I have a 1997 Ford Taurus LX V6 3.0L. The climate control system will no longer switch over to blow air up onto the windshield. (Most of the similar problems I have read about involve systems being stuck on the defrost and not blowing out the front vents so my problem is the opposite.) All other air functions seem to be working normally. Can someone please advise what are the likely causes I should investigate for this problem?
. Air won't blow out of the floor or center vents just defrost ? Do you have manual or automatic climate control ?
Air Flow Control
Air flow control is accomplished in the following manner:
SOURCE: 2008 ford taurus X climate control system not changing functions
I have the same car and just fixed the exact same problem you just described.
It is NOT a vacuum problem. The blend door is electronically controlled my a small motor under the dash, to the right of the steering column. The clicking is coming from a stripped gear in that small motor unit.
On my Taurus X, what caused the motor to fail was the blend doors (which open and close depending on what your vent setting is on) getting stuck. That caused the motor gears to strip out and make a clicking sound every time the automatic climate control tried to move the blend doors.
The fix required a substantial amount of the dashboard to be taken apart. The blend doors were re adjusted and the motor control unit replaced.
I had the Ford dealership do the repair and it cost me $450. (Ouch!)
To make sure that's your problem, you can follow the clicking sound. You'll have to get on your back and look under the dash on the drivers side. Have somebody press the defrost button to cause the clicking sound. Once you find the small unit you can actually feel the gears slipping when it makes the clicking sound. It's really tight under there though and you'll probably need a flashlight.
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Thanks for your answer. I haven't had this car since 2014, so I'm at a loss as to how this question has a posted date of July 9, 2017!
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