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2009 Sonata -How To Remove and Replace the Heat Control Actuator

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#1 · (Edited)
My 2009 Sonata has performed flawlessly for appx 84,000 miles. Thanksgiving, on a trip out of town and with 22F outside temp the heater decided to no longer cooperate. Luke warm air would blow out the drivers side only regardless of settings. The passenger side was cold....like 22F cold. This car has the dual heating mode. The floor vents, dash vent and windshield vents all worked but the temperature adjustment would not. In reading these forums I have read this is a problem that pops up time to time...Sometimes the entire system is affected, sometimes only one side. Most agree that you should check the level of your coolant, check the temperature gauge (the needle on mine runs just below the middle mark and always has). The fuses should be checked. There are fuses under the hood on the drivers side and there are fuses to the left of the steering column that are accessed by pulling a plastic door off. Just grab it by the finger hold and pull. Unfortunately, the fuses are a bit hard to reach as they are recessed abut 10" and the door is small.

I also felt the two hoses behind the engine that run through the firewall. They were hot. So, all the easy to check items were ruled out. The culprit seemed to now be the heat control actuator that controls various doors in the hvac box including temperature. These doors are responsible for direction of flow and temperature of flow. But I had no idea where this device was located, how to access it and how complicated it would be to remove and replace it. After searching all over the net and not finding any useful information I decided to see if I could assist others who might have this problem with this thread. If there are some professionals out these that have a better method for shortcuts on removing and replacing the unit...please contribute. I'm 65 and flying by 50 years of general experience. Getting under the dash is getting harder and harder with each passing year.

I'll add onto this as I go so I don't lose it shuffling back and forth between photobucket. Hwy61
 
#2 ·
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I can't seem to edit and add on to the above thread post so I guess I will try again in a new post. :(;)

Above is the layout of the passenger side of a 2009 Sonata with dual air. The glove box will need to be emptied and then removed. After that the kick plate cover will be removed. I was unable to determine how to remove the simulated wood trim or the rear of the glove frame. That might have given me more access but no one seems to address this. In any event I was able to change the control actuator although access is tight.

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Above are the tools you will need. Not many. The 10mm socket will be used to disconnect the battery. The small screwdrivers and ratchet will barely fit. Some of this will have to be done by feel as the actuator is screwed to the center hvac box and way up in there.

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Disconnect the battery. You will want to reconnect it a couple of times to check operation of parts when we get to that. It is recommended that you disconnect the battery so there are no short and some folks warn about airbags possibly being set off. Don't know if that is possible but I didn't want that happening.

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After the glove box is emptied, pull the front edge of the rubber stops out just a bit and pull the part inward toward the center of the glove box. There are two, one on each side. They are proned to wanting to jump back into place...if so, just pull them out again until you can let the box forward a bit. At some point the strut on the right side will stop forward movement of the box.

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Next you will pull the lower end of the strut arm off of the pin provided for it. It slips off easily. Once this is done the box can be lowered all the way down. You will remove these parts and lower to box in this same manner to access the rectangular door that encloses the hvac filter. This filter should be changed about every year as it will get pretty dirty.

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You will now want to entirely remove the glove box. There are only two black plastic pins that hold it to the frame. Slide them all the way out while supporting the box. Once they are out the bow will be free of the dash. Set it in a safe place like the back seat. Don't lose the pins, put them in a safe place. Cup holder for example.

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Next you will want to remove the kick plate cover. This is held in place by two screws. At the firewall end there is simply a tongue that fits in a steel slot, pictured later. So when reassembling the piece, you fit the tongue into the slot and then screw the edge under the glove box to the frame.

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With glove box and kick plate out of the way this is what you will see. No need to remove the blower motor or disconnect the wires you see. There is one screw holding the end of the floor duct in place. You will need to remove it with a phillips head screwdriver. you will not be able to remove the piece of duct work which is really in the way but you will be able to wiggle it around a bit. The arrows point to the various areas that you will either reach into, shine a light into or try to see into when unsnapping the wiring harness and removing the three screws that hold the device in place. Do not attempt to remove the steel control rod coming from the device. It stays where it is on both ends.

In the above picture you can see the slot the tongue on the kick plate fits into and the location of the two screws that hold in place are located.

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You will be able to see the part by looking through the frame at the top left corner but you won't be able to get any access through this area. My camera lense fits....that is all. You can see the wiring harness that will need to be disconnected. That is the only wiring that you will need to remove.

