No air flow (heat or AC) to floor area

[Hero161]

I purchased a 2013 C-Max SEL (303A pkg) this past September with a little over 52,000 miles. I have dealer details of past service that gives me the feeling that the car was well taken care of.

 

Now with colder weather coming to Tenessee the heating unit is blowing warmer air into the cabin and I notice it wasn't switching to the floor vents. It only blows the air through the dash vents. When I raise the heat temperature it still flows only though the dash vents. Switching to manual push button 'floor vents' does nothing. Still blows from the dash vents.

 

I took it to my trusted Ford service dealer of 4 years for their advise and they tell me it is a 10 hour job to get into the dash and replace the housing unit. If I understood them completely the housing unit has all the air flow valves and is very complex and needs to be replaced. The cost is quoted at $1,663.72.  10 hours x $95/hr. labor and I assume the balance is the cost of the housing.

 

Does anyone have some advise for me to consider before I invest this amount of money? My wife thinks an extra pair of socks may work. Me, not so much....

 

Rick Hero

[homestead]

My ford explorer had a similar problem.  I googled the problem and found there was a plastic servo arm

that had a habit of breaking.  Was able to locate the arm under the dash and drill a hole into it and secure

it with a cable tie with out dismantling the dash.  It has been working now for 5 or 6 years.

[plus 3 golfer]

Are there any Diagnostic Trouble Codes listed on the dealer's Service Order for diagnosing the issue?  Ten hours of labor suggests removing the dash and removing the HVAC box under the dash which requires messing with the refrigerant and coolant systems.  I looked in the service manual and have attached the components diagram of the HVAC box under the dash.  

 

To get to the two actuators (#2 and #4 on the attachment) on the left side (driver's side) of the box, requires removing the driver side knee air bags. There is no procedure shown for removing the actuating assembly (#1) which IMO may be the issue.  It may be sold as part of the HVAC box.  Perhaps the actuating assembly can be removed after the two actuators are removed.  If the issue is the actuating box, perhaps a fix like Homestead indicates is possible. 

 

If the air bags weren't involved in getting to #2 and #4 (I've never removed air bags), I would not hesitate in seeing if I could remove the actuating assembly without disassembling the dash and assessing whether it is broken and could be fixed rather than spending $1700. 

 

BTW, there are many fault codes for the Climate Control System and a scan with ForScan might indicate what the issue is.