A/C only works in defrost and floor

[wayne6197]

My wife has an 02 Explorer XLT. When the A/C is on, the front A/C only works in the defrost or floor modes, or both. It rarely ever works out of the dash, however, on occassion it will for an unknown reason, actually blow for a while out of the dash. The rear A/C works fine. Anyone know why this happens? I just don't want to have to tear out the whole dash if it is something simple as a sensor, contact, etc. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! Check the vacuum lines for leaks. The main place which might be the problem would be the plastic vacuum line which connects to a rubber fitting going to an A/C servo piston.

 

[charlieb]

Air only thru dash vents

I have the same problem, only mine blows only thru the vents whether on AC,
Defrost or heat. I took it to the dealer who wanted to pull the dash and replace the central air duct. The mechanic said the operating lever was broken. The cost? Only $1098.00 !!!!!! Does someone have a reasonable
(cheap?) solution?

Thanks to all who can help

 

[Turdle]

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192842

 

[wchain]

I'm having a similar problem, no air on defrost, in fact, I only have air from the panel and a teeny from the floor, no matter what mode it is selected too.

I dropped the glove box, and found that the vacuum lever that operates the defrost/panel door is moving, however the plastic that it attaches to is broken. If you flip the switch, it blows out of defrost, flip it back, dash. The attaching tab is broken. Cheap plastic.

The whole assembly has to come out, which means dash/console removal.

If I get ambitious enough, I may try to do this in the winter.

 

[rrgone]

I'm having a similar problem, no air on defrost, in fact, I only have air from the panel and a teeny from the floor, no matter what mode it is selected too.

I dropped the glove box, and found that the vacuum lever that operates the defrost/panel door is moving, however the plastic that it attaches to is broken. If you flip the switch, it blows out of defrost, flip it back, dash. The attaching tab is broken. Cheap plastic.

The whole assembly has to come out, which means dash/console removal.

If I get ambitious enough, I may try to do this in the winter.

This seems to come up quite often in this forum. You would be doing a lot of good if you took a bunch of pics and put together a tutorial on this fix. Good luck!

 

[charlieb]

I repaired mine by removing the glove box to gain easy access. I then drilled a 1/8" hole in what was left of the plastice lever.
I then took a small flat piece of metal appx. 1/2" wide x 1" long and drilled 1/8" holes appx 1/4" from each end. I then fastened the metal strip to the remaining plastic lever and to the vacuum actuator with small screws and doubled the nuts tightening them against each other while leaving the screws loose enough so the lever can move. Total time 30 minutes. Total price $1.98

 

[montetate]

Panel/Defrost Door Lever Broken Where it Attaches to Vacumm Motor

Good idea CharlieB. I was considering doing the same and wondered if it would work. Now I know it will.

Do you happen to have pictures of the fix you could post or send to montate32@msn.com?

FYI, dealer wanted to charge me $1,500 to fix this. Let's see $1,500.00...$1.98..$1,500...$1.98...hmmm....I'll choose the $1.98.

 

[jwright4]

I wanted to bump this thread up because i noticed today i have the same broken lever problem. Has anyone else used the modified fix to this problem? and how has it worked for you? i surely do not want to pay 1000 to have this fixed by the dealer.

 

[montetate]

JWright4,

Yes, I did my own "modified fix" to the broken lever problem. I assume the modified fix you are referring to is the one posted by Charlieb on 10-5-07 where he writes:

I repaired mine by removing the glove box to gain easy access. I then drilled a 1/8" hole in what was left of the plastice lever.
I then took a small flat piece of metal appx. 1/2" wide x 1" long and drilled 1/8" holes appx 1/4" from each end. I then fastened the metal strip to the remaining plastic lever and to the vacuum actuator with small screws and doubled the nuts tightening them against each other while leaving the screws loose enough so the lever can move. Total time 30 minutes. Total price $1.98

Actually, all I did was drill a little hole in the lever "stub" (the broken lever) and attach the vacuum actuator arm to it with a wood screw. Charlieb's fix sounds a little more permanent. I sold my Explorer about two months after I fixed it and told the new owners this whole story. So, all I can tell you is that it held up for at least a couple of months.

I would not expect my fix to last, but, maybe it has. I was expecting to have to redo the fix and use Charlieb's method.