Bordercollie
Garden Grove, CA, USA
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Joined: 03/07/2002
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I suddenly have cold air coming through defrost vents only, not through dash vents. Defective parts are buried behind firewall on engine side, not accessible without much complicated disassembly. A number of You Tube how-to videos show an easy "bypass" replacement of vacuum hose, check valve, etc., fix to restore normal AC vent control. Ignoring the problem allows loss of vacuum and affects proper engine operation.
I'm hoping that a local RV repair shop can do the easy bypass repair at a reasonably small cost.
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carringb
Corvallis, OR
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Joined: 07/28/2003
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How do you know the defective parts are under the dash? Did you confirm you have have vacuum before the firewall?
2000 Ford E450 V10 VAN! 450,000+ miles
2014 ORV really big trailer
2015 Ford Focus ST
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theoldwizard1
SE MI
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Joined: 09/07/2010
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I agree with carrying. Usually all of the actuator are inside the cabin.
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bobndot
USA
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Joined: 08/21/2007
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You don’t need an rv shop $$.
Any mechanic that has van experience will work. You just need someone willing to work outside if your rig doesn't fit in the bay.
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theoldwizard1
SE MI
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Older E-Series used vacuum actuators while the newer models used electric.
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Bordercollie
Garden Grove, CA, USA
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Pretty sure from all the videos that my 2004 Tioga E-450 has vacuum actuator. There is a small length of rubber hose that rots and breaks and a check valve that is buried behind the engine, behind firewall. At 83 I can't do DIY much crawling under dash, etc. This sounds like a common problem on older E-450's.
Ford should have made maintenance easier.
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winnietrey
seattle
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Joined: 03/26/2005
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In my case rats had chewed through the hose. Seemed like was $150 or so if memory serves. Did have a bit of trouble finding someone that had seen if before and knew how to fix it
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Bordercollie
Garden Grove, CA, USA
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Our rig has vacuum actuator, I moved it manually and cold air came out of dash vents.
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klutchdust
Orange, California
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Joined: 06/09/2004
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On another Ford product my in laws had it required removing the dash pad for access to those actuators. Removing the dash is not as complex as it might seem , some screws and it can be tilted backward. However. I am not familiar with this application .
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Bordercollie
Garden Grove, CA, USA
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The actuator is not the problem, it's a broken rubber vacuum line down behind the engine not easy to get to without a lot of disassembly, much easier to rig a bypass vacuum line per various You Tube videos.
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