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Nissan HVAC Box Problem

13K views 32 replies 17 participants last post by  jimbey2 
#1 ·
I have a 2017 Rogue and the heater stopped getting warm unless you turned it up to 90. I took it to Nissan and service told me that the blend door actuator had stripped out the plast on the housing of the HVAC housing and the whole Box needed replacement. $2700.00! Has anyone had this issue or heard of a repair instead of $2700 going to the service department? I know Dorman makes a repair kit for Jeep and a few others but not Nissan or at least not to my knowledge.Thanks, RS
 
#2 ·
I have a 2017 Rogue and the heater stopped getting warm unless you turned it up to 90. I took it to Nissan and service told me that the blend door actuator had stripped out the plastic on the housing of the HVAC housing and the whole Box needed replacement. $2700.00! Has anyone had this issue or heard of a repair instead of $2700 going to the service department? I know Dorman makes a repair kit for Jeep and a few others but not Nissan or at least not to my knowledge.Thanks, RS
Is there a reason you only went to only one Nissan dealer for an estimate?
 
#6 ·
What you get with cheap crap design parts and note they are used to effect the max amount of cost to repair. They are still using the engineers all right, they just turned them inward to quit fixing to improve things, now they are used to generate more profit for the company.
 
#10 ·
A lot of the cheap crummy controls used now that are electric rotate in the direction to either open or close the door but they never stop working unless the switch is turned back off. Meaning the door keeps trying to open more once it is all the way open , or close the same way. If the motors would just turn off the parts would not strip nearly so easy.
 
#13 ·
I feel like I have the same issue with my 2018 Rogue at 16900 miles. However, after Nissan told me what they did, I took it home and drove another car for a while and made an appt with Midas to get a second (actually third) opinion. I went to drive the Rogue and the heat was on BOTH sides! Just today, my spouse said it started blowing cold again. This makes me wonder if mine is electrical. Going to look for a schematic for it and see if there is a possibility.

Thing is, if I go spend the $3000 to have the thing replaced and it does NOT work, then what?

I recall in 1991, I went to Nissan in Denver to get my car fixed before heading to Las Vegas (1982 Datsun 200SX) and the thing would not accelerate clean. Nissan said it was a $500 computer. I went to a local shop and had it fixed running fine and did not replace the computer...cleaned connections. Another reason I'm hesitant to have Nissan work my vehicle.
 
#14 ·
I had the same problem with the stripped blend door on the HVAC box. I was determined to find an alternate fix other than $3000 to replace the box. I designed and 3D printed a piece that would go into the remaining not stripped part of female spline (there is about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch behind the stripped part.. It worked until I went in the car twice, without starting it. it seems the engineer designed it always go towards cold as a zero point,, so if its doesn't stop it keeps going after entering the car. You dont even need to start the car. It moves when you open the car door. The torque is enough to snap my PLA plastic 3Dpart. Thats why the glue and tape doesn't work long,, the actuator continually will go towards cold past the blend door stop point. So in conclusion I made a design that fits in there and will slip when the torque is high, and stay locked in when its enough to turn the blend door. It is working perfectly. So now Nissan is not getting a $3k repair from me for their Bad Engineering. I have a 2018 Rogue. Bought for business trips, there is no question this is an Engineering flaw Nissan should take care of. But since its not a safety issue I suspect they don't want the cost. This is not normal wear and tear that cased this. I'll take some pictures and post if anyone is interested in a alternate fix.
 
#15 ·
A person after my own ways. I do things the same way and NEVER give up that kind of money when I see they could have spent 25 more cents to fix a problem they create simply to make big repairs that bring in max cash.

Fords are made with the same plastic shaft stripping issues, on mine the blower can be removed to then bend the somewhat flexible shaft out to then stick it in backwards as the ends are mirror images. Probably so the part fits right hand drive cars in other countries. The door then got a new shaft in effect and works fine for years now.

The doors are commonly motorized now but the motors never turn off as they do not limit them to do so, and why the plastic shafts strip. The shafts are so cheap it's comical but buried in a high value max cost part that requires dash to remove to change it commonly. Why some you can get to to change just the doors but a lot of them you can't.
 
#16 ·
[
A person after my own ways. I do things the same way and NEVER give up that kind of money when I see they could have spent 25 more cents to fix a problem they create simply to make big repairs that bring in max cash.

Fords are made with the same plastic shaft stripping issues, on mine the blower can be removed to then bend the somewhat flexible shaft out to then stick it in backwards as the ends are mirror images. Probably so the part fits right hand drive cars in other countries. The door then got a new shaft in effect and works fine for years now.

