No Air Thru Vents

[Floatflyer]

2005 Explorer, I apologize for asking this question BUT both my wife and I have struggled thru reading ALL of the various posts on this topic, so, please bare with me as I explain what I have done.

First was when the blower motor speed was selected to 3 or 4 I heard a "roaring" noise coming from the motor. We went to this forum and did some reading and then I removed the blower motor. I found a bunch of debris/insulation, etc inside the squirrel cage. Wife reached up and pulled almost the same amount of debris out from the area below the outside air door. I reinstalled the motor and gleefully turned the motor on. No more roaring noise even at high speed, BUT, no air coming out of vents either!!!!!!!!!!!

We immediately thought that we had either door problems or compressor problems. Took the trim off from around the center console/radio, etc and found only 2 of the "3 or 4" compressors I had read about. Arms appeared to be attached. After much cursing I pushed gently on the door behind the louvers of the center console and, no surprise, lots of air coming out, hmmmm.

SO, the problem was that for some reason the doors were not opening. More reading, more cursing, looking for vacuum tubing leaks, etc. THEN the little light goes off, vacuum, hmm, needs vacuum pump, vacuum pump MIGHT need the damn engine running, DUH! Yep, started the engine and all works fine, sigh.

Just goes to show you that you can over think a problem. This car is located 1,000 miles below the USA border and 2hrs from a Ford Dealer. We pretty much have to solve this type of problem ourselves because even the simplest problem requires an overnight stay, an appointment, and usually a large bill with mixed results.

Thanks to all before me for their writings and pictures. One bonus resulting from this epic attempt is that I removed the fuse to the very annoying chiming I have endured when the key is left in the ignition. Some peace and quiet, at last.

 

[Number4]

 

[Floatflyer]

I am Baaaack!! After a day or so of normal operation of my a/c and vent control, I am again without any air coming out of the vents!!! I should say with the exception of the little round louvered vents on each side of the dash panel and the main defroster vent.

My a/c and heater appear to work fine.

The only thing that works on the right hand control knob in the center console is when the 12:00 position is selected to turn off the fan. No other vent selections make any changes.

I have pulled off the "bezel"(?) around the center console and all appears to be good there. I see that there are 5 colored tubes coming from the right hand control knob in the center console(as described above) and that when that connector is removed these colored tubes must be vacuum tubes, correct?

I have followed them into the dash panel and can see nothing wrong. I am only able to see 2, of what I think others call compressors, and they seem to be intact with actuating arms and pins. Other threads have mentioned that there are 3 or 4 of these cannisters/compressors??

What is the function of the black cannister located nearer the firewall below the blower motor?? When I removed the blower motor for inspection I also removed this round vessel. I found a nipple recessed in the only opening and there were 2 tubes, one gray and one black running into a "T" and that plugged into the nipple.

I guess my question is what is preventing the various doors from allowing air thru the selected vents?? This can't be that difficult but I am sure suffering trying to figure this out.

 

[rrgone]

It must be a vacuum problem. The plastic tank is the vacuum reservoir and if it's cracked or the tubing has come off of it the system will not work. A strong vacuum is needed to operate the vacuum motors that move the mode doors. There is another vacuum motor under the hood that operates the heater control valve. So 5 total vacuum motors (at least in my 2002). The default position of the mode doors when no vacuum is present is with defrost door open and all other doors closed.

Here is a schematic for the 2003 model year with manual climate controls:
http://www.justanswer.com/ford/2vbwc-2003-explorer-won-t-switch-or-redirect-air-when-switch.html

So start by checking the reservoir tank over carefully. See if a tube came off of it when you cleaned the crap out of the blower housing. Let us know what you find.

 

[icepickjazz]

Could be vacuum leak as mentioned or in my case it was caused by this http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=323586
I ended up using a zip tie to fix. Wish I would have done that a couple of years ago too. Both broke on mine about the same time. Also [MENTION=134770]BigRondo[/MENTION] also posted a very helpful document that showed vacuum lines for single and dual zone climate control. Climate Control System troubleshooting from the shop manual. You might want to check out this post too.

 

[Floatflyer]

Thank you both for replies. I was initially happy that I got rid of the noise and all was working properly. With this no air out the vent started I have been putting off getting into it again.

I will take your suggestions and give it a try in the next day or two. Being in the Mexican boonies forces me into a DIY repair. Thanks again, and Happy New Year. FF

 

[Floatflyer]

Well, I finally started another effort into find why I am not getting any air out of my vents today. I took the vacuum reservoir off, the T fitting out of it and examined carefully. No obvious problems. I tried to blow into the reservoir and couldn't, leading me to think that there is no leak or any I could detect. I examined the T with the black tubing going into and out of the fitting, good. I traced this black tube and a gray one to the firewall where it disappears and I could not find the tubes on the engine side of the firewall.

I then removed the bezel/trim around the center console, disconnected the electrical connectors towards the top of the console, removed the radio, disconnected the connector behind the selector valve that directs the air to various parts of the dash board. Looked behind the glove box and tried to follow the black tube from the reservoir to the T and up towards the center console. Found it went into another T and examined it. Again, looked fine. I don't know where the gray tube goes but not to the selector valve. The selector valve has 5 tubes running into it, black, red, white, blue, and yellow. When disconnected and examined they all look fine.

I started the engine hoping to find evidence of "vacuuming" at any of the fittings, nothing and I had my wife with better hearing check as well.

Can somebody tell me how to determine if the vacuum pump or whatever is sucking??

Please remember I am 2 hrs from a Ford dealer and would have to spend the night in La Paz and hope for the best.

Cold and windy down here, in the 50s, brrrrrrrrrrrrr. Until I hear back from you, tomorrow I am going to drop the blower motor and check things there to see if during the reinstallation of the blower I screwed something up.

Thanks for you help and patience. FF

 

[Floatflyer]

The Final Chapter! This afternoon I got enough ambition up to tackle this problem ONE MORE TIME. I had printed the short troubleshooting instructions along with the vacuum schematic that RRGONE posted above. I read it twice and had the wife read it as well. Since I had taken almost everything I could at apart in my previous efforts, I was easily able to access the selector switch in the center console. I had also dropped the blower motor and the vacuum reservoir. I fired up the motor and checked #5 , the vacuum supply to the back of the selector knob and, suck! I thought yeah, I am on my way.

I checked under the hood again and still nothing wrong. I reinstalled things and, again, started the motor and selected a vent, and, and, NOTHING! I am going nuts. I removed the connector behind the selector switch and again checked for suck on #5 , nothing. Now I am pissed and can't understand what is happening. I back under the hood and finally found a connector just outside the firewall and pulled it apart. Started the engine and got good suction. An ah, ha moment. This was the first time I actually felt a strong vacuum anywhere. I put it back together and went to the T at the vacuum reservoir, no suck, hmmmm. I got my inspection mirror and flashlight and started looking around under the dash and the blower motor. I noticed at the rear right side of the blower motor the black(vacuum tube) and the gray(?) tube were pinched between the blower motor and it's mounting flange!!!! These tubes had a clamp around them and were screwed into a plastic mounting location. I had to remove the screw and clamp and then lower the blower motor a bit to free these 2 tubes. Reinstalled the blower motor, and all works fine!!!

Remind self, if something is working and you work on another problem and then something isn't working, ALWAYS check what you touched on the first go around!!!!!
I spent literally hours on this and just before the light went on I told the wife I give up I am going to take this sucker someplace and have somebody else fix it.

Hope somebody learns something from my sad efforts. Till next time. FF

 

[rrgone]

Thanks for posting back up after you found the problem.