1999 explorer fan blower problem

[efiles123]

A while ago my fan blower quit working and only worked on high speed. Recently, the highest speed quit working as well. I've done some research and narrowed it down to a few possible factors that may be wrong such as resistor, fuses, or the blower motor itself. Can anyone help pinpoint the problem before I start tearing things apart?

 

[Robman]

Check the fuse first off.

It will certainly need a new resistor, the plug that plugs into the resistor can get pretty stuck in there and rusty too.
Blower motors do crap out, have you tried hitting it to get it started again?

This is all assuming you have the regular heater controls with the turn style switches and not the electronic controls.

 

[efiles123]

Yes, mine has the turn style controls. Can you tell me where the fuse is located?

 

[SoNic67]

In the fuse block. See the owner manual. If you don't have one: https://owner.ford.com/tools/account/how-tos/owner-manuals.html

I am convinced that is not the fuse, and even if so, fuses NEVER "blow" for no reason, something else will be causing that.
The manual controls have a resistor network that goes bad and also the fan itself can go bad. There are 2 relays for your style - one for "Blower Fan ON" and another for "Blower High Speed", both have to turn on in order for the high speed to work, you can hear them clicking when turning the AC knob from OFF to any setting, while the Fan knob is on max speed.

 

[CDW6212R]

I'd replace the fan motor in any case, at this age there is debris in the space between the motor fan and the evaporator. I had a fan working intermittently in my 98 I just got, and began with the blower motor resistor. I did the fan next, which fixed mine. But the stuff like pine needles I took out helped the air flow a lot. I got a couple of handfuls out of it, using a shop vac and a rubber 3/8" hose.

Replacing the motor isn't too hard, getting the parts like the overflow bottle out of the way, took a while. Go slow prying the locking clip off of the motor shaft, to save the fan assuming it's still good.

 

[bobflood]

Good advice above. Had to do mine a couple of years ago - found that the resistor plug itself was melted and had to get a new pigtail also. You can replace the resistor and pigtail without pulling anything else, so that is the first thing to try. Recently, the blower motor itself finally gave out (almost 300K miles!). A pretty easy replacement, after you move the cruise control actuator and the overflow tank out of the way. Buy a motor with a fan - it's almost impossible to get the plastic fan off the old motor without breaking it. Good luck.

 

[efiles123]

Thanks for all the informative responses. I have a resistor on order and will install it this weekend. Will let you know how it goes.

 

[efiles123]

Got the resistor in yesterday and the blower fan still does not work. Still glad I replaced the resistor since the old one was in poor shape. Could the problem be one of the relays? The rear blower still works in the car.

 

[CDW6212R]

Have you replaced the motor yet, that can work intermittently or go out all at once?

 

[bobflood]

Easy enough to test. Pull the plug from the blower motor; then turn the blower on and measure for voltage at the plug. If you have voltage at the plug, the motor is bad. Good luck.

 

[efiles123]

Did some electrical tests. The fan switch has voltage at the switch at high speed only, lower speeds nothing. No voltage down at the blower motor regardless of speed.

Edit: looks like no voltage at any speed at switch

 

[J_C]

The following is the blower wiring for a Ford van, but I think it's essentially the same. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I wouldn't necessarily trust the wire colors, it's just a starting point.

The fan is upstream of the switch which grounds it through the resistor, or straight to ground on high speed. This means you should have 12V at one of the fan connectors at all times when the vehicle is on or key turned to aux power position, unless you have a fuse or relay that's bad. Unfortunately most vehicle wiring diagrams look like they were done by high school kids instead of a proper schematic so they don't even show fuses in many cases, or at least not with a standard symbol I recognize.

Regardless, in the under hood battery junction box you should check the fuse #2 and relay #9. If it's the same type as relay #6 (starter relay) next to it, then you could try swapping the two temporarily. In the interior fuse panel there's fuse #2. If any of these are bad, you "might" not get any voltage at the blower switch, but even if they are good, since the switch grounds the circuit, there would be minimal voltage on it relative to ground unless it has a bad ground itself.

If all are good and you have 12V at the fan, measure for resistance to ground on the other fan contact on the plug. On switch high speed the resistance should be low. On any other speeds it should correspond to the resistance across the blower resistor.

Both the blower motor resistor connector and switch connector should have one low resistance to ground, as shown at bottom middle and bottom furthest right of the diagram. The switch itself should also have a very low resistance to ground on its high and medium settings, on each wire connector pin when the knob is turned to that respective setting, while the lowest speed grounds entirely through the resistor pack.

 

[J_C]

^ It seems the forum has a new Mr. Negative. There's nothing unusual about any 18 y/o make of vehicle having a fan failure.

There's nothing particularly carcinogenic trapped in the fan compared to whatever entered the cabin that wasn't trapped in a fan housing. Brake dust and mold would be a very low % of contaminants in it. The blower is upstream of the evaporator core so the moisture that mold needs is past that point in the system.