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Pictured above is the part we are going after. Don't be fooled thinking this is a wide open area. Wide open for my camera and trial and error shooting. It is about large enough for one hand and a small screw driver. There are three screws that need to be removed and the wiring harness unsnapped. One screw is hidden behind the floor duct. Good luck on getting a screwdriver on it. You will need a short handled one for all of this and you will have to wiggle the duct work until you can sort of angle in on the rearward screw. Getting it back in is even trickier....keep trying, you can get it.

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Press down on the white button to release the wiring. While it will be tempting to pull on the wiring, don't. Those wires are small. You are doing this to save money...right. If not, you might as well pay the dealer a bunch of money to install it. the part cost about $82 at NAPA.

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This is what the part looks like on the side that will be exposed to you. This side faces the passenger side. Note where the three screws are located that need to be removed. Don't remove the others as they hold the motor in place. Once you get this part out you will want to reconnect it to the wiring harness, let it hang down and test one more time to determine that the guide is not rotating. You will also want to snap in the new part and test to make sure it works before installing. If the new one doesn't work you will have to check to see that you didn't miss a bad fuse.

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This is what the inside of the motor and gears looks like. Everything looks great. It just doesn't run, remove some of the grease so you can use it to lubricate your new part that moves the pin around. You can pull up on the pin area and the motor and remove it entirely, I spun the motor...couldn't see any hot spots, everything looked like new....still wouldn't run. Nothing that I could see that could be fixed.

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Pictured above is the backsides of the old part and the new part. The pin and wheel it is attached to remain attached to the inner doors inside the center hvac. When reassembling the part onto the havc all you have to do is make sure the pin fits in the track and that the three screws line up for tightening. Then attach the wiring. Looking at the new part I received with the correct crossover numbers....does anyone see a problem? Yepper, the new blue part is reversed from the old part. These are Korean made parts with Hyundai numbers on them. My solution. The yellow and blue parts snap off, so I snapped the yellow on onto the new actuator and it worked fine. I have no idea what the other one fits. The guys at NAPA checked the numbers. Everything was fine....except the part. They ordered a new one but I didn't have any issues after snapping the old part onto the new actuator. They will only snap on in one position. And I had the blue one all lubed and ready to go until I noticed this.



This what you want to see when you connect the part and run the temp control up and down. You will want to see the part rotate. My old one would not move at all. Tighten in the new part maing sure the pin is in the track, snap on the wiring harness, insert the kickplate tongue in the slot provided for it, attach with two screws.

Install the glove box by positioning, insert the two black pins, reconnect the strut, slide the box forward so that the rubber stop will pop back in flush with inside of the box. Refill the glove box and reconnect the battery. Re set the clock and you should be good to go. Hwy61
 
#6 ·
The blue armed actuator is typically for the driver side.. White armed part for the passenger.. Look at your driver side with light under dash,, it kinda out in the open.
 
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#7 ·
Do you mean there are two of these? :eek: I bet the drivers side is really easy to access which is why the passenger side went bad. One more thing to add for those that might wonder if this is their problem. With a warmed engine it is possible to reach a finger onto the actuator and feel if it moves or not as you run the temp up and down. If it doens't move...the part is bad. Solidly built part. Wonder what goes wrong with them. Hwy61
 
#9 ·
Just got the actuator replaced. Some tips:
- Stuff a rag in the opening below the actuator to keep tools and screws from falling in.
- For about $7, get a phillip ratchet at Sears (part# 9-04116) to remove the top right screw with.
- A short stubby #2 phillip is good for the lower right hand screw.
- I have a #2 phillip, about 3" long with really slim handle. It works good to remove the left screw.
- Before going back, reach in to find the position of the blend door. If necessary, move it (by hand) to the vertical position (HEAT position)
- Plug wiring hardness to the new actuator, start the car and let it run for 10-15 minutes to build up coolant temperature, then set temperature control to HEAT and dial the heat to maximum high. This will move the actuator to the HEAT position. Turn the car off. Disconnect the battery negative.
- Install the new actuator.
- Don't forget to remove the rag as mentioned above.
 
G
#11 ·
Great information! Can anyone confirm the part number please? I'm having the same problem as Hwy61 and with the same car - 2009 Sonata Limited w/ auto climate control.

I see the following parts:

Inlet door 971243K600
Mode 971543K000
Temp door 971593K000
Assembly 971603K000

I'm assuming it's the temp door, but would like to confirm before I order. Thanks!

