98 Explorer A/C Problem

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michael.santamaria@gmail.com - 10 May 2006 18:02 GMT

I have a 1998 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer with 102k miles and have been
having A/C issues. The A/C will only blow hot air and in addition,
there is a rattling noise when I idle. I took it to a repair shop and
they said the hot air and the rattling are related due to a leak in the
evaporator.

The estimated price was $1066. Are leaky evaporators common for my car
at its age and is this a reasonable estimate?

Any help is great.

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Shopdog - 11 May 2006 00:36 GMT

It may be a blend door problem, I woudl have someone else double check to be
safe.

1G is a CHUNK of change

Searcher

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Ulysses - 11 May 2006 00:54 GMT

> I have a 1998 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer with 102k miles and have been
> having A/C issues. The A/C will only blow hot air and in addition,
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> Any help is great.

Like ShopDog said it is likely the blend door which is a common problem and
inexpensive to repair it you do it yourself. There is a thread on how to
fix it at www.ford-trucks.com.

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Ulysses - 11 May 2006 01:01 GMT

> I have a 1998 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer with 102k miles and have been
> having A/C issues. The A/C will only blow hot air and in addition,
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> Any help is great.

Here's another blend door link that MoonDogii found and shared in another
recent post on the subject:

http://www.blenddoorfix.netfirms.com/

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Al Williams - 15 May 2006 18:58 GMT

Does the AC work in Max-AC mode? If it does but not in other modes then you
may have the blend door issue.

As far as the estimate goes it sounds high but I think the evaporator is
tough to get out. Get a 2nd or 3rd opinion.

(how's this for a coincidence, my 98EB has a similar issue except mine is a
leak in the accumulator)

Signature

Allan Williams

>I have a 1998 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer with 102k miles and have been
> having A/C issues. The A/C will only blow hot air and in addition,
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> Any help is great.

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michael.santamaria@gmail.com - 01 Jun 2006 16:13 GMT

As a follow up, the A/C was not putting out cold air at all, so it was
not just the blend door. Having the evaporator replaced fixed that
issue and it now puts out cold air when on Max A/C. And it only cost
$1000!

But the story continues...
When I got the car back, it was on Max A/C, so it was cooling well, but
I switched it to automatic climate control (at 73 degrees or so) and it
started pushing out hot air as before the evaporator fix. When I
switched it back to Max A/C, it would only push out mildly cool air.

I took the car back to the repair shop ready to call in lawyers if need
be, but he mentioned the blend door problem and said once you go off of
Max A/C, it wont switch back on. So the mechanic is going to reset
things so it pushes out cold air on Max A/C and I will fix it myself or
just deal with it. He offered $200 to fix the blend-door, but I will
take a crack at it myself with the links provided. Just wanted to
throw that out there.

Thanks a bunch for everyone's help on this issue.

> Does the AC work in Max-AC mode? If it does but not in other modes then you
> may have the blend door issue.
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> >
> > Any help is great.

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michael.santamaria@gmail.com - 25 Jun 2006 23:44 GMT

Still having problems!

Adding to my previous posts...
I have only recently noticed the ineffectiveness of my A/C as
temperatures climb into the upper 80's to 90's. The A/C is fine if the
temperture is 75 or lower, but at higher outside temps, the A/C does
not provide sufficient cooling and i leave my car sweatier than when I
entered. The Max A/C setting does not put out cold air, just mild air
(about 5 degrees cooler than just rolling down the windows and letting
outside air in)

I have little to no car repair experience, so I am wondering what are
some risks of attempting the blend door fix as described at
http://www.blenddoorfix.netfirms.com/ ?

Again the mechanic offered $200 to solve the problem, but that could be
a "rough" estimate.

Thanks for the forum's continued help.

> As a follow up, the A/C was not putting out cold air at all, so it was
> not just the blend door. Having the evaporator replaced fixed that
[quoted text clipped - 39 lines]
> > >
> > > Any help is great.

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Al Williams - 27 Jun 2006 15:55 GMT

You AC should be cooling more effectively than that on MaxAC - I'd take it
back and get the pressure checked to ensure you don't have a leak.

Something is funny about your problem though as MaxAC should work even with
a bad blend door. MaxAC opens the recirculating air damper, shuts off the
flow to the heater core and cranks the AC so you should get full cooling.
If you look on this picture below you will see how it all is setup - the
blend door is in the middle and controls air flow around the heater core
after the AC evaporator. If the heater core is off then you should still
get full cooling even if the blend door is wonky.

http://autorepair.about.com/library/images/bl332a-lib.htm

You need to confirm that you indeed do have the blend door issue before
doing much further. Google it a bit for more information as I think you can
actually see the problem behind the glove box to confirm it before going
ahead. That blend door fix is well documented and should work - not sure
for how long though.

Signature

Allan Williams

> Still having problems!
>
[quoted text clipped - 64 lines]
>> > >
>> > > Any help is great.

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