How to Remove AC Recirculate Defrost Buttons 2000-04 Ford Focus

Hey, friends. It's Len here at 1A Auto. Today we're working on our 2001 Ford Focus. This is the ZX3 hatchback model. I want to show you how to remove the switch for the AC, recirculate, defrost. It's going to be fairly simple. I can do it. You can do it too. If you need any parts, you can always check us out at 1aauto.com. Thanks.

Okay, so to do this, we're just going to need some basic tools. If you have an aftermarket stereo like this one, you know you're going to have to figure out how to get it out. Generally speaking, if it's the original stereo, there'll be two holes on this side and two holes on the side. You push in the little tools, and then you should be able to slide your stereo out. This is aftermarket, so what I like to do is just give it a little tug and then come along the side with my trim tool. Just like that. I'm going to do the same to the other side. Just go in and give it a little twist. Give this a nice and an easy wiggle. There we are. I'm being gentle. Just come in here. We'll disconnect the antenna. Set that aside and make sure you don't forget to connect that back in. Grab this stuff. There we are. Check your electrical connectors and make sure there's no corrosion. This one looks good. Do the same to this one. Here we are. Looks good. We'll set our radio/head unit aside.

Okay, so we have four screws: one here, here, and then the same on the other side, there and there. I'm going to use my seven millimeter. You can use a ratchet or whatever you've got. There's the first two bolts. They're both the exact same. All four bolts, exact same. We'll set these aside. Move ahead to the next step.

We're going to continue with our plastic trim tool. Just come in under here along the top. Just try to slide this out a little bit. Seems to be catching over here. Don't know what this thing is. Who smoke cigarettes nowadays? Get that out of here.

Okay. So we've got all of our connectors in here. Coming down along, we've got the connector for the blower motor speed right here. We've got our selector to designate where the air is going to be coming out of, whether it's your vent or your defrost or your floor or, well, wherever you want it to come out of, obviously. And then this over here, this is the selector for the hot and cold, or AC and heat, right here. So to get this to pull out a little further, I'm just going to disconnect the four-way flasher switch. See if I can grab it. It's right along the side. It's a little push connector. Okay, we'll set that aside. This gives us a little bit of room. On the backside of the selector switch, there's a Phillips head screw, so I'm just going to use my quarter inch ratchet with a Phillips head bit because it's a little easier. Maybe it's a little easier. Let's see. Trying to get the screwdriver back there pretty hard. There's our screw. Super short. We'll set this aside.

Let's start disconnecting some the wiring from the back here. I'm just going to grab them, give them a little tug. They pop right out. Take a peek at them. They look good. This right here? It's got a little a push on it. You just go ahead and push right there. And this should separate. There we go. Okay. This one, same thing. I'm just going to press on the little tab. Roll it down and then lift it up and out. This right here. It's hard to see from this angle, but I think I can pull it out like that. Take a peak. It looks good.

This one right here... Let's see... It should be... Right here? Slide that out. Take a peak. It looks good. Cruising along. We've got one left here. Just going to press on the bottom. Slide that out. There's our center console facial unit.

All right, friends. So here we go. We're going to try to get the unit out that controls the AC, recirculate, and defrost. If you go right on the backside, this is the unit. There's one, two, three Phillips head screws. We're going to go ahead and remove those. Can you use a regular Phillips head screwdriver if you like, or one of these bit drivers. They come in handy when you want to get the job done fairly quick. There's our three screws--they're all the same. And then there's our unit.

I'm just going to put it into the unit, just like this. I'm going to start all three of our screws. I'm not going to tighten any of them down until all three of them are started. This is very important. If you tighten something down and the others aren't started yet, the holes might not line up and you could break the switch by trying to maneuver it. There we are. All three are started. I'm going to switch over to my bit driver. Once it's bottomed out, I'm just going to give it the teensiest bit more, but that's it. We're only screwing into plastic here, so you don't need to go too crazy on it, Hercules. There we are. We're clear to re-install.

All right, so now we're on the backside again. We've got all this wiring mess. Let's see if we can figure it out, huh? This one right here, it's going to go right in there. Click. I heard it. We've got this one. Go right up in here. Click. Heard it. This one, nice and big, right over there. We got this guy. See if I can bring it around. There it is. Goes right on those two prongs. Right there. And then lastly, for this lower area, we've got this right here. I'm going to start with the lower area of it. Try to get it pressed in and then squeeze up to the top. That's in there. Cool. All right.

We've got these over here. The single wire goes to the bottom. Just press it in there, there's no click really. Well, it sounded like there was a click, but usually I never hear a click. Grab this one. There we are. Oh, did hear a click. That's nice. I like it. I like it. We got this guy right up here. That goes in for the four-way switch. There we are. We've got extra parts. Just kidding. We're gonna make sure that we get the stereo back in, up and running on this puppy. Can't drive without a stereo, everybody knows that. Get this in here. I'm just going to press it in. There we are. Very nice. We'll grab our four screws and we'll continue.

We've got our four screws, seven millimeter, and I just have it on a nut driver, but you can use whatever you've got. I'm just going to start it in. Just like always. I like to get all the bolts for whatever it is I'm working with started at the same time, before I go ahead and tighten any of them down, just in case I have to shift anything around. There we are. All four are started. Snug these up. All four are tight. Let's move ahead to the next step.

All right, so when you're underneath the dash, you're going to notice that maybe this right here doesn't line up with what you're dealing with underneath the box.

So when you're underneath the dash, you might notice that this inner area right there doesn't line up with what you're dealing with. If it doesn't, just reach your hand up, give it a little twist, until it does line up with what you need it to. Okay? I'm going to turn it like this. Pretty sure I left off on feet. I'm going to come back through here. There we are. Okay. Yeah, that looks good. Now to do this, I'm just going to line it up and then press it in. I mean, there's no screws or anything to hold this. Here we are. All three of them clicked right in. Easy-peasy.

Come back up here. I'm going to listen. Yeah. I'll show you what it's doing down under there. Can you see right straight down at the end? What it's doing is it's changing where the air's going. It's pretty basic. I probably don't have to tell you that, but I do want to show you that it is functioning. Okay, so now we're going to connect in the stereo.

Okay, so we've got our stereo unit. Let's connect it in. There we are. Careful not to let it fall and smash or anything like that. These are fairly sensitive. Click that in. This connector right here was not connected to anything when we started, so I'm not worried about connecting it now. That only leaves us one thing, the antenna wire. It just goes right into the back of your unit. Just press it in as far as it can go. Bonk, bonk. There we are. Slide this right in here, nice and easy. Feels like it's getting jammed up, then, you know, pull it out and try again. Here we are. Very nice. All right.

Lastly, this useless thing. It's good for change or whatever you want it for. Let's see if I can get it in there. There's a little channel that runs right along here. Just need to get it in there. Very nice. All right, friends. There you are. Easy-peasy. Thanks.

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