Experience with fixing front AC/Heat blower motor 1999 XLT | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Experience with fixing front AC/Heat blower motor 1999 XLT

BamakoJon

Member
Joined
September 21, 2018
Messages
29
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3
City, State
Birmingham, AL
Year, Model & Trim Level
1999 Ford Explorer, XLT
Callsign
KI5DGM
If you're short on time, skip to the synopsis in the last paragraph.

My front blower motor started having issues several months ago. I was driving around and the AC was blowing great. Turned off the truck for a few minutes, turned it back on, and the AC didn't turn on. I proceeded to turn the engine on and off several times, and eventually it started working again. Fast forward a few more weeks, and it started doing this all the time. After doing a bit of research, I discovered that there are several possible causes for this issue, but the most common was that the blower motor itself was bad.

I tested to see if the motor was the issue by turning on the engine and AC, then rapping on the motor with my knuckles. The motor kicked on right away, so I knew the issue was with the motor.

At first I wondered if the motor was just having an issue starting because it needed oil (better try a cheap fix before replacing the whole thing), but unfortunately upon removal it spun perfectly fine in my hand. Took the motor apart to find that windings looked perfectly fine, but the carbon brushes were completely worn out. I ordered new brushes and installed them, but still no luck. Then I cleaned the contacts with fine sandpaper, and it worked a lot better, but still not all the time (it would go about a week running well, then would stop and I would have to whack it again).

In messing around with the motor so much, I inadvertently burned out the resistor, so the blower only got power when the speed control switch was on High, but not on any other settings. I wasn't doing anything particularly damaging, so I figured that maybe the resistor was on it's way out already and that was the issue. Got a new resistor, which fixed speed control issue, but still not the motor itself.

Ultimately, I put new carbon brushes in the motor, cleaned the contacts with fine sandpaper (which helped a bit, but didn't fix the problem), and installed a brand new resistor, but none of these things fixed the problem. Finally I broke down and bought a new motor from O'Reilly for $41.00. Problem solved. AC blows great on all speed settings and never fails to start. I'm not sure what was actually wrong with the motor, but apparently these things just go bad and there's nothing you can do. Hopefully I save somebody else all that time and headache!
 






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