I'm asking about the '89 in my sig. The blower motor is just not up to snuff, the first 3 settings are useless and on high it barely circulates air in the front of the cab, the rear passengers can't even tell it's on. For comparison, my wife's '04 explorer will blow my beard around and cause you to squint if a vent is aimed at your face.

Is there an upgrade that can be done or maybe these things are pretty universal and I could steal one out of another vehicle to swap in? What have you guys done to fix this?

TIA,
Joe

 

The blower wheel could be damaged, or the heater/AC housing could be full of leaves or pine needles, or a blend door is not working properly.. I doubt you will find a motor that turns enough faster to make much of a difference..

Another idea is it could be the bearing dried out and binding the motor shaft and slowing things down.. They have bushings, not actual ball or roller bearings and the impregnated lube drys up and binds up the on the shaft.

 

Also bad wire connections to blower motor can cause it to slow down. I read in other forums, some others ran a direct fused power feed to the blower motor with a relay in high speed. It cuts down the the factory wire harness resistance and connections.

These motors do pull some amps and a bad connection will heat up and you will loose power through it.

 

Could it be a Blower Motor Resistor?

I'd take the blower off as it's pretty easy to do and see if the wheel is caked with dust. When I changed mine out (noisy at low speeds) the wheel had some dust on the little cups in the squirrel cage.

 

I though the resistor just gives you the lower fan speeds (1-3). When the resistor fails, you will only have full fan speed because full volts are going to the blower. Could be wrong though. The blower on my 95 f-150 blows pretty damn hard and is noisy as hell on 3 and 4. You might just have an issue with yours.

 

Yup, that's right. Blower resistor only gives you the speeds not including high.
Check the voltage going to the motor, could have a crappy connection somewhere. You could also measure the amp draw on it at full speed, then compare that with a known good one. If the motor is starting to fail, it'll likely draw more current than a newer one.

 

it sounds to me like you need to clean out the heater box and clean the heater core fins.. it will have 24 years of crap in it to block airflow.

 

On that note do this vintage truck have a cabin air filter? If so it's probably just a little overdue for a change.

 

there is no such animal as a "cabin air filter" on ford pickups made before 05. not sure about the newer trucks. . even though the parts pusher will tell you you have one to make the extra sale.

 

I have a 95 Conaski and was unaware of a cabin filter, were you implying that the newer trucks have one?

 

since this thread got me a PM on how to clean the blower fan and heater core, i figured i would post the reply i gave here also so anyone else that wants to do it can:
blower motor is accessed from the engine bay. 4 screws hold it to the box.
the heater core is behind the glove box.
under the hood, remove the heater hoses and stick them in the hood hinge with hose ends facing up.
the radiator is lower than the hoses at this point so you do not have to drain the radiator, you will only loose less than a pint of coolant
remove glove box, and remove the panel you see directly in front of you i think it has 4 screws holding it in.
pop the core out and get the fins as clean as you can. i use hot soapy water and a very fine bristle brush with light pressure. or just replace the core.
wile you have the core out, clean as much of the duct work as you can.

 

i think Paul was refering to the fact that most auto stores and websites say we have cabin air filters, even though we do not.

 

I was asking the question, I know my '90 doesn't have a cabin air filter but I wasn't sure of Ford has started installing them a little later in the series.

 

Ohh gotcha

 

when the 99 superduty model came out, i heard there was a dealer installed option for a cabin filter. but i have never seen one, and the local dealer hear never sold one, and can not even order the kit anymore.