MAX A/C Damper not working

[colmnfamily]

Hello,

I am new to the forum and thought I would try my question here. This is for a 2004 Explorer XLT.

Was getting poor air flow from front vents on all fan speeds, but heard blower motor running properly...based off suggestions on another website, i unbolted the blower motor from under the dash. I looked up into the (what is this area called?) and saw from what I can tell is a rectagular piece of plactic with some foam on it covering the intake hole. There was also some debris in there (napkin pieces, leaves). I was able to push up on the piece of plastic and pull this debris out. The piece of plastic just seems to flop around, not attached to anything.

Is this piece of plactic the damper door?? I saw on another forum that the damper door that engages when MAX A/C is set sometime comes off. Or is this some kind of filter??

Now, even with this unknown piece of plastic still covering the hole, the vents are now blowing air properly! Have appropriate air flow at all fan speeds.

So now this leads to another issue. Now have proper vent flow, but MAX A/C does not engage. It is my understanding that it engages by means of a 'vacuum reservoir' and that you would hear (which i have in the past) an audible "fwoomph" sound when it is working properly. I do not hear that now. Now, if the damper door has fallen off, would I still hear some vacuum noise or nothing at all? Other posts indicate a hose may be disconnected from the reservoir or it may have water in it. I cannot seem to locate this vacuum reservoir.

Also, what is the black capsule-shaped housing (about 6" long x 3" in dia.) located just to the left off the blower motor under the dash?

Wow...I know this is alot, but any help appreciated!

Thanks

JC
Sykesville, MD

 

[rrgone]

Welcome aboard JC. The plastic thing you see above the blower motor cavity is the recirculation (aka fresh air) door. It has broken free and fallen to the bottom of the recirc assembly. You are right, when switched to Max AC that door is supposed to close off the fresh air duct so that recirculated air is used for AC. It is possible to get to it for repair without removing the whole dash. Someone else found this tutorial and posted a link in here a while back:
http://www.denlorstools.com/autoblog/2008/08/2003-ford-explorer-ac-not-cold-enough/

You may have a bigger problem this winter if cold outside air leaks through there all the time. Your front seat passenger is going to be unhappy. If you decide to jump in there and repair or replace the door please take some pictures and document your fix in here.

The capsul near the blower housing is the vacuum reservoir. If your other vent doors are closing and opening correctly then I don't think you have a leak there. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Jax02Exp]

rrgone,

I've been having a simlar problem to what JC had, also which no difference between max a/c and regular. I pulled off the trim piece around the windshield defrost, looked down and saw that recirc door is broken off. I'm going to fix it with the link you posted - thanks for that by the way.

I know very little about automotive a/c, so I have a couple stupid questions I'm hoping you could help me with:

1) There is also no change in airflow from when I select the vents vs defrost. Right now it's just ok air flow from the vents and little out of the defrost. (But last week I couldn't get it to come out anywhere but the defrost and floor vents) Can this be attributed to the broken recirc vent laying there or do I need to be looking for something else? I've checked for vaccuum leaks, detached hoses, and broken actuators and nothing looks apparent.

2) Does the "blend door" refer to the doors behind center vents (under the radio)? I am able to select hot/cold and speed and those doors seem to do fine.

Before I started replacing the fresh air assembly I want to get an idea if that's going to fix all my problems with it or do I need to do something else while I'm in there.

Any help you could provide would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Jack

 

[Curtis]

I have a factory service manual, thought I post a picture of what this piece looks like.

Its technically not a blend door (as it does not blend hot and cold air to make warm, thats another part)
Its either open for fresh air, or close for cabin air.
It can allow fresh air in for regular AC and other heating functions, or will close such that cabin air is pushed though the AC to make it cooler, faster.

The part is number 16 - The funny squirrel cage looking duct

 

[RB1953]

I am new to the forum but have the same problem with the fresh air door. After reading all the posts I could find, I unbolted the housing and took the door out as was suggested in another post. My temporary fix was to just cover the passenger side air grate with a piece of cardboard. This allows the a/c to work but ther is no max a/c. Also blocks the hot or cold air from coming into the passenger area from outside.

 

[kstrayhorn]

on my 02 XLT cold air would not blow out of the center vents, but rather out of the defrost vents. I found that the arms that control the doors below the radio had come off of the doors, so they could not move them. I assume I knocked them off when running my RCAs and remote wire. Might want to check those first, as it is easiest, just remove the radio and look for the silver cans on both sides of the radio.

 

[craig722]

I lucked out!!

I have a 2002 EXPLR XLT w/manual controls. I was getting exhaust fumes in the cabin and there was no difference in the air flow between regular and MAX A/C. So I dropped the glove box and looked up into the air vent and was
amazed to see my vent door was in the proper postion (not fallen down).
So I figured my problem was the acuator not working. I could put a screwdriver through the vent grill and could move the door back and forth or put my hand up on top of the actuator and pull down the control arm to close/open the door. So, I managed to rig a long cable tie over the arm and back down along the right side of the actuator to pull the door shut. I live in FLA so no big deal if the door is closed all the time, plus I now have increased air coming out of the A/C vents and it gets COLD a lot faster. Thanks guys for the help. My Ford dealer quoted me $800 skins for the job!!

 

[cuspid]

I took the blend door out. But I was losing a lot of air flow out the defroster vent, So I pulled the bezel up and blocked the defroster vent and increased the air flow out the ac vents