The doors are commonly motorized now but the motors never turn off as they do not limit them to do so, and why the plastic shafts strip. The shafts are so cheap it's comical but buried in a high value max cost part that requires dash to remove to change it commonly. Why some you can get to to change just the doors but a lot of them you can't.
QUOTE="chris24918, post: 5673066, member: 427474"]
I had the same problem with the stripped blend door on the HVAC box. I was determined to find an alternate fix other than $3000 to replace the box. I designed and 3D printed a piece that would go into the remaining not stripped part of female spline (there is about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch behind the stripped part.. It worked until I went in the car twice, without starting it. it seems the engineer designed it always go towards cold as a zero point,, so if its doesn't stop it keeps going after entering the car. You dont even need to start the car. It moves when you open the car door. The torque is enough to snap my PLA plastic 3Dpart. Thats why the glue and tape doesn't work long,, the actuator continually will go towards cold past the blend door stop point. So in conclusion I made a design that fits in there and will slip when the torque is high, and stay locked in when its enough to turn the blend door. It is working perfectly. So now Nissan is not getting a $3k repair from me for their Bad Engineering. I have a 2018 Rogue. Bought for business trips, there is no question this is an Engineering flaw Nissan should take care of. But since its not a safety issue I suspect they don't want the cost. This is not normal wear and tear that cased this. I'll take some pictures and post if anyone is interested in a alternate fix.
[/QUOTE]
I had the same problem with the stripped blend door on the HVAC box. I was determined to find an alternate fix other than $3000 to replace the box. I designed and 3D printed a piece that would go into the remaining not stripped part of female spline (there is about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch behind the stripped part.. It worked until I went in the car twice, without starting it. it seems the engineer designed it always go towards cold as a zero point,, so if its doesn't stop it keeps going after entering the car. You dont even need to start the car. It moves when you open the car door. The torque is enough to snap my PLA plastic 3Dpart. Thats why the glue and tape doesn't work long,, the actuator continually will go towards cold past the blend door stop point. So in conclusion I made a design that fits in there and will slip when the torque is high, and stay locked in when its enough to turn the blend door. It is working perfectly. So now Nissan is not getting a $3k repair from me for their Bad Engineering. I have a 2018 Rogue. Bought for business trips, there is no question this is an Engineering flaw Nissan should take care of. But since its not a safety issue I suspect they don't want the cost. This is not normal wear and tear that cased this. I'll take some pictures and post if anyone is interested in a alternate fix.
How can I get a hold of you? Can you email me
JGaray131@yahoo.com
 
#18 ·
Hello Timhmccasland,
I had posted my solution on another thread and got many responses. Sold some via messenger communications, and have gotten excellent results. Therefore today I published a website, www.unique-engineered-products.com. I have detailed installation instructions that are worth looking at as well. One guy had stripped his out even more by using a screwdriver to move it. This worked for him as well.
 
#22 ·
You guys are awesome. I've been lurking for a while, and I've been impressed with this forum. It's kind of a funny story I joined today because I also have a fix for the Nissan Rogue heater box! I just saw the fix that Chris24918 came up with. Great idea! I am a shop owner so mine is geared more towards shops and repair techs. But it is simple-anyone can do it! A support piece is added to the heater box and the gear in the heater door actuator motor is swapped out. With my kit the vehicle is returned to a close to stock condition. The floor vent is in place and everything mounts and looks stock. Although if it were my personal vehicle I might be tempted to leave that vent off because it's such a pain to remove and replace.🤣

It is my belief that the heater door has a manufacturing defect and destroys itself. I don't want to say bad things about any company but I have some observational experience with these parts.

Those doors are made out of a high quality polypropylene plastic for cold and hot temperature strength and rigidity. As a result they happen to be very much chemical resistant. Almost no glue will stick to them. And the couple glues that do don't work very well to get inside that 19 mm deep bore where the crack is.
I have one set up that I have that works amazing. I have glued polyethylene plastic to one of those doors with my system and it held 120 lbs no problem. 120 lbs was my test limit so who knows how strong it really is. But that is tensile strength. I also measured torsional strength which is twisting or turning. I have a spare heater box and a bench tester to run the motors. Those motors only put out 8 inch pounds of turning torque. I glued a small 3/8 inch plastic nut to one of those doors using only the surface area on one face of the nut. I measured 77 inch pounds in torque before separating. Some of polypropylene broke off the door too which is amazing! Measuring the torsional strength of the adhesive that way I believe that that door can be reinforced effectively.
I have been developing this for almost a year and a half with several failures. I think I have finally come up with the correct solution. I will have a full scale fully functional prototype this next week which I will install into my spare heater box. If I can run it through 10,000 Cycles with no issues and no damage I think it's good to go.


I think the permanent solution is to reinforce that heater door so it doesn't break apart anymore. I have a few of these doors to observe. The insides all look perfect and have some strength engineered into them so I don't think that will fail. With this adhesive setup I have and my design I believe it will strengthen the shaft bore on the heater door and hold it together. I would love to give more details but I want to be ready to go first. Hoping to be ready in about 8 weeks or less! The website is under construction. Thanks all!


Nathan
 
#24 ·
Hello! I'm supposed to be about 7 weeks out on production. So I'm getting close! I don't think it'll fit a 2013. But maybe some of the later ones. I need to get all the production breaks figured out. Here are some pictures of the heater box. If you push on the little white nub circled in the picture it will push the door assembly further into the motor. Or if it's a dual zone which it probably is that little nub will have a lever on it circled the second picture. By pushing the door assembly further into the motor it ought to move temporarily. If you move it to hot after doing that and then unplug the motor it might stay there and at least keep you going for now. The third picture is the motor circled that you need to unplug. I hope that helps! If you have any other questions let me know!

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#25 ·
Something else to possibly consider................if the doors concerned have foam seals at the contact edges. The foam is often sticky back tape fastened down and the tape decays with heat and time and can also dissolve the foam to then form a sticky mess that will make the door stay stuck until whatever control finally peels the door loose. That can break whatever the actuator method is used there too.

On my Fords I learned to quit breaking the cable actuating the door by making the door come very close to closed but not actually closed fully. The door then quit sticking shut as it never quite contacted enough to be able to. I did it by adding limiter stops to my HVAC door cam.
 
#26 ·
Good call AMC49. And nice work on the Ford modifications. These doors are overmolded with high quality rubber. They don't stick at all. In my stripped down test box I can reach in and move the doors freely. Also they flop around with the slightest movement when I pick up the box. The recirculate door is the only one with foam seals.
Dress Sleeve Collar Toy Wood
 
#27 ·

Also I have successfully reduced the torque of the motor! It is still direct drive but about half the torque. Yet it still has enough power to spin the doors around. Even the two doors together in the single zone heater setup. That's my part of my test setup I used to see if it would work. I then put the modified motor in my mom's Rogue and it works great!
 
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