Rear Glass Actuator

The Highlander said:

Well, Your van is almost 20 years old and No one want spends alot $$$ to repair on low value of vehicle. 70's or older vehicles are different story.

Like your 1995 Chevy Astro's value is around $2,000. I checked on kbb.com


My 2002 mazda protege5's value was around $900 due 180,000 miles, rust, and manual transmission. The water pump just failed and it was loose then chewed both of belts. Whole parts cost around $300 to replace the new water pump, timing belt(Must remove timing belt to allow remove the water pump), two belts, gasket, idler pulley, etc plus probably took more than 4 hours (I guess). So scraped it for $300 today and plan to get a new Mazda 3 2014 5 doors with 6 speeds manual. I don't want to deal with problem again when drive to a new job at long distance.

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Calvin said:

Explorers have the similar issues as well with the plastic blend door. You can get through the glove compartment and manually switch doors for a/c for summer or heat for winter. I have the issue with that but it doesn't bother me much because I work nights and I rarely use a/c and let the windows open for the breeze. The heater works perfect and it stays where it is.

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deafsmogtech said:

My van is better than buy a brand new car that eat up my paycheck. Better to hoarding more money into retirement fund...

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deafsmogtech said:

My wife complaints no heater in her 2000 Explorer w/5.0L V-8 that she says she drive from home to work, upon arrival the heater finally work fine. I dim at the inlet/outlet hoses at the heater core with my Raytek temperature infrared gun, found both same hot, nothing wrong but I lean toward the blend door, open glove box put my small mirror to inspect the blend door actuator motor, still rotate forward/backward with scroll temp knob, I suspect the shaft thru the door is slipping, but I find the heater output is normal nothing wrong when I took it to my work to describe my wife's complaint. Only happen in cold day.

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The Highlander said:

If you live in Midwest and your paycheck will eat up for new parts a lot due rust, winter, and poor fuel efficiency. Once I get a brand new car and not worry about problem for LONG LONG times. If problem then free repair under the warranty. Plus your shop allows you to use your personal vehicle for repair whatever you want like my old job as auto shop but new job as semi-truck shops are not allow or can't due no car lift. Also semi-truck business are so BUSY all times and hard to slow down unlike auto shops. Thinking about that.

What's wrong with 401k for retirement?


If you see vehicle have rust from the frame and are you feels safely to lift it up?

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Calvin said:

My dad had similar problem like this... no heat. Actuator was repaired and both a/c and heater works fine.

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deafsmogtech said:

I did check vacuum lines and vacuum reservoir (tank), found no vacuum leaks prior to diagnose no heater. Her car have a manual climate control system. I notice A/C compressor starts to be fade, able not produce cold air when the ambient temperature is high. If she complaint no cold air then I will replace compressor, accumulator and orfice tube (similar to expansion valve). Easy fix...

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ncff07 said:

It's done except for putting the interior panel back on and will wait a couple days for the JB Weld to cure completely for that ... pulled the inside metal tailgate wall off and unhooked the linkage for the tailgate then was able to get inside and replace the actuator rod ... took maybe 10 minutes to get it on and set right ... here is a pic of the old broken rod next to the new one ...

This pic shows how it connected ... when the actuator is tripped it pulls the rod and attached metal arm to the right to strike against the latch ...

Different angle showing the latch position to the right of the actuator rod and arm...

It works as it should now but having 2nd thoughts about the JB Weld idea its split more than I first thought had to use an entire pack to fill it in ... gonna let it cure and see how strong it is before I decide but may hit the junkyards to find another panel just modify it ... cut the wings that wrap around the tailgate off and drill holes to attach it with sheet metal screws instead. While I had it apart I replaced all 4 tail lights and both reverse lights ... who ever changed them last had put double filament stop/turn bulbs in the reverse lights. And put new high intensity low beam headlights in to try they were as bright as the regular high beam lights so I ordered the same thing in high beam to put in next.

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The Highlander said:

I don't see JB Weld in the picture.

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