I PURCHASED A 2004 FORD EXPLORER XLT MARCH OF 2008 WITH ONLY 40,000 MILES ON IT. I WOULD SAY 8MTHS AFTER MY PURCHASE I STARTED TO NOTICE A LOUD CLICKING NOISE WHENEVER I TURNED ON MY AC/HEATER. IT WOULD BE LOUDER WHEN I TURNED ON MY HEAT. I IGNORED IT BECAUSE BOTH MY HEAT AND AC CONTINUED TO WORK. I WAS JUST CURIOUS AS TO WHY THE CLICKING NOISE WOULD COME AND GO. LONG STORY SHORT, NOW THE CLICKING NOISE IS STILL THERE AND NOW MY HEAT DOESN'T WORK AT ALL!!!!! FRUSTRATED BECAUSE IT WILL COST AROUND $900 TO FIX. I STARTED SEEKING FOR PORTABLE HEATERS ONLINE...JUST TO SEE THAT MY SEARCH REVEALED THAT THIS IS A KNOWN ISSUE WITH THE BLEND DOOR BEING FAULTY IN FORD EXPLORERS!!! WHY HASN'T FORD CALLED THIS ISSUE AND SENT LETTERS TO OWNERS TO HAVE THIS ISSUE FIXED? WHEN DO MAJOR COMPANIES UPHOLD THEIR PRODUCT AND AT LEAST HAVE SOME SENSE OF INTEGRITY!!!!!

i hate ford!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i dont have anything good to say about the company.........i think it is total bs that its gonna cost 1500.00 to fix a piece of plastic... i have 2 small children that i have to drive to school with no heat both of them screaming im freezing.....maybe i should make the ford people drive them to school with no heat...i dont know bout the rest of you but i cant afford to pay 1500.00 for a piece of plastic....total bs.....i really hope that ford goes under for making such crappy vehicles...i will never own another one!!!!!

At only 55,000 miles, I started to hear a really loud clicking noise. It sounded like it was coming from the dash. It scared me at first, then I took it to a local Ford dealer. They said it was a broken blend door and they would have to take the dash out to replace it. All for the lovely price of 1500.00. I cannot afford that price, so I will not be having my heat on high when winter comes. I hope Ford recalls this soon. What a pain. Why do they use such a cheap part that apparently isn't working?

Apparently an inexpensive piece of plastic under the dash controls the air flow and is susceptible to breaking which virtually stops all all flow/cool air from being discharged. Ford is well aware of this problem but to my knowledge has not issued a recall. I was fortunate because I'd purchased the extended warranty. The dash has to be completely removed to make the repair and this is the primary reason for the high cost. Problems like this are why Ford is loosing billions of dollars and customer loyalty.

There was a loud clicking behind my dash and I knew it was the heater, my car had approximately 31000 miles on it then but the warranty was over my 3 years. I looked up the information on the internet and was surprised that this was such a common problem for Fords. I had an estimate which was approximately 1500.00 and was told the dash needed to come off. Not satisfied with that answer I went to a friend of mine who would have replaced it for free, with of course me buying the OEM Blend Motor. The problem I have with this is WHY does Ford continue to make a plastic piece (blend door pin) that they are well aware keeps breaking and they do nothing, it's not just the explorer. Also the best part of the whole thing is its almost in-accessible to get to the blend motor as the bolts that hold the heater housing on are almost impossible to undo, which means they either didn't give a sh** when they built this or assumed that their heater problems would miraculously fix themselves. My AC works just fine and heat comes out of the vents but the clicking is horrible and sounds as if the gears are stuck. As we pulled the whole front apart, we saw the poor craftsmanship of the car as it had been put together underneath everything. Lots of things were held together with electrical tape and not in a neat way your would expect for your $30,000 dollar car. Needless to say as for now I bought UGG boots to get through this winter since I refuse to give Ford my 1500 bucks I cannot afford to fix something they should have recalled in the 90's and I refuse to let my friend cut through the heater housing with a dremel to replace a piece of plastic to save on 10 hours of labor. There are heater treatments on the market but I am not sure I am that comfortable with that. This is why a bailout for Ford pisses me off. They would have happy customers that would gladly return if they took care of them in the first place. This was my 3rd Ford since my service team at my dealer was so awesome, but this will definitely be my last. I expect this kind of thing from foreign cars but not American made. This is something that should be recalled!!!!!!!!!!!