Possible AC problem

I am not the primary driver of the new truck but recently noticed that upon starting it up and putting the air conditioning on, it does not blow cold air until you start driving. I don't remember this being a problem last year when we bought it in June.

I put the air on max cool with the recirculation on and opened the hood to see no cooling fans turning. This doesn't seem right to me. At max setting, they should be running to pull air through the condenser and make the air cold.

I am wondering if there is some new strategy to the MFT upgrade that has caused this to happen. Either that or is it outside temperature related meaning it has to be above a certain temperature outside before it will cool the interior.

If anyone can verify this that would be great. BTW it was around 66 degrees outside temperature when I noticed this.

Thank You,
Matt

mlbaker said:

I am not the primary driver of the new truck but recently noticed that upon starting it up and putting the air conditioning on, it does not blow cold air until you start driving. I don't remember this being a problem last year when we bought it in June.

I put the air on max cool with the recirculation on and opened the hood to see no cooling fans turning. This doesn't seem right to me. At max setting, they should be running to pull air through the condenser and make the air cold.

I am wondering if there is some new strategy to the MFT upgrade that has caused this to happen. Either that or is it outside temperature related meaning it has to be above a certain temperature outside before it will cool the interior.

If anyone can verify this that would be great. BTW it was around 66 degrees outside temperature when I noticed this.

Thank You,
Matt

Click to expand...

Welcome to the Forum mlbaker.:wavey:
I assume you are not referring to the 97 XLT. What model do you have?
There is no indication of it in your profile or Vehicle Specs.

I just tried mine and on Max A/C the air was very cold almost instantly. This despite that it hasn't been used at all lately and the outside temp is 47 degrees F. The fans were turning. I also have had the MFT update done.

Peter

No it's not the 97. I haven't updated my profile. It is a 2011 explorer limited with the 302A package.

mlbaker said:

No it's not the 97. I haven't updated my profile. It is a 2011 explorer limited with the 302A package.

Click to expand...

2011s have known fan problems for earlier builds. (pre May 2011 I believe). Time for a trip to the dealer.

Thanks everyone. It was built right around the May 2011 time frame but my understanding was the fan problem was with the Explorers built with the tow package. Mine does not have that option.

Anyway, I will be making an appointment with the dealer tomorrow.

Tow package has nothing to do wirh it.. All explorers have the same fan assembly. The tow package has a thicker radiator and an oil cooler added.. again though, nothing to do with the fans.

I bet if you let the Ex idle for 15 minutes, you will start to see the temp climb..

Take it in sooner rather then later.

mlbaker said:

I am not the primary driver of the new truck but recently noticed that upon starting it up and putting the air conditioning on, it does not blow cold air until you start driving. I don't remember this being a problem last year when we bought it in June.

I put the air on max cool with the recirculation on and opened the hood to see no cooling fans turning. This doesn't seem right to me. At max setting, they should be running to pull air through the condenser and make the air cold.

I am wondering if there is some new strategy to the MFT upgrade that has caused this to happen. Either that or is it outside temperature related meaning it has to be above a certain temperature outside before it will cool the interior.

If anyone can verify this that would be great. BTW it was around 66 degrees outside temperature when I noticed this.

Thank You,
Matt

Click to expand...

You need to get the dealer to have the fan assembly replaced under TSB 11-07-21. I had the exact same symptoms as you did. No AC while in park or at a stop light - it would not start blowing cold until you started down the road.
My Explorer overheated in the driveway, sitting there for 45 minutes while doing a MFT upgrade, on a cold chilly, rainy night. Temp approx. 50 degrees.

Also, make note of these three threads about overheating and the fan assembly issues.

Thread #1 - My XLT Overheated

Thread #2 - Possible overheating starting

Thread #3 - 3rd dual cooling fan?


One school of thought seems to be that those who did not get the MFT upgrade in the mail did not get it because Ford worried about cars overheating as there seems to be a high number of fan assembly failures for a particular timeframe. Even if your Explorer is not covered under the timeframe of the TSB, insist that they repair it under warranty. I have a feeling that these fan assemblies have not yet been completely fixed. Thread #3 is on their 3rd fan assebly!

Good Luck...let us know what happened so it can be documented here for others.




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peterk9,
You have been a part of other various threads about overheating, I'm curious as to why you did not mention the TSB that addresses the fan issue.

