blower motor fire hazard question.

[jp1985]

I just got done a few hours ago with cleaning out my ford explorers blower motor compartment. I a spent all night working on this with my boy good quality father son time even though i am as far as you can get from a mechanic that's why it took my like 4 hours from start to finish.

I have one question about this process i am a little nervous about and hope i just did not mess things up inside my engine or something. the blower motor had a little gasket thing on it from where you remove it but it was cracking and old and it slipped off and i couldn't get it back on for the life of me so i just left it off and put things back together like they where is this going to cause any inherent risk or damage to the truck? do i need to go to the auto parts store and look for another or can i just leave it off and be fine as is?

I also found a little cable that was undone and it says ecc test any idea what this is or why its undone? i just got the truck used a few months ago so it wasn't my doing.

thanks for all the info and advise again guys you all have been really helpful with my many different explorer questions and issues.

JP1985

 

[vroomzoomboom]

you can leave the gasket off, but it may allow water to leak into the housing, and also may not have as much air blowing out the vents because its is not sealed (how much i am not sure).
as for the plug that says ecc test, that is the port were you hook a scanner up to if you have any check engine codes, so you will be fine with that one.

 

[Anime]

You could probably go to the parts store and get a blower motor gasket, they likely won't have one specifically for the Explorer (they'll probably say it's a dealer item), but if you go to the right place, they can probably find one for some other Ford/Ford truck that's just about the same thing. Otherwise you can go to the craft store and get some adhesive-backed foam sheet, and an x-acto knife, and cut a new gasket out. Costs about $1 for an 8.5 x 11 foam sheet. You can also use a tube of silicone gasket maker and just put a circle of the stuff around the motor flange, then stick it on and bolt it up.

The retainer tab for the EEC plug sometimes breaks or it wobbles loose, it's supposed to attach behind the fuse box, but if the clear/white push-on tab is busted, you can just zip tie it to something, just make sure nothing rubs on the wires. It's better not to just let it dangle and rest on the fenderwell, otherwise it gets all dirty and nasty, then when you need to plug in the code reader, it's all gunked up.

 

[4x4junkie]

Simple closed-cell foam weatherstripping from Home Depot, Lowe's, Ace, etc. might work for the blower seal as well.

 

[Roadrunner777]

Yup. Double-sided 3m foam would do nicely.