Thanks so much for the video! I had been told by a Toyota dealership in Duncan BC that the only way to fix the passenger air blend door actuator on my 2009 Camry was to order a complete heater box (with a 5 week lead time), and would require approximately 12 hours of their labor to completely remove the entire dashboard at a cost of about $4K to replace the entire heater/AC box. There was no way I'd spend that much to repair a 12 year old car, but my time is relatively free :-) and I love challenges. I ran into the same challenge you did trying to remove that assembly but your video convinced me it was possible. You must force it at the right angle but it can come out. I cleaned the inside of the faulty actuator and it works fine now. Warning to anyone thinking of doing this unless you know what you're doing (or very patient): re-installing it correctly so the blend/temperature flaps all engage properly into the two actuators, wheel channels and gears took a bit of reverse engineering and several attempts until I finally figured it out. I think I would do it again to save the car (and $4K), but it would definitely be a challenge to explain to someone how to do it, so I don't recommend it unless you have a lot of patience. I think I spent 12 hours of my time on this to figure it out, but it works like a charm now. It sure beats removing the entire dashboard! How did the world ever get so far without KZfaq and the Internet!

Finally there’s a video! lol 🙌🏽 took me 2 years to find a video I just gave up and suffered in the winter. Thank you!

For anyone wanting to reinstall one of these, I fumbled for over an hour learning the insides and outs of the darn thing and this is what I figured out. With the actuators completely removed, turn the car on and put it in defrost mode. Now move the white and black pieces that would be controlled by the top back actuator (the mode one) until it closes the leg vent (where the black tube piece was connected before) and you hear/feel all the air come out the front vent. These are the positions the valves need to be in for the top and most complicated actuator. Plug the actuators in (you may want to do this with the power cut, but I didnt) and then turn the fan back to full. Turn the mode back to defrost if it isn't already and the fan to full. Slide the assembly back in as best you can focusing mainly on the top actuator. If you go in at an angle you should be able to somewhat see now where each pin should go in the white orbital gear wheel thing, and you should hear if something is wrong with the airflow too. Remember that at this point the defrost mode is on and the valves should be in or near the correct spot, so if the air sounds wrong the valves are in the wrong spot. You may need to poke or gently nudge some of the pins with a screwdriver to get them in the right spot. Once the top is in its onto the bottom one. Turn the passenger side temperature to max heat. Push the pie shaped valve gear on the car forward until it kind of slams into place (the air pressure will hold it there). Now the white piece and the actuators gear should almost fit. You may need to stick your hand in behind and push the white valve piece forward a bit until it fits in behind the shoulder of the actuator gear. Then you need to carefully get the most bottom left pin into the groove on the actuators orbital gear thing. Once its back together, put the one screw in above the bottom actuator and play with the settings to confirm everything works.

This was a great video and priceless to solve my problem (thanks Noah!), so in return, I wanted to share this information. A few people have commented below on the difficulty of re-assembling this actuator, so I marked up a picture of my actuator disk and where the pins need to line up when re-assembling; see the link below. Sorry I don't have a video when I was doing it several months ago and I sure as hell not taking it apart again :-) - This may take some trial and error for re-assembly since it is very difficult to align all 3 valve pins into the right groves in the tight space and re-mount the disk and actuator assembly to guide the right pins, but it IS possible. If it doesn't work after re-assembling, assume you have one of the valve pins in the wrong grove. It can be done, it took me 5 tries, but it works great after you get them in the right grooves, and it saved me several thousands of $$$ that my Toyota dealer wanted to charge me. The attached image at the link below should help. - The obvious first step was to figure out if the actuator was defective or just dirty. In my case, the inside of the actuator was dirty, gummed up with grease and dirt, and it had dislodged one of the valve pins into the incorrect groove on the wheel. I disassembled the actuator, cleaned it up and re-assembled it, and it worked fine after that. You may find it easier to just buy a replacement actuator before going through the trouble of re-assembling it. - This applies only to the passenger side actuator on my 2009 Camry Hybrid. I don't know if the same valve pin colors and positions apply on other model years. - There should be two white valve pins, and one black valve pin where this assembly came off. If you see more pins or colors, then this probably doesn't apply to your vehicle. - One of the white pins is furthest away from the floor of the vehicle; I called it "upper white pin" in the diagram. The other white pin which is closer to the floor of the vehicle is labeled as "lower white pin" in the diagram. Here is a link to the image. I'll try and leave it there as long as possible since I can't paste the actual image here. I hope this helps. Good luck! drive.google.com/file/d/1BkDRl3GKo7opern-B7v2xA-iFXQ8p3p2/view?usp=sharing

I have a 2008 Camry 2.4 LE. This is not very difficult just a bit tedious and time consuming taking it out is the ez part believe me, putting it back took me two 1 hour break but once you put it back in once you'll catch the gist of how to reinstall it. I reinstalled it and had to remove it again because it wasn't aligned properly I thought only getting the 2nd actuator in the hole was it, boy was I wrong found an assembly guide when I took it out the second time used that as guide to reinstall still tedious but it worked. Word of advice I would recommend that you ensure the part is actually the problem with your A/c before going to the actuator because by the look of them it ain't no cheap brittle plastic so I doubt they go bad easily and all the 2 actuators really do is 1 controls the temperature the other controls the flaps in the AC box. Also I strongly recommend testing the leads to ensure it's the actuator depending on the symptoms you car maybe low on Freon as it was with me

This job sucks! 2012 Highlander. Still trying to get the part out. Took a break for more research. Thanks for the video. Glad to know I'm not the only one. The struggle is real. Nervous if I can even get it out how I'm going to get new one back in correctly.

