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Bricknose blend door adjustment

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RenoHuskerDu

Bricknose blend door adjustment

Just took a look at our 89 Bricky blend door for the issue of not enough heat. It's primarily a grocery getter for our womenfolk. Now that winter finally hit Texas, they complained. I think I found the problem so I'm sharing it. Cold snap coming again tomorrow, for testing.

We previously flushed the core both ways and it has plenty of flow. We also run a Wicks coolant filter setup on this truck, and it's fresh. I can hear the blend door close with a solid thunk on the cold side, but on heat side there is no thunk. Also, the cold/hot slider tends to work its way back off cold, as if it the cable were poorly adjusted.

So I pulled the glove box and took a good look. I inspected the cable link and it appears to be functioning. But as I suspected from the "thunk" on only the cold side, the cable adjustment was off center. It's a crude adjustment using little teeth in the spring steel clip. I wound up with the cable all the way to the right side, just barely leaving enough plastic sheath to get grabbed by the leftmost of the teeth. Take a look below, that's after adjustment.

Now I get a thunk sound on both cold and hot so I think it's fixed. At least, it should be better. I've seen pics of the blend door in other helpful threads here and it seems to me unlikely that it would fail all by itself on a pampered truck like this one.

FYI and I hope this helps someone. Are Bullnoses the same?

Reno in Central Texas, 86 F250 XLT Lariat eclb 2wd 6.9, plus 2 Bricknoses, 1 Aeronose that's getting a Bullnose front clip, and parts trucks. Busy lads, father and sons wrenchers.

Gary Lewis

Re: Bricknose blend door adjustment

Administrator

That may help me! Big Blue’s temp control acts the same way - thunks when going cold, but not hot. In fact, going towards hot it seems to stop prematurely. And the heat output has been less than spectacular.

So I’ll check that adjustment out. Thanks!

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
Blue: 2015 F150 Platinum 4x4 SuperCrew wearing Blue Jeans & sporting a 3.5L EB & Max Tow
Big Blue: 1985 F250HD 4x4: 460/ZF5/3.55's, D60 w/Ox locker & 10.25 Sterling/Trutrac, Blue Top & Borgeson, & EEC-V MAF/SEFI

grumpin

Re: Bricknose blend door adjustment

In reply to this post by RenoHuskerDu

Thanks for sharing. Man, nice close up on the cable. Did you use a phone or a camera?

Dane
1986 F250HD SC XLT Lariat 4x4 460 C6-Sold
1992 Bronco XLT 4x4 351W E4OD
1998 GMC Sierra SLE K1500 350 4L60E
Arizona

kramttocs

Re: Bricknose blend door adjustment

Administrator

In reply to this post by RenoHuskerDu

Glad you got it working and I am also impressed with the closeup photo quality.
Yes, Bullnoses are the same (slight differences but same where it matters).
Here is the adjustment procedure from the FSM:

Scott
'Camano' 1986 F250 Supercab XLT Lariat 460/C6
'Chanute' 1980 F350 C&C 400/NP 435 - Gin Pole

But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio

RenoHuskerDu

Re: Bricknose blend door adjustment

kramttocs wrote

Glad you got it working and I am also impressed with the closeup photo quality.
Yes, Bullnoses are the same (slight differences but same where it matters).
Here is the adjustment procedure from the FSM:

Bounceback is a great word to describe what the cold/hot lever does. Interesting that Bullys have screws to hold the cable sheath, but Brickys get primitive metal spikes in a spring steel clip. Furd beancounters at work...

That's our standard android phone now, across the family. We get used OnePlus 5T phones on fleabay for about $120, wipe them, root them, and install LineageOS Havoc, a non-Goolag android OS. We never login to Goolag, so we can't be tracked everywhere we go, and all our shopping/surfing data remains private. It has a great camera and even 4k video. We get our apps from Aurora Store, which opens an anonymous Play Store session. Almost all apps are available.

