Smoke rolling out of vents and heater box...

[jballard81]

Good morning!

let me preface this by saying i've been having smell related issues for months now (i can't smell almost anything).

On my way to the store this AM, heat on and working what i assume is normally and smoke starts rolling out of the vents. I turn off the heat, flip temp to cool (don't think that would do anything other than maybe move airflow?) and drive back home with the windows down.

when i get home, i grab the fire extinguisher, but don't see any flames. I open the hood and see smoke coming out of the end of the heater box (just a bit). So i start taking down the below dash on the passenger side and pull down the heater core cover expecting a giant rat's nest... nothing but dust and a few dry pine needles. nothing even really looked burned. Took my air gun and blew up through the heater core and then all through the went passages. dust and dirt but no where near what i was expecting to see.

Do i need to get into the heater box from the engine bay side?

thanks in advance!

 

[Uncle Gump]

Try pulling the blower motor and blower motor resistor.

 

[Curious Hound]

Yeah. Something is up against your blower motor resistors. Or they have self-destructed.

heater core won’t generally get hot enough to cause smoke or fire. It’s just supplied by water slightly cooler than the engine.

 

[jballard81]

Must've had just couple bits of dry leaves or pine needles. I can see the ash marks in this picture. Where are the resistors on the blower motor?

 

[Curious Hound]

They’re usually mounted to the blower housing in the engine bay. You’ll see a wiring harness plugged into the housing. I think it’s just 2 screws holding it on.

 

[jballard81]

They’re usually mounted to the blower housing in the engine bay. You’ll see a wiring harness plugged into the housing. I think it’s just 2 screws holding it on.

oh yea, that's definitely where most of the ash was. i JUST cleaned the blower motor and box a couple months ago. other than rodents, where are these leaves and stuff coming from?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

They’re usually mounted to the blower housing in the engine bay. You’ll see a wiring harness plugged into the housing. I think it’s just 2 screws holding it on.

Yup, two screws, engine bay usually down low, if you have an AC heater box it’s between the blower and the AC evaporator and not easy to mess with

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

oh yea, that's definitely where most of the ash was. i JUST cleaned the blower motor and box a couple months ago. other than rodents, where are these leaves and stuff coming from?

The vent for the fresh air intake is in the cowl on the passenger side

 

[jballard81]

thanks all for the super quick info and help as always. for a minute there i thought i was gonna have to tuck and roll

 

[Curious Hound]

thanks all for the super quick info and help as always. for a minute there i thought i was gonna have to tuck and roll

That move rarely puts out a car fire, even when you make the car do it.

 

[jballard81]

pulled the resistor out to see how it looks and found the rest of the pine needles and leaves. I did not think to clean there when i originally did the blower motor housing. it was almost packed full. only a matter of time before the resistors got it.

will put it all back together and test the blower to make sure its still working correctly.

random unrelated question... my air hose seems to want to glue itself permanently to the air box and throttle body. i had to pry it off with a screw driver and picks today. would vasoline do a good job of keeping that from happening?

 

[Jazzer]

A really really thin wipe of Vaseline will do it.

My ‘87 sits for awhile between uses and collects pine needles, so I bought some magnetic vent covers to go over them. Remembering to take them off when using the truck is another matter.

 

[jballard81]

Replaced the blower motor and resistor yesterday.
I've got to stop buying the cheapest parts I find on Amazon... Resistor was fine but the blower motor was clocked slightly off compared to OEM making it difficult to install the rubber grommet part.

Everything's back together now at least and I have heat again.