Remove heater plenum on a 1998 Ford Explorer?

Answer 1

Tough job. You have to remove the dash panel including the steering wheel and steering column. To remove the box, the AC system has to be evacuated and the radiator drained, and both disconnected. The box can now come out. If your problem is with air flow control, the problem is most likely with the blend door. This is a common fail mode on the Explorer. Follow my user name to my Bio Page for pointers to the HeaterTreater web site. This site has information on diagnosis and repair of the Plenum box without the necessity of removing it. ford4me

Typically this is done to repair a broken blend door; a mechanic will disassemble the entire dash, and replace the plenum box. Unfortunately this is an expensive fix because it is labor and parts intensive. There is a DIY solution called heatertreater. They provide instructions on how to access the blend door by removing the glove box, and replacing the blend door without removing the dash and plenum assembly. Broken blend doors are a common problem among Ford explorers, and most heating and A/C issues in late model Ford explorers are directly caused by a malfunctioning blend door.

Read more: 2004%20ford%20explorer%20heater%20problems%20clikcing%20noiseThat is why Aluminum blend doors, recirculation doors and modes doors would be preferred over the plastic OEM blend doors.

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