Air Conditioning Question

[OzzyRick]

I am the proud owner of a 99 XLT and have a strange situation with the air conditioning. I don't know if this is a common problem or whether the system was designed this way, but when I have the AC running, the cold air only comes out of the little vents on top of the dash and not the dashboard vents whenever the engine is under any sort of load. Driving on flat road or downhill without accellerating will have the air coming out of the dashboard vents, but as soon as speed gets up over 110km/h (68 mph) or any sort of hill or rise is negotiated the air switches from the dashboard vents to those two little ones on top.

Is there some sort of sensor or switch I can turn off or disconnect to stop it doing this. I steer away from taking it to a Ford Dealer here in Australia as they don't seem to like imported models like the Explorer and want to take my first born child as a deposit on the work.

Cheers,
OzzyRick

 

[FexplorerV8]

More than likely you have a vacuum leak, the a/c system is designed to blow to the defroster and little vents when there is no vacuum going to a little hose that moves your blend doors keeping them where you have the dial set.

This is done a built in safety feature, so that if a hose breaks or something affects the vacuum you can at least still defrost your windshield.

Hope this helps.

 

[OzzyRick]

More than likely you have a vacuum leak, the a/c system is designed to blow to the defroster and little vents when there is no vacuum going to a little hose that moves your blend doors keeping them where you have the dial set.

This is done a built in safety feature, so that if a hose breaks or something affects the vacuum you can at least still defrost your windshield.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply. Any idea how I can trace such a leak or how to fix. Is it something I can do myself, or does it need to go to the workshop?

 

[xccter]

I am having a similar problem on my '99 V8 Mountaineer. Just started about a week ago.

I replaced a split hose that goes from the top front of the EFI plenum to a plastic fitting down under the battery, but have found no other vacuum leaks.

Is there a vacuum motor somewhere that may be the culprit?

Thanx.