TS
 
#12 ·
Great guide, especially appreciate the advice on switching the bracket. I ordered from NAPA as well and just swapped the blue and yellow.

I managed to remove the dash trim so I could better access the actuator and remove the lower duct. It's only a few bolts and screws. You have to remove the side panel of the dash but it simply snaps out. Remove all of the silver bolts, unscrew the phillips screw that holds the faux wood trim in place and CAREFULLY snap it out. Remove additional bolts located under the trim.
 
#14 ·
I just replaced the passenger side blend door actuator on my 2008 Azera (which is very similar to the Sonata). I bought a Dorman replacement (Dorman part number 604-310) from RockAuto for $50.00. As others have stated, access is rather tight.

I replaced the top phillips head screw with a similar sized hex head screw and was able to tighten it a little easier with a 1/4" ratchet/socket.

all in all a good DIY that probably saved me $300+ over having the dealer replace it.....

Sharing information like this on these forums is invaluable!

Thanks again!
 
#18 ·
Just to thank you guys for all the previous advice on this thread. Spot on.
The new cam just prised off and the old one slipped on perfectly.
Replaced the new actuator( with the old cam) and hey presto full air con and heater on drivers side (right hand drive) as well as passenger side.
Thanks again. Brilliant forum.
From a "limey"
Cheers
 
#21 ·
My thanks to the original poster and all who had additional suggestions. Quotes to have the blend door actuator replaced ranged from $350 to $450 - the information here let me do it for less than $40, the cost of the actuator.

I was able to split the floor duct in half along the fasteners to get more access but it was still a challenge getting the actuator out and back in. Took about 2 and a half hours but could probably cut that down to less than an hour having done it once.

Took advantage of the glove box being out to replace the cabin filter.
 
#22 ·
Sorry if this is answered in another thread, and please feel free to direct me there if it exists because I couldn't find one using the search terms I thought were relevant.

How many different actuators are there in a 2006 Sonata GLS with the standard (not dual control/auto) HVAC system? And in that system, what actuator controls the temperature as opposed to where/how the air is routed?

Background...one morning, the A/C just quit working in our 06 GLS. The mode selector seemed to work perfectly, both sides rapidly switched modes, but pushing the temp control knob to activate A/C did nothing other than illuminate the green light. A local shop took a look, and the tech thought it was tracked down to a bad compressor, but when he disconnected and reconnected the control harness, the compressor started running. He cleaned up the connector/connection, added a little refrigerant, and it seemed as if the problem was solved. However...

I have found that the air coming out of any driver side vents when A/C is running at any fan speed, recirculation on or off, with the temp control set full cold, is at least 8°F and usually more like 10°F warmer than the air coming out of the passenger side vents, no matter how long the system has been running (so it's not just that the driver's side was in direct sun while the passenger side was shaded, for instance.) I would have thought a single temp system would have just a single door/actuator to control the temperature, but that would seemingly not allow the two sides to blow at such different temperatures.

Does the actuator described in this thread control both the mode and the temperature on each side, perhaps? I have yet to find a schematic of the whole system to show how it is supposed to operate. I have observed the white linkages on the driver's side blend actuator move when the mode selection is changed, but I see nothing external move when I swing the temperature from full cold to full hot.

Thanks!
 
#23 ·
Oh boy, I have a right hand drive 2008 Santa Fe which had both sides not working, and let me tell ya!, The glove box side actuator is actually easier to replace, the park brake assembly is completely in the way of the top right screw on the driver side actuator (right side). I managed to get the drivers side actuator out using a screw bit and a clamp after lots of swearing lol. I repaired both units but now the drivers side actuator is acting temperamental and I think its the wiring going to it as I moved it around and it started working then stopped again etc. I even swapped it with the passenger side one that was now working, same thing. What now?? :-(
 
#25 ·
Replaced my heat actuator the day before yesterday on my MY2006 Sonata, it was very much the same as this write up. I would even say its slightly easier to access on the pre-facelift, since I didnt get the impression it was as crowded behind the glovebox in mine..

Anyway, thanks! :)
 
#27 ·
Visit your local Hyundai dealer part counter, or call,,,, have VIN to ID chassis in the catalog..


You have a 2011 (YF) chassis,, this topic is for the previous edition (NF) chassis,, likely going to be different part number..

Visit or call local local Hyundai dealer part counter of choice and get correct number as called in catalog for your VIN
 
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