Air blowing through floor vents all the time in my '94

[TrexMex]

I get air through the floor vents when in max AC, panel, defrost, off position, etc... so I removed the glove box and what I saw is this (need to click on images to make them bigger):



close up...



... and one from the bottom ...



The valve seems to be actuating the max AC door, since I moved it by hand and could hear a different noise coming from the vents... I went ahead and removed the vacuum line from it and could feel some vacuum but not a lot. I did this with the engine running and AC on. I plugged it back in and when going to max AC it seemed to "try" to pull the valve in but it just did it half way and then quit...

So what's the deal? Is there a vacuum line coming from the engine I should be checking out? Is the valve busted? is it a dealership-only part? lots of questions, I know but it's my first time messing with this....

On the floor vent thing, even though I moved that valve manually I could still feel air going through the floor vents... is there a different vacuum line/valve I should be checking for that? I'm trying to get away with not removing the dash but the way this is going I think it's going to be inevitable.....

thanks in advanced guys...

 

[TrexMex]

So turns out the valve is called a vacuum motor, or something like that, according to ford... got one that works from a bone yard and will install it today... I've tested it and it actually moves when going through the floor position in the AC control, so I'm a little puzzled since I manually moved the lever that the motor is attached to and still got air coming from the floor vents... Anyways, I'll install it tonight and see if that does the trick.. if not I guess I'll have to take out the whole unit to check on the internal components and see if there is anything broken in there....

OR, someone could help me figure this out.....

anyone???? My kingdom for some advice!!!!!!!

 

[Mark_88]

How big is your kingdom and how many damsels do I get?

I think replacing the vac motor would be an excellent place to start, but you might want to trace the vac line to make sure there are not splits in it at the engine bay side. I don't have one of those on my truck but I've seen a few threads about this very thing and it's either a vac leak or wonky motor.

Checking the vac line would be the first thing to do though...before swapping out the motor...but it looks like a pretty simple item to change...

 

[TrexMex]

Update... I replaced the vac motor and that fixed the Max AC not engaging problem. Besides that, I had to remove the dash in order to see how the thing worked. Basically the sliding levels are connected to two different mechanisms, one for controling the blending door and another one for controling the floor/panel/defrost air circulation; The problem was that the mechanism that actuates this door wore to the point where it wasn't closing the door completely. My first approach was to just extend the cable by unbending the tip and getting rid to a "safety bend" at the tip that prevented the cable from getting out of the lever that was actuating it and securing it by putting a screw in. That worked, for about 5 times and then the cable got out of my "fool proof" setup... Then what I did was to cut the end of the tube (the one that's attached to the AC control panel) and then cut a small portion of the tube and reattach the end to I could get more cable distance, hence more door travel. That worked like a charm and now all the vents work like they're supposed to!!! I'm happy.

The other thing that I can't test right now because we're hitting 120s (no BS, we got to 122 last friday) is if my blending door actually works like it should... guess I'll have to wait for the weather to cool down but at least I know how to fix the thing..

I took pictures and will upload them tonight, can't bring cameras to work.

Mark, thanks for the tip!! and...

"My kingdom is as wide as the universe and my wants have no limits. I go forward always, freeing spirits and weighing words, without fear, without compassion, without love, without God. I am called science."

-Gustave Flaubert

 

[Mark_88]

Mark, thanks for the tip!! and...

"My kingdom is as wide as the universe and my wants have no limits. I go forward always, freeing spirits and weighing words, without fear, without compassion, without love, without God. I am called science."

-Gustave Flaubert

No problem......glad you figured it out...there is nothing too complicated on a Ranger that someone here or you can't figure out with a bit of patience...

But I was really hoping I'd get a damsel or two...

 

[TrexMex]

Pics!!

Behind the dash, panel/floor/defrost selector door acuator (white) and temp control door actuator (blue); Note all the crap accumulated through 15 years of the truck's life.... Cleaned all that stuff out to make sure it wouldn't get in the way of the mechanism.



And my "super fix" that lasted like 5 cycles....



So as I mentioned before, I detached the black holder from the tube, cutted around half an inch of the tube/sleeve and reattached the black holder... made a better/longer bend at the end of the cable and voila! Problem solved..