As far as pouring money into them, that's contrary to reality. Most people are paying a few hundred a month on a newer car note, plus comprehensive insurance coverage... versus an occasional $50 cost for a fan/etc?

It seems like you are being a little too cheap for your own good. I'm not against junkyard parts at all for more expensive items not subject to inevitable wear, but a 15+ year old worn out fan, versus a new one complete with the squirrel cage is only $36 delivered on Amazon.

Of course you have every right to sell yours if it's such a big inconvenience... But part of that inconvenience seems to be that you keep picking things that are near worn out already.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

^These trucks aren't "worn out hunks of junk", they do have typical old vehicle failures, I've had four now and I love them all, selling one because I can't drive them all at once, Vernon your attitude towards these vehicles, just take yours and sell it and buy something else?

 

[CDW6212R]

The issues these vehicles have are 99% from prior owners level of car care. Mine needs a lot of TLC, still. But it's been dependable for eight months straight delivering the mail. I'm doing my first brake job due to the work usage.

Unfortunately the rear calipers have been dragging the pads some, the new pads I put on last Fall are worn out. They should last 2-3 years if things are working right. Lack of use(undriven vehicle) will create this kind of caliper issue, not the vehicle being defective etc. I've got two rebuilt calipers to install, along with new pads again. You have to keep up with the oldest parts, and replace them before they do fail.

 

[J_C]

The blower motor is mounted on the FIREWALL and is .... OBVIOUSLY DOWNSTREAM of the condensation emitted by the condenser under the hood.
The rear blower motor I took the liberty to discontinue, along with the whole console, was COVERED in mold......

Under hood condensation drips to the ground, not entering the system. Rear, I don't know and could speculate, but this topic isn't about the rear.

The reason the main blower motor & hamster cage fan is so toxic is because of how particulates cake to & adhere to the blades. The moisture in the air, a rain storm, pollution from Ford factories , exhaust from rush hour traffic by Ford vehicles, all contribute to form a stickiness to the blades, hence becoming one big, bacteria ridden fly trap.

Meh, I don't see anyone suggesting to lick them, nor any warning from the CDC.

Again, given the typical Ford owner IQ to imagine, that since he/she/it cannot SEE the junk in the air coming out of their vents, then there must not be anything particularly dangerous IN it, I will later post some stats as to exactly WHAT gets picked up in the air while driving down the highway. Why, you can SMELL brake dust just standing on the side of a busy interstate.

If all these contaminants bother you that much, I'd think the last thing you'd want be to doing is touching it yourself, twice even picking up an old one at a junk yard, and causing all those particles to become airborne by cleaning it.

Dude, are you saying it's ok for a little brake dust to be sprinkled on your salad at lunch time as if it's in a salt shaker?

No I'm suggesting that you're making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Are you saying a little arsenic is good little by little so your body builds up a tolerance to it or something?

If you catch someone sprinkling arsenic into your HVAC intake, by all means declare the vehicle a hazzard, but then you've already told us you've bought one of these old contaminated vehicles so it seems you're not equally applying the paranoia.

IF on the other hand, it were a person stating that they're particularly sensitive to air borne pollutants, then I would advise getting a vehicle with a cabin hepa air filter, though I suspect more often than not this would be a pollen allergy situation, or mold that was already in the air outside and blown into the cabin either way.

Now we've gone too far off topic so I'll leave this argument with one final thought - Treat symptoms, not paranoia.

 

[tillerspet]

A while ago my fan blower quit working and only worked on high speed. Recently, the highest speed quit working as well. I've done some research and narrowed it down to a few possible factors that may be wrong such as resistor, fuses, or the blower motor itself. Can anyone help pinpoint the problem before I start tearing things apart?

I had this same issue, and replaced the blower motor resistor. It worked, and fixed the issue of only air at HIGH setting.

NOW, the fan won’t turn on AT all, intermittently. This seems to be the motor issue and not anything else. I do get rear air, which is good.

The other thing I experienced was no cold air - and our temps hit 26C/70~F yesterday. I purchased an ac recharge kit and with my husbands help, was able to recharge the system. We will see how long the system stays charged (if 6 months, then I won’t fret about hoses and getting a vacuum system; if not, then I will look into the cost).

Thanks to this post, I know what to do with the motor (and if not motor, fuses; and if not them, then relay, etc etc)

 

[C420sailor]

Just wanted to add my repair.

98 Ex with manual controls. Fan only worked on high.

I removed the cruise control motor. Removed the two screws for the resistor with an 8mm socket, universal, extensions. Didn’t have to remove washer tank. I disconnected the harness after removing the resistor. Plug is TIGHT in there and has retaining clips top and bottom. Cleaned and dielectric greased connector.

New Motorcraft resistor ($20 I think?) worked like a charm.

 

[J_C]

^ I don't remember having to take the cruise control motor off to swap my '98 SOHC blower resistor, but if you insist I did, I won't disagree either.

 

[MakinJeepsWeep!]

I know on my 96 x and 01 B3K i have to remove cruise control but who knows maybe yours had a little more wiggle jiggle room haha