Need a little advice before I call the shop for estimates. My van has had issues with the blower motor stopping or not even starting since I bought it but now that I may have some $ assistance I want to get it fixed. The 12 volt fan I strapped to the dash works great to defog but it's COLD now! I'm not physically able to do any work on it now due to the cold and arthritis.

1) Blows air intermittently. Sometimes I'll slide the switch over and nothing happens. Sometimes it will work for days, sometimes minutes, sometimes not at all.
2) Only works on HIGH. Low and medium circuit not at all.
3) When I bought it the people I bought it from said it was a resistor(?) or something when I told them it wasn't blowing any air. It was allegedly swapped out and was working when I left with it. A week later it wasn't working anymore.
4) Rear works only on HIGH and blows hot but its leaking from somewhere behind the plastic wall. Is there any way to cut off the water to the rear until I can get it fixed later or removed?
5) Switch doesn't slide all the way over on the temp selector. I'm assuming that may be gunked up in some way but considering the age I'd just rather replace with new if needed.
6) Heater core appears ok, no leaks.

Something I'm not clear on is where the power is coming from. It was my assumption it had to go through the fuse box however it looks like it was moved directly to the battery with a new 60 amp fuse(please excuse the corrosion, its on the list):





There is also this that got hot where the yellow wire is, outside and on the inside as well. I don't know what that is.



A buddy that eats and sleeps wiring diagrams went through the wiring and all connections except what was covered by the loom on the firewall. Everything appears fine and as it should except for that resistor aside from the external fuse and block. We did not have time to diagnose the problem as mysteriously it started working and continued to work for 3 months, until it stopped. I'm unable to pretzel myself under the dash to look at the fuse box.

Waving at JWA now as he'll eventually end up here. =)

 

That yellow wire connection does look as if it was hot. Heat at a connection point indicates resistence in that connection. The heat can also remove the temper of the female half and the connection worsens over time. You might pull the connector off and see if the female socket lacks the friction to do the job. the plastic holder for the contacts may have warped enough that the blade of the relay goes behind the socket, another intermittant situation like what you described.

 

All power for the blower motor goes through the resisitor pack and these things are notorious for corroding and causing partial or full loss of blower speeds. I have replaced both the resistor pack and the wiring pigtail on EVERY ford truck I have ever owned. The resistor pack is screwed into the plenum just below or to the side of the blower motor, on a van I think the battery has to be removed before it is visible.
The resistor pack is visible in the pic below near the bottom right with the pinkish/red color.




The module itself looks like this..

 

I'm here but of little to no real help with this year E-Series----my experience is with anything from '97 onward. I'll side with both JeffreyClay and Conanski on their diagnosis and observations. I have EVTM's or schematics for all those years, have never owned any E-Series from '89 to '96.

Coolant flow to the rear heater core can be stopped but that will require some physical work---I'd start by removing the dog house, finding the hoses feeding the rear core and cut them at a point it would be easy to splice them together forming a loop. This will allow coolant to flow and in the short term will solve the leaking problem.

Your year might have different ID coolant lines for the in flow and return ports---determine this before cutting into them to splice them together.

Sorry I can't offer much more than that

 

Wow thanks guys this is great info! One thing I found strange is that the relay and etc. are rated at 30 amps but the fuse to the blower motor is rated at 60 amps. That made it obvious to me what was going to cook first so what Conanski stated makes perfect sense. So does jeffery regarding the melting in the receptacle. Does anyone know what the yellow wire goes to? Tracing it through the wire loom it ends up in part of a bigger loom going to the resistor pack and blower motor. That resistor pack appears to be in the housing of the a/c near where his is located but not on the firewall. In my van the battery is located drivers front in the engine compartment, where the melted receptacle is located.



That resistor pack appears to be in the housing of the a/c near where his is located but not on the firewall. In my van the battery is located drivers front in the engine compartment, where the melted receptacle is located.




JWA I mentioned you because you gave me advice on my previous van and it's heating issue, (one part controlling low and medium and another controlling high) but it was a 2001. Thanks for stopping in with the advice on the heater hoses! =)

 

I Looked at NAPA-Online but couldn't find a connector but the counter person probably can. They're fairly common If you want to mail order supplies you might try these people. Connector Store Most of what you'll find is only crimped. If you have a thin miniature screwdriver (think eyeglasses repair) you can release the latch holding the connector from the plastic body and solder the wire for a more permanent fix. Once you get all the wires done that way, flood the back of the body with silicone to block water intrusion.

 

Ok I'll definitely get that done since its an issue regardless. I'm assuming not to squeeze too much silicone up in there, just enough to plug the holes in the back of it. It still makes me wonder what the original issue was. I have this suspicion I'll be going through those. I'll post pics when done.

For the one between the blower motor and a/c; is that something I can get from the parts store as well or should I wait and see what happens when I get that relay and receptacle replaced first?

I'll order a new switch from Rock Auto unless there are better places.

Thank you so much jeffereyclay.

 

These days there's a lot of places better than RockAuto---their business model has changed to strictly online---any issues with wrong or warranty parts issues is handled all by email. Cheap-wise I'd go with a local O'Reilly's, Advance Auto or AutoZone---better quality I'd go with NAPA or dealership.