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

[core2]

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.

[EseLoco918]

How much beer and/or money would I need to give you to fix mine?

[core2]

enough to pay for a trip to the chiropractor

[EseLoco918]

What if I can get a small asian lady to walk on your back while you lay down?

[mpwrd3]

Thanks for this, this has been driving me nuts for years!

[O-FiveCC]

Is this that one "click" it makes when turning the knob back?? That click really annoys people?

[EseLoco918]

Originally Posted by O-FiveCC

Is this that one "click" it makes when turning the knob back?? That click really annoys people?

If by "one click" you mean clicking six thousand times, sometimes for no reason, then yes.

[O-FiveCC]

Oh ok, I guess mine doesn't do it. Mine clicks just once...I was about to say, if one click was making people mad then people need xynex LOL....but a bunch of clicks would piss me off too

If by "one click" you mean clicking six thousand times

made me LOL

[Cali Titan]

Yeah mine does this to. I would describe mine as more like a long creaking noise, but I guess a hundred clicks in a row would work too. Thanks for the tip btw

[titaninak]

yes the annoying click, turn your truck off and sit there for a minute or so and then you can hear it...........i usally get out before it happens but I remember the first time it happened to me, I was like "WTF"......................what is the difference between the 2.....i think i saw a post if you just grease the gear looking thing the noise will go away..

[EseLoco918]

Finally got around to fixing mine. It only took me a few minutes and was pretty easy.

Mine was more to the right of the gas pedal behind the plastic shroud around the floor vent.

Mine also turned out to need a completely different actuator.

[jason14x]

Well after Im sure my manifolds dont need replacing next week, I find out what the crazy clicking and ticking from the front passenger side at low speeds is and I get my new exhaust on I may have to tackle this one.

One thing at a time....and one paycheck at a time..lol.

On that note other than the crazy grounding cable fix has anyone found any other significant cause to the ticking and clicking ??? The fix seems too easy..lol!

[core2]

Originally Posted by EseLoco918

Finally got around to fixing mine. It only took me a few minutes and was pretty easy.

Mine was more to the right of the gas pedal behind the plastic shroud around the floor vent.

Mine also turned out to need a completely different actuator.

my actuator on the passenger side heater box just went out a month ago and started doing the clicky thing as well. There seems to be a bunch of these in the dash and they are all equally crappy and strip out often.

[krc333]

Good info, mine just started doing this last week after I changed my radio bevel. I thought I screwed something up when putting everything back in the dash.

Now I just need to figure out the constant rattle from under my truck when I'm stopped and iddeling.

[EseLoco918]

According to the parts guy, there is one of the one I posted, and three of the one the OP posted. Depending on when yours clicks will depend on which one needs fixing.