Birdman

Fuser, the "missing link" in all of this for me was the fact that the vent assembly has linkage that opens and closes the front louvers AND linkage that opens and closes a damper door at the rear of the assembly (see photo I attached earlier). The assembly pulled right out of the dash no problem and I was able to quickly reattach the linkage to the damper door; problem solved! FYI, there is an electrically actuated "blend door" that could be the culprit if you have issues controlling temperature (hot/cold)........and an electrically actuated "mode door" that could be the culprit if you have issues switching between floor/vents/defrost. Sorry you got ripped off on e-bay. I have been an avid e-bayer for over 25 years and have never had that happen. File a claim with e-bay, they have what they call "buyer protection" and they WILL give you your money back. Make sure you report the seller!

Thanks once again for the response. I believe I have solved the "mystery" by looking at a replacement vent assembly on e-bay. It looks like the thumbwheel controls both, the flow flaps on the front of the assembly, AND a flapper door 3 or 4 inches back. Like I said in my original post, the thumbwheel is definitely opening and closing the flow flaps on the front, but my guess is that linkage is broken or disconnected from the thumbwheel to the flapper door near the rear of the assembly and it is stuck in the closed position. I'll attach a picture of the assembly that should make this clearer. So any idea on the best way to remove the vent assembly from the front of the dash? I hate to just pry on plastic parts for fear of breaking something!

Thanks so much for the response! Yes, the vent dial damper is in the open position, lol. The only thing I see this dial doing is open and close the vent air flow flaps, doesn't really operate like typical vent "open/close" controls I've had on other cars. I'm not sure what you're asking about a vent damper control? If you're talking about the same control, again, it does open and close the air flow flaps. If you're talking about some other damper control for this vent, please provide more details. I have only had AC on since I bought the car yesterday, it is 95 degrees here in NC. Again, the AC comes out all dash forward facing vents except the extreme vent on the right side of the dash for the passenger. I will try heater and see if I get the same result. By the way, the other issue I had was that the AC would get warm soon after turning it on (would blow cold for a short time then blow warm). I was able to find info on the net that this is a common issue with these cars and simply turning the temperature control a couple clicks clockwise from full cold would stop this problem. I did so and it does seem to work. I also read that you could turn on the headlights AND the fog light switch, and the AC would also start blowing cold again. I did not try that since the first "bandaid" seems to be working just fine. I am curious though, is there a technical reason for this, and a more permanent fix than the 2 bandaids? Thx!

I just purchased a really nice 2011 Fusion SE, only 37,000 miles on it. Anyway, when the A/C is on the "vent" mode, air comes out all dash vents except the far right passenger vent. Can anyone point me in the right direction as to what could cause this? I first thought this might be a faulty mode door actuator, but wouldn't that be an "all or nothing" with all vents, not just the right passenger vent? I'd appreciate any suggestions!