Can you do a video on how to install it please. Thanks in advance

I just installed one in a 2015 Toyota highlander which is the same assembly. You will need an assistant to help you install this. it makes it easier if you remove the passenger seat and can lay on your back. You will need to grind some material off the back of the assembly without grinding the actuator and grind the dial guide cylinder (don't remove to much only 1/8" in needed). This make it easier to maneuver . Make sure the parts do not have burrs around guide cylinders. You may need to grind material around the blower motor housing to get the part into position. You will need to install the electrical cables on the assembly. Get the top two guide cylinders that aligned the arm and dial into place. The part will be tilted out slightly at the bottom. Have your assistant crank the vehicle. YOU WILL NEED TO BE VERY CARFUL while doing this as you can break parts. have you assistant change the setting such as the circulation mode from inside circulation to outside circulation and from feet to defrost. The dial will turn and like a combination lock you will need to keep slight pressure (but not too much) on the assembly. Allow the part to be able to push off if needed whole turning. This will take some time, and finesse but it does work (about 30 min). The bottom gear and pin is the last thing you will need to align. To do this adjust the temperature setting (ensure that sync is off). Change from hot to cold or cold to hot until you can see and align the cam gear. Once you think the part is aligned correctly hold the part in place and have your assistant go through all the setting to ensure the part is working as it should.

Help on putting it back please. Thank you for creating this video!

LH drive models are harder to remove than our Aussie RH drive, I only had to remove the foot hand brake pedal. However I have more parts missing underneath the actuator assembly :( Looks like they are only sold with a whole heater box assembly :( Great video thanks dude

My old pal Becky used say You're doing wrong! You will need some sticky grease, some sticky putty, twine or mechanics wire, a Dremel or in my case a drill with a 3/8 bit, and a pair of wire cutters. And duct tape. Before you take this apart set mode to vent/floor and recirculate. Oh, while you are taking it apart don't cuss, you'll need it later. Duct tape the upper linkages in place so they stay put. Do what the video says EXCEPT remove the entire ASSembly and don't bother with the top screw, you can think about it but don't do it. Remember you don't want to pull the whole thing out. The front screw of the actuator ( Oh, you tied the actuator house back away for the heater box) is easy. The rear is inaccessible so grind away where the screw is on the housing until you can pop the actuator out. There are aligning studs inside and a clip latch on top to hold it in later. Snap out the catch that holds the gear on the actuator. You don't need it and you will thank me later. Here is what we are doing wrong. The black gear gets assembled onto the housing first!!! Notice there is a master tooth that times the gears. The sticky grease is for the groove in the gear/pivot, it will help hold the gear on the housing along with the sticky putty. Cut away the bottom of the actuator housing so you can slide the actuator straight up into it. You will need to take the actuator apart ( several times, this is what you saved your cusses for ) until everything is going to line up, then hold the actuator in place while you push the housing back onto it ( more cussing). Screw up the housing to the case, you can screw in the front screw of the actuator. Vacuum up your mess. Hope that made sense. At some point I may post some illustrations in a vid.

How did you set it and put it back in

So, how did you get it back in and get everything lined back up? I'm guessing you couldn't since there was no follow up video

Thanks I needed this

What about getting this whole mess back together. Im in the same boat right now. I put it together and im not sure if its correct. Well i know it isnt right becuase i got nothing when i change temps or defrost, etc. Now i cant get either actuator to cycle (after i plugged everything back in). Shit is so fucked 🤣🤣

I cut between 2 actuators. But thanks for great video

Noah! Did you make a video on how to put everything back,line up gears etc ? I'm a girl and followed your video to remove and install new blend door. Now it's time to reinstall. Looks easy but I'm not sure about lining up the gears. Any help is appreciated.

Would it be easier to pull out the fan motor and housing o to get your hands in there to replace actuators. Trying to repair a servo mode actuator in is250. Frustrating . Any advise will be appreciated, thanks

Any has the home positions for the doors?

Were is the video located

Question, where the white wheel⚙️⚙️ , there's a big/small ones. Are they suppose to rotate if I switch the fan from defrost and back?

I put it back on now my heather don't work i put one from junk yard. The issue i had with the old was blowing warm air on driver side and cold on from passenger when i had the AC on that's the whole reason why i changed it.

I am trying to do it on my car. Theres a vent in front how do u remove that. Help!!!!

Hi, 2011 Camry se. Does it have blend door activators on each side? One under driver and one under passenger side?

Video on how to install it please!!

I’ve been stuck with my ac blowing only hot air, I knew this could be the cause since the white part of the actuator broke off if I get a new actuator and install this one, the problem should be fixed?

Were is the video

Any tips to geting it back under the dash without cussing

Apparently its the vent for heat on passengers side. Anyone have any idea how i can remove it

How do you reinstall

I think he having a lot of problems how to alignment the doors with the motor 🙄.

Is the reinstall video in progress? Lol

Bad video. How did he disassemble the glove box. That's the most important part.

Were is the video