88 e150 no rear AC or heat.. The blower motor comes on and works just fine through all speeds. After running a while it just quits, after a few minutes it comes back on and runs fine for a while, then quits again, over and over..

Blower motor going out?

 

More than likely it is showing its age. It'll run for a bit until it gets almost hot, seizes up and stops until it cools down. Its somewhat odd the fuse isn't blowing when it does lock up.

Not fun getting to one of those if its buried inside a lot of the Club Wagon interior trim. Worse yet is an aftermarket unit that was installed by a converter all those years ago.

 

If you can get to it, check the power to it while it is stopped to be sure it isn't an electrical issue.

 

And therein lies most of the problem----its buried behind so much trim etc that's nearly impossible-------at least to the point IF power can be checked at the motor itself its just as smart to swap out the motor to avoid all that rework.

 

True, but you could also check for power at the source splice/switch or where it comes from in the dash(?). At least that way you can rule out the fan or all that work to remove it if it doesn't have power.

 

I guess first I need to find out where it is! It doesn't slow down first, it just stops, then starts again full speed. I also read there is a ac blower relay that controls the fan, don't know if it can heat up and then cool down..
Yes I thought about that today, checking the power when it is stopped..

What do you guys think about a motorcraft fan motor? I found one for $50. Better then aftermarket for the money?

And is there a different motor for high output or is that just the heater core itself?

 

Last Motorcraft blower motor I bought (front) was $68 at the dealer---since then dealerships have become more price competitive so $50 is a good deal IMHO. I'm not sure if the front and rear OEM blowers are the same so double check the fit etc.

Next time the motor stops use your EVTM to start tracking power---it could anything from a simple overheating connection or relay, could be the motor but good to know before digging into all that trim.

Hoping its something simple and easy.

 

If it stops instead of slowing down that implies a bad connections somewhere. Does the fan go out in the same amount of time? If it does it sounds like it could be a partial break in the resistor pack or in a fusible link somewhere, or even a relay as mentioned above. The resistor pack would be likely if it was only one fan speed effected, whereas the fusible link and relay would be if it were effected in all speeds.

 

Well in the last few days on just short trips the fan hasn't cut off. I did take time to look under the hood and found what my be a connector that i can connect a test light to..
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the wires in the connector are orange/red stripe and Orange/black stripe.
All I have right ow for wiring diagrams is my 85 e150 manual.. According to the 85 diagram the orange/blk stripe runs from the blower to the resistor..

Now this may sound silly but was thinking if I had a 12v light socket with pigtail wires on it, I could connect it to the orange/black stripe wire and ground. Once connected I could pull the socket/bulb out between the crowle and hood seam and close the hood.. That way I could see the light as I am driving around. When the fan stops I could see if the light goes out or not...

 

Actually that's a good idea Annleigh---smart chick you are!

Over this past summer I was trying to gauge the effectiveness of a heater core coolant shut off valve to lower my non-A/C air flow. Running a thermocouple wire lead from under the hood close to the cabin air intake it had to be taped down so it would stay in place and not flap around while driving. It looked dumb as hell but worked well enough in the short term.

Sadly that quicky test didn't reveal anything useful other than the chuckle it gave me seeing how silly it did look. Can't imagine what others on the highway were thinking.

See if you can't find a dedicated EVTM for your van's exact year---that might be more helpful next electrical issue.

And please let us know how this works out, what you find or do to fix your issue.

 

Anna, I can scan some pages of my Haynes manual if you want some diagrams

 

Thanks Mos68x...
I have this one
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I have 3 or 4 diagrams from other haynes manuals that year but they are for Crown Vic, pick up and bronco, as well as one from online,, but none for the 88 e150! None show the relay in the heater circuit nor what the orange wire with a red stripe is for..
The orange with black stripe goes to the heater blower and also bypasses the resistor on high speed.
BTW, The past few days when I have had the blower on, it has been on low speed only and has not cut off.. When I did notice it cutting off, it was on high speed and once off, it lost all speeds.
Something very strange happened though... yesterday I happened to look down on the ground where I park and there was a small plastic baggy that looked like it had been stepped on a few times as it was pretty ragged and dirty... In the baggy was a set of motor brushes!
I paused in writing this to look for them and now I am thinking, where in the heck did I put them, I remember putting them in some place where they wouldn't get thrown away..
My thought is that they are completely unrelated or fell out of the pocket in the engine cover when I took it off.. I don't know if it is serviceable but if I do wind up replacing the motor, I will keep the old motor for when I do find those motor brushes one day! by tht time I will have lost the old motor though

 

Lmao I do that all the time myself...where the hell did I just put that wrench I just had 5 seconds ago!?!?

 

Yes tools!!! I could spread out white sheet, sit in the middle of it, open my tool box and lay each tool out as I inventory them on paper. Having never moved, when putting the tools back in the box, 3 or 4 would be missing..
Just like socks in the laundry. Why do you have so many unmatched socks, you never threw any away? Its that same little sneaky #*#*# that stole your tools!

 

Yup! Lmao I finally numbered my socks so that I could finally catch that damn sock thief, at least then I knew when one was missing and then chase down that damn cat or dog to find my sock!