Need help for Winter. (Blower)

[InsanityLivz]

I have been reading posts and trying remedies for over two month now trying to avoid posting yet another Blower problem on the forum but it is winter and I have a 9 month old that has no heat in the vehicle so I am at your mercy.

I have a 2000 4dr XLS v6 Exploder. A few months ago we started the X and noticed there was no air coming out of the vents. I checked the interior fuse box and found #18 was a little black so I replaced it and the Blower started working. Over the next week or so the A/C would intermittently stop working but all I had to do to remedy this was remove the #18 and put it back in. Not replace it mind you, just remove the same fuse and put it back in. Almost like it was resetting something.

About a month and a half ago the blower just stopped working completely. After reading the forums on blowers in the explorers I decided it was most likely the motor and relegated to replacing it when it started getting cold. A few weeks ago my brothers 99 xlt v6 had catastrophic tranny failure (gogo 5r55e!!) Since it is parked at the a friends limo garage we decided to swap out the relays and such to check them all. We replaced every fuse in my X with new fuses both in front and engine compartment fuse blocks. we then took every relay from his X and transplanted them into mine while taking all my relays and moving them into his. The end result.... His X still worked fine and his blower motor ran flawlessly, mine still did not work.

So Now I am assuming it has to be the blower motor or a short. My friend who works on the limos tested the connections and came back with the result that there was not a short anywhere in the system leading to the motor. So it has to be the blower motor right? Wrong. We remove my blower motor and replace it with his. Nothing. Hook my blower motor up in his X and it runs fine. We leave his motor in mine and walk off scratching our heads. Two nights ago it started getting cold and my wife is driving home from work and all of a sudden the blower starts working and gets the car so hot she has to cut it down to low. (The blower, when working, has always worked on all speeds) She gets home I go out to the X and nothing.

Now it is starting to get cold and I am at my witts end with this thing. We have a 9 month old and it is freezing outside and I have to get this thing sorted out but im completely out of ideas.

Let me recap what we have done.

Checked and replaced fuses.

Replaced relays including the one beside the fluid tanks towards the bottom of the engine compartment below the airbox hose..

Checked wiring for shorts and power at motor.

Replaced Blower Motor with another motor. Both work in other Explorer. Neither in mine.

Checked Speed Selector switch inside cab.

Does anyone have any thoughts of maybe something I have missed in the other posts? A guy at autozone said that when I pulled the #18 fuse and it worked it would only affect the "Module Control Unit" but I am at a loss where to find that at and was told it was a ford only installation part in which case I couldn't afford it anyway atm.

I am thinking about just hot wiring it to the battery with an inline fuse and maybe running a variable speed switch into the cab and sticking it in the dash for a quick winter fix. Has anyone had any luck with something like that? Any help would be greatly appreciated before I end up with a bouncing baby block of Ice. Thanks for taking the time to read and help.

 

[mbagley]

You said the fuse was "a little black". I have worked with electronics for over 40 years, and that tells me that the fuse was overheated, discoloring the plastic shell. For some reason, the fuse holder/socket was not making good contact with the fuse blades, causing the overheating. It's not that the fuse was overloaded, only that the connection was not good. Normaly this due to moisture getting on the fuse socket, and could take a long time to get to a point of not working. Pulling the fuse and putting it back is not resetting anything, it's just scraping enough corrosion off the socket connection to work for a while. I would check the socket good. With a meter, check the voltage at the motor/resistor assy. When it's working I'll bet it's almost the same as battery, when not, it will be much less. Wiggle the fuse and the voltage will change.

 

[InsanityLivz]

Just checked at the block and meter reading are dead on at the fuse box and through the fuse testing didnt drop any voltage.

 

[mbagley]

I'm not real sure about the EXP. Most FORDS, I own a 06 Ranger, run the HOT more or less from the battery to the fuse, the one you changed, then into the motor. From there it goes to the "RESISTOR PACK" for speed control. From there depending on your system it goes to the speed switch or to the speed controller. You need to locate a wiring diagram. I'm sure you can find it somewhere on the webb. With it NOT working check voltage at the fuse, the motor in, motor out, resistor in and resistor out in that order. BATT voltage should be all the way to the motor in. MAX/HI fan setting will show a large voltage drop at motor out. LOW speed fan will show less drop at motor out. It's not unheard of for the resistor packs to open up. It normaly is mounted in the fan housing from the outside, follow the motor wires.

 

[mbagley]

Go to the "AUTOZONE.COM" site and look up the "REPAIR GUIDE" for your truck. It will have the diagrams you need.

 

[albi1cnobi1]

This should do it for you.

 

[gbissi]

Did you replace the resistor? Or check the terminals in the connector? I doubt it's the resistor, but maybe the connector overheated. Ford sells pigtail kits for the blower motor and resistor.

Also, check the grounds. You can always run an overlay ground too.


Gerry in Dearborn

 

[InsanityLivz]

Got IT

Thanks for the diagram and all the help. I Finally got it fixed. It seems there was a short in the actual harness. When I would take the harness out and run a test on it the wires were bending and making a good connection so it tested "Good". When it was actually hooked up to the blower motor it wasn't getting the power. I found that out on accident. My brother was watching the meter as i dropped my socket. When I let go of the harness with the leads still plugged in it dropped down to around 2v.

I just cut off the old harness and replaced it with the harness from the 98 xlt, hooked up the blower from the xlt and Voila!

I appreciate all the help guys.