I have a 97 Explorer Limited 4.0 SOHC. I let my son drive it a few days ago and when I got in, the temperature control (digital) was set on 90 degrees. I immediately dropped it to 72 degrees. When I did, a clacking sound could be heard from behind the dash. The heater seemed to still work for a couple of days. Then I think I broke it.

In searching for the noise, I removed the glove box supports and thought I found the source. It sounded like it was coming from inside the blower / control housing, specifically, from the left side (facing forward), from a thin white rectangular attachment to the housing. A 4*2 (8 pin) connector goes into the attachment so I disconnected it and the noise went away when I turned the key on. Trying to outsmart this thing, I drove the kids part of the way to school this morning and I got no heat (no noise either). I then reconnected the connector and I still have no heat (yes, the clacking is back).

By the way, the clacking noise went away yesterday after the plenum temperature went up. Today, the temperature never went up so I suspect that I caused a fault when I disconnected that connector and powered up.

First of all, how can I get heat back regardless of the clacking? Any thoughts on the origin of the clacking and how to get rid of it?

There is nothing a teenager cannot get to operate outside of it boundaries and there is nothing an engineer is incapable of breaking permanently trying to fix it.

Thanks,
JW

 

Soounds like a blend door problem.

Check this out:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=24962

 

Thanks Back, but the thread may reference today's problem of no heat but there is no mention of a noise (it sounds like a solenoid energizing about once a second)...?

 

Sounds like what happened to my 5.0 explorer. My problem was the blower motor resistor burnt up. The fan would only work if manually set on high. If left on "auto" it would try to cycle and have the fan come on and that is when the sound would happen, this would happen on a constant basis, maybe 20 seconds apart. The part is available from the dealer for about $14 and is under the hood by the blower motor. Hope this helps.


Tim
'00 5.0 Eddie Bauer

 

There is a thin, white, rectangular "box" with a plug on top of the housing that is the motor that turns the blend door. Then motor has a "D" shaped shaft that fits into the blend door. That's where it breaks. Could be that some broken pieces are jamming up the shaft as it tries to move. If you remove the motor from the housing you may be able to poke a finger in the hole and rotate the blend door just enough to get heat. That's what I did until I fixed it. Just don't plug the connector back in or chances are someone will move the temp selector and it might turn the door back to COLD.

 

Thanks to all that helped diagnose my problem. I used the now famous jfrank fix method to try to fix what I believed was a blend door problem. However, when I looked into the D shaped hole, the blend door looked good (may have a small crack, but I am not sure). Anyway, I took a bent tip screwdriver and rotated the door, it seemed to move easily. Not able to see how the door was the problem (and not wanting to break something that wasn't broke) I plugged the actuator in and the shaft rotatated ok until it got to the high and low ends and it shuttered a little. I put it back in and the popping sounds came back. The next day I tried to find a used actuator and could not (or on the internet) so I went to the Ford dealer and paid the $60 for the new actuator, hoping this would fix the problem. When installing back in, I adjusted the temp until the shaft lined up with the hole and it snapped in. The sounds are gone and my heat and a/c are working good. Now I know how to fix the blend door when it goes, it likely will....
JW