)
I have the notorious "knocking" right behind the stereo and underneath the cell phone tray on the dash in my '05 cc.What actuator P/N is that again I just want to triple check before i purchase.My "knocking"happens without me touching any climate controls it happens whenever it feels like it.Started about a month ago and I just cant take it anymore.
 
#119 ·
Here you go:

Update: The 27743-ZP00A is the correct acuator for the Air Mix. Yes the whole dash has to be removed to access it. It took me about 4 hours to complete the R&R. Cost about $25 at the dealer.

It had gotten so bad that when I cranked the truck on cool mornings it would click for 5 minutes and I did not move the temp control at all.
 
#125 ·
Question for the people that have the RF sound system and have managed to replace the upper actuator in the OP's post.

How the heck did you do it? I ripped into it this morning and there was no way I could get to the screws on the actuator behind the bracket holding the RF amp. I couldn't even find enough room to loosen the bolts on the bracket for the amp:crying: (this is on a 2004 CC LE if that makes a difference).

What's the trick that I'm so obviously missing?

Anyone that has done this that lives in the north Dallas area and wants to make a few bucks?

I don't even want to know what the dealer is going to charge for this and I'm sure they would manage to trash the interior of the truck even if I was willing to pay them to fix it.
 
#126 ·
You don't get at it from behind the audio system, you access it from under the dash looking up. In my case I removed the front seat so I had a good amount of room to lay on my back. Then I removed the kick panel, accellorator pedal, BCM Module, and anything else that was in the way from getting to it. It took a couple hours to do, but you'll save a boat load of cash over taking it to the dealer.
 
#127 ·
Yes, I was laying on the floor looking up after removing the seat, sub, and BCM.

Directly above the bracket for the BCM there is another bracket that the RF amp is bolted to in my 2004. The actuator is toward the center of the truck "behind" that bracket and there is only about a half inch of space between the bracket and the actuator. There is no way to get a socket in there on any of the screws for the actuator. I couldn't even find room up in there to loosen/remove the bracket holding the RF amp. Maybe the location of things is different on the 2004 model because they didn't have dual climate control.

Trust me, I know it will cost an arm and a leg at the stealership and I wouldn't trust them to change my oil without denting my hood (which they did the first and only time I let them change the oil). I can only imagine what they would do if I let them loose on this.
 
#128 ·
I have the RF system in my 2005 LE too. After moving the BCM bracket I was able to get a 1/4" drive socket on there using a 6" extension. I cant imagine there is too much difference between the 04 and 05 with RF systems, but maybe there is.
 
#130 ·
Okay, I've read this thread from start to finish now, and still haved contradicting answers to which part number I need to replace.

Its a 2007 titan se.

The clicking occurs when I go from full windshield defrost to any other selection using the right knob on the dash.

Which actuator is this, and what is the part number? Where is THIS actuator located? Closest to the gas pedal, or is it the actuator above the one closest to the gas pedal?
 
#131 ·
Your looking for the air blend door that is highest actuator above the gas pedal. crawl under there and have someone work the controls for you. You can put your up in there and feel it popping.
 
#135 ·
Mine starts clicking as soon as I start the truck then will continue to click as I'm driving an stop for a little bit the start clicking again for no reason even with everything off. Then it stops for a little bit then starts clicking again when I'm sitting at a stop light or just cruising down the freeway with everything turned off. Please help me an tell me which actuator needs to be replaced. I don't care if it's the hardest one time fix I'll do it
 
#137 · (Edited)
Thanks for this thread. Only problem is all of the part number floating around make it very confusing as to which part number is the correct one.

27743-ZS00A is no longer available from Nissan NA according to Courtesy Parts. This seems to be a new development as I saw post from people from as recently as a month or two ago that were able to get this part.
27743-ZP00A is the replacement for this part.

Both of those are for the upper actuator.

27743-ZH00A is for the lower actuator that is right behind the kick panel.

I know this info is posted somewhere in the middle of this thread, but it was in multiple posts with people posting conflicting info which made it confusing as to which part people were talking about. Figured I'd post this info so people don't have to go digging through the thread to find it.
 
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