Heat and AC not blowing right

[lancer525]

I haven't really found a close description of my exact problem, so here goes.

I have a 2002 Explorer XLS.

When the fan control on the Heat/AC console is on 1, the output of the air is normal. When it's up to 2, it blows normally, but with a little more noise than I think it should. At setting three, it gets much noisier, with the fan being extremely loud, and the airflow no better than what it would be on setting 2. On setting 4, it's all fan noise and very little air. Passengers in the right seat up front can feel warmth coming out from under the dash, but not out of the vent when the setting control is on heat and dash exhaust. There is very little air coming out of the dash on any setting above 2. There is almost no airflow coming out of the lower vents (in the footwells) on setting 4.

I think some air conduit is disconnected or something. How do I go into it and check things out without having to take the entire dashboard apart? Or better, *can* I even go in and see what I need to see without having to take the entire dashboard apart?

It's kind of getting frustrating dealing with it in cold weather, because the windshield defrost vents don't seem like they're putting out much airflow when on higher settings.

Any and all help (and I'll ask questions when I don't understand) will be most gratefully appreciated.

 

[mbrando1994]

It could be a vacuum leak somewhere, also check your blower motor. There may even be something lodged in there. I remember a while back a quarter fell through the dash vents unknowingly and caused a horrible noise! I feared something really bad was wrong and out came flying a quarter from the motor.

 

[lancer525]

It could be a vacuum leak somewhere, also check your blower motor. There may even be something lodged in there. I remember a while back a quarter fell through the dash vents unknowingly and caused a horrible noise! I feared something really bad was wrong and out came flying a quarter from the motor.

Thanks for the reply!

Can you help me understand why anything could be wrong with the blower motor, when I can clearly hear it at very high volume, and feel it moving great quantities of air out from under the dash? It seems counter-intuitive to me that anything could be wrong with the blower motor when the thing is clearly blowing large masses of air out from behind the dash, to beat the band, but not much air mass is coming out the vents.

I also don't understand what "vacuum" could have to do with a fan blowing air out of the vents. Back in the late 80s I had a beat-up Datsun 240 when I was in college. There was a flexible, accordion-pleated plastic hose attached by a wire spring clamp to an outlet behind the radio where the fan was. Any time someone with longer legs sat in the passenger seat, they would hit this hose with their toe, pull the spring-clamp off the outlet tube, and the air volume would stop coming out of the dash. The fan would keep blowing, and the same sound could be heard (that loud, fan-blowing noise!) as I'm hearing now. Sounds like a miniature jet engine.

I'm not disputing you, I just don't understand how the system works.

Would it be okay if I asked you to explain it to me as if I were 10 years old?

 

[rrgone]

Check to see if the recirc/fresh air door has fallen down in it's housing above the blower motor. You can see it pretty easy by dropping the glove box down and looking through the grill in the front of the housing. It that door is laying down in there it will block most air flow through the various ducts.

 

[lancer525]

Check to see if the recirc/fresh air door has fallen down in it's housing above the blower motor. You can see it pretty easy by dropping the glove box down and looking through the grill in the front of the housing. It that door is laying down in there it will block most air flow through the various ducts.

Okay, great. Now, I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "dropping the glove box down". Does that mean emptying out everything from the inside of the glove box and then taking out the piece that forms the inside of the glove box? Is there an easier way for me to see inside the dash, like taking that side panel off the console where the radio is, and looking up, or is it that the angle of how this recirc/fresh air door is oriented that I won't be able to see.

I'm having a tough time visualising what it's going to look like, and what this is going to entail. You clearly have more experience with this than I do, so I likely don't understand it the way you would.

 

[rrgone]

Empty the glove box. Squeeze the sides of the box toward the middle a little bit and let it swing back and down out of the way. The box itself is made from some kind of fiber board so it's pretty easy to squeeze the sides enough to get it loose.

 

[lancer525]

Empty the glove box. Squeeze the sides of the box toward the middle a little bit and let it swing back and down out of the way. The box itself is made from some kind of fiber board so it's pretty easy to squeeze the sides enough to get it loose.

That was the clarification I needed.

One other stupid question, and I'll be able to get to it.

Are there any photos available online that show what I need to be looking for? In other words, I won't know if what I am looking at is the problem, if I don't know what the problem looks like.

Thanks much!