Truck ended up going into the dealer Wednesday morning. The service advisor made it sound like it was no big deal, they have them in stock, because of all the problems with the fans. I should have the truck back by mid-day.

I finally got a call from them late in the afternoon. They told me they had no fan assemblies in stock and stated that Ford is looking into this and is putting together a recall for this problem.

They did order one express delivery for tomorrow (today now) and I should have the truck back later today.

Sounds like a recall will be coming out on these vehicles shortly for the fans. I just hope I got a good one and this issue will not happen again.

mlbaker said:

Truck ended up going into the dealer Wednesday morning. The service advisor made it sound like it was no big deal, they have them in stock, because of all the problems with the fans. I should have the truck back by mid-day.

I finally got a call from them late in the afternoon. They told me they had no fan assemblies in stock and stated that Ford is looking into this and is putting together a recall for this problem.

They did order one express delivery for tomorrow (today now) and I should have the truck back later today.

Sounds like a recall will be coming out on these vehicles shortly for the fans. I just hope I got a good one and this issue will not happen again.

Click to expand...

I hope that the information about the recall is true... I feel like we a driving a ticking time bomb and one day my wife will be stranded on the side of the road. Even though we have a build date of mid-Feb 2011, FORD refuses to replace the fans unless at least one of the following can be reproduced by the dealer:
1) Fans squeal after engine shutdown
2) Loss of AC, especially at idle condition
3) Overheated engine (duh!)

I'm starting to feel like I'm being jerked around big time now. I called the dealer at 4PM today and was told the fan assembly did not come in and they are trying to locate the part. Called me back a half an hour later and was told it "may" be here tomorrow or Monday. This is really getting ridiculous now.

The only good thing so far is they gave me a loaner today for my problems, probably thinking the fans won't be in tomorrow. It was a brand new 2013 explorer limited with 19 miles on it.

mlbaker,

Similar to you I am not the primary driver of the '11 Limited. Took spouse out to dinner and stopped to let her pick up an item and noticed A/C blowing warm air at idle. Asked about it upon her return and she said it had done similar earlier but began blowing cold so just ignored it.

Will be calling dealer in a.m. to arrange appointment, we have not received a letter on the SB. We had MFT upgrade about 2 months ago.

Aggie

I bet your spouse means when they start driving it gets cold again. My fans were definitely no good and were replaced. They also performed the service bulletin for the problem as well. If I were you I would take it to the dealer ASAP.

You're correct - just glad I seem to have caught it before it reached an overheating situation. Now to get with the dealer.

We've probably been lucky since we live in a remote town in northern MN with just two traffic lights that we rarely stop at. Traffic jams up here are trucks at all four corners at once having to wait for the lights to fully cycle or driving slow behind farm equipment.

Ford Is paying for a rental car so don't be afraid to drop it off and take a rental until it is ready per the tsb.

Just called dealer service desk, appointment for Tuesday a.m.

My AC is once again NOT blowing cold when it is started up.
It will only start to blow cold air when I start driving down the road.

Well, at least my steering still responds! (knock on wood) -

This is probably unrelated but I've noticed on 4 or 5 occasions when I turn the car on the A/C is turned off and so is Auto, even though they were on when I turned the car off. I have to turn them back on specifically. I haven't figured out the exact steps to reproduce with MFT yet

phareous said:

This is probably unrelated but I've noticed on 4 or 5 occasions when I turn the car on the A/C is turned off and so is Auto, even though they were on when I turned the car off. I have to turn them back on specifically. I haven't figured out the exact steps to reproduce with MFT yet

Click to expand...

I haven't noticed that but I thought that previous to the MFT update that as long as the Climate and Auto were set on that the A/C would come on as needed. Perhaps I was wrong. I now have to turn the A/C on manually even with the other two settings set to ON.
Too much for this old brain to remember and too many variables.

Peter

Trip to dealer was successful, a/c working again just fine it appears. Replaced cooling fans per the TSB. One strange thing was the radio was all messed up heading home after picking it up. Having it on any selection, AM, FM, Sirius 1, 2 or 3 all seemed to bring in a single FM station. Took some fiddling around with the MFT till it seemed to settle itself out. No idea what or why it was messed up, but it's fine now.