If you're computer literate, give it a try. LineageOS intro

Reno in Central Texas, 86 F250 XLT Lariat eclb 2wd 6.9, plus 2 Bricknoses, 1 Aeronose that's getting a Bullnose front clip, and parts trucks. Busy lads, father and sons wrenchers.

kramttocs

Re: Bricknose blend door adjustment

Administrator

I had the original OnePlus One. Great phone that lasted for years with active custom rom support. Ran Havoc for a long time.
Running LineageOS on an ebay special Moto G7 Power now. Bought it for battery life but the camera is downright terrible. Will keep an eye out for the OnePlus line when this one bites the dust.

Scott
'Camano' 1986 F250 Supercab XLT Lariat 460/C6
'Chanute' 1980 F350 C&C 400/NP 435 - Gin Pole

But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio

grumpin

Re: Bricknose blend door adjustment

In reply to this post by RenoHuskerDu

Amazing the photos these phones can take.

Dane
1986 F250HD SC XLT Lariat 4x4 460 C6-Sold
1992 Bronco XLT 4x4 351W E4OD
1998 GMC Sierra SLE K1500 350 4L60E
Arizona

RenoHuskerDu

Re: Bricknose blend door adjustment

In reply to this post by RenoHuskerDu

A quick report back. The heater is definitely better now. Adjusting the cable to seal that blend door on the hot side helped.

The adjustment is quick, so give it a try !

Reno in Central Texas, 86 F250 XLT Lariat eclb 2wd 6.9, plus 2 Bricknoses, 1 Aeronose that's getting a Bullnose front clip, and parts trucks. Busy lads, father and sons wrenchers.

grumpin

Re: Bricknose blend door adjustment

Thanks for following up. Good to hear.

Dane
1986 F250HD SC XLT Lariat 4x4 460 C6-Sold
1992 Bronco XLT 4x4 351W E4OD
1998 GMC Sierra SLE K1500 350 4L60E
Arizona

Gary Lewis

Re: Bricknose blend door adjustment

Administrator

Yes, thanks for the follow-up. And glad it helped.

I checked my adjustment the other day and it was fine. So if I don't have enough heat that's not the problem.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

RenoHuskerDu

Poor heat in Big Blue

It's pretty easy to flush your heater core with a garden hose. Even better if you can screw the hose onto a hot water faucet. Watch the pressure, don't overdo it.

You should have good flow both ways. If not, your core is obstructed. A flush with commercial products advertised for that purpose has never worked for me, but some folks like them.

Consider adding a Wicks coolant filter system. Gasser trucks have plenty of room underhood...only one battery.

Reno in Central Texas, 86 F250 XLT Lariat eclb 2wd 6.9, plus 2 Bricknoses, 1 Aeronose that's getting a Bullnose front clip, and parts trucks. Busy lads, father and sons wrenchers.

Gary Lewis

Re: Bricknose blend door adjustment

Administrator

I'll find out tomorrow about the heat. We are taking BB into Tulsa on an errand and will need the heat. Hopefully it'll work well. But, if not I'll have to investigate.

However, it was a new heater core, new radiator, new hoses, and a new engine when I put it together a few months ago, so I doubt it is clogged. And, I have two batteries - some of the gassers came with an auxiliary, and BB is one of them.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

RenoHuskerDu

Re: Bricknose blend door adjustment

Hmmm, all those new parts, blend door checked, but still chilly inside, eh?

What temp thermostat did you put in that new motor?

Reno in Central Texas, 86 F250 XLT Lariat eclb 2wd 6.9, plus 2 Bricknoses, 1 Aeronose that's getting a Bullnose front clip, and parts trucks. Busy lads, father and sons wrenchers.

Gary Lewis

Re: Bricknose blend door adjustment

Administrator

I don't know if it is chilly inside. We will find out today as we are going to take it out while it is cool enough to need heat. The previous trips we didn't need heat.

It is a 195 'stat, and it gets to at least that on the aftermarket gauge that has real numbers on it.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Gary Lewis

Re: Bricknose blend door adjustment

Administrator

I am happy to say the heater works pretty well. It is hard to say as although it was in the 40's this morning when we left for the test run the sun was coming in strongly so little heat was needed. But we cranked it up anyway and got good hot air out of the floor vents.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile