History: I have the Automatic Temperature Controls or EATC. My blend door motor was dying when I bought the vehicle. You could hear it making a thump-thump like a gear missing and it wouldn't go into full cold. I ran with the actuator out for a while and just moved the blend door manually with my finger.
Installing the new Blend Door Actuator: I got the Doorman (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HRI24CK).
I was told (not sure if this is true now), they are configured for Cold out of the box. I turned on the EATC without the actuator plugged in. Switched my EATC to 60 degrees (100% cold). Turned it off. Plugged in the new Blend Door Actuator. Held it in my hand (did not actually install it in the airbox yet) and could turn it from cold to hot by changing temps and watched the drive shaft go from full clockwise to counter-clockwise and back again. Switched the actuator back to cold (clockwise). Stuck my finger in the airbox hole and turned the blend door to cold (clockwise) so they would match. Installed the actuator in the airbox, switched EATC from cold to hot and watched it turn. Then, tried going back to cold. Nothing. Did a diagnostic test and the EATC showed up with 6622 - blend door failure. Actuator would no longer function in the airbox or out of the airbox. But, if I clear the codes, it then functions again. I tried re-calibrating to start out hot, with no success. I tried starting at 75 degrees because that seems to be what the EATC always resets itself to after a diagnostics code clear operation. No success. I tried a good 10-15 times. Each time, I can get the Actuator to work in my hand. As soon as I attempt in the airbox, it hits an either full hot or cold position and won't do anything after that even after taking it out of the airbox. I have to clear codes to get it working again.
Question: This is obviously not as simple as it seems. What is the actual correct procedure? Does it sound like I have a bad EATC or something else is going wrong here? Maybe I got a bad actuator? Maybe short in the wiring? Feels like I'm just attempting this the wrong way.