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Ford WindstarIntroduced in the mid-1990s, the front-wheel-drive Ford Windstar minivan campaigned with an emphasis on, and reputation for, safety. And in the hotly contested family minivan market of the time, that was an especially solid piece of ground to be on. As long as buyers didn't need to haul adults in back on a regular basis, the Windstar served a family's needs just fine.
That part got to be the vacuum control motor. Pics in this thread show what this motor looks like. A couple of these motors are mounted under the front dash; look for them just above and to the right of your accelerator pedal. If the handles on these motors move back and forth when you operate the air-flow selection switch on the front panel, then these motors are fine; otherwise one or both should be replaced. If the motors are fine, the problem maybe the air-flow switch itself. All of this is easy to DIY! Good luck and please post back.
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Originally Posted by Wild Starchild
I am glad I found this forum as well. I also am having this same problem with the rear air, BUT I am having trouble with the front air coming through the defroster as well. We got this repaired a little over a year ago. But the problem returned. The guy that "fixed" it said the part he gave me must have malfunctioned again,but it was no longer under warranty. Anyway, my cousin, who I should have carried it to in the first place, checked under the dash and didn't seem to find any vacuum leaks, so maybe it is the part again. Any suggestions?
OK, guys, get this. I had this thing "FIXED" about a year ago and it worked fine for a while. The guy charged me like $150.00 for the parts and labor. I had a broken leg at the time and I couldn't mess with it, so I was kind of at his mercy. Today I actually had time to tear into it to see what the problem was. When I took the front cover off, which took about 90 seconds to jerk out 6 screws, I discovered that the guy DID NOT change a part, he just used a piece of vaccuum line to splice the line back together. He used a piece of line that was way too big. So it worked for a while, then stopped again. This is why sometimes we could turn it off and wait 2 or 3 minutes and it would come through the vents again. I guess pressure would build up in the loosely spliced connector enough to open the flap, then leak vacuum and let the door close again. So my cousin had some smaller hose which did a great job, and now the thing is blowing snowballs at me. LOL I really thought about going to have me a talk with the jerk at QUALITY TIRE in Savannah, TN, and let him know that I found out JUST what a crook he is!! I wish I knew his name cause I post it here!! I'm kind of apprehensive about going up there cause I know he never replaced the part, just ripped me off. Charged me $150.00 for a 1 1/2" length of oversized vac hose!! Makes me mad as hell and I don't know if I could refrain from dusting his A$$!! JERK!!! I'm sure you guys know what I mean.
Anyway, I am going to tackle that rear air, blowing hot problem. I noticed that when I took the panel off, (it's still off) the rear air control knob has two vac lines coming off the back of it. The white one has been cut. I guess that could be my trouble huh?? I guess I'll see. I have another length of that a vac line. I'll let you guys know how it went.
Last edited by Wild Starchild; 06-30-2008 at 01:06 PM.
Reason: misspelling/ adding to post
Thanks to all the advice, we now have cold air in the rear coming through the top vents. We've taken the rod off the lever as a temporary measure. We know exactly what needs to be done in the front to get the air through the front vents. My kids are going to be so happy to have cold air again!
Russ, do this: start your car, turn both front and rear A/Cs on, run them for a few minutes to allow freon to reach the rear lines. Apply emergency brake & block four wheels. Now crawl under the car (like you did before) and feel the metallic A/C lines; one of these is the return line and is supposed to be hot, so just barely/quickly touch 'em with your finger to identify which one is cold. Hold the cold line; if it is quite cold to touch, it means freon is reaching here. My guess is that the other line (supposed to be very hot) should not be hot in your van and it would mean freon is not going thru the evaporator, i.e., a block in the evap core filter or core itself. Do this test and post back. Good luck.
So I just checked this on mine. I have four lines underneath, 2 are what I would call nuetral in temp, one is COLD and one is Hot. But I still get hot air out of the internal vents. What could this indicate being the problem, or did I read something wrong above?
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Dave '00 Tropic Green SVT Contour \ #905 of 2150, born 12/14/99 \ knauberized \ Pioneer H/U \ topshop eyelids \ painted oval
Dacker, take the arm of the vacuum control motor off of the blue lever. That should give you cold air. Then troubleshoot as follows: the problem in your case appears to be the vacuum to the rear A/C. I would check 2 things: one, the switch (on front dash) that controls the rear A/C; & two, the vacuum control motor itself. Otherwise, during WINTERS, put the arm back on to get heat and during SUMMERS, take it off again. The test you did on undercarriage indicates your evaporator core is fine. HTH.
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Originally Posted by dacker
....... But I was still able to push down the blue lever and get it to switch over, over course it popped right back up, but at least it's blowing cool air out of the vents........
Dacker, take the arm of the vacuum control motor off of the blue lever. That should give you cold air. Then troubleshoot as follows: the problem in your case appears to be the vacuum to the rear A/C. I would check 2 things: one, the switch (on front dash) that controls the rear A/C; & two, the vacuum control motor itself. Otherwise, during WINTERS, put the arm back on to get heat and during SUMMERS, take it off again. The test you did on undercarriage indicates your evaporator core is fine. HTH.
Thanks, I'll check those out. I should have mention before, that I disconnect arm from that vacuum control off.
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Dave '00 Tropic Green SVT Contour \ #905 of 2150, born 12/14/99 \ knauberized \ Pioneer H/U \ topshop eyelids \ painted oval
No cold air when you unhooked the arm from the lever, Dave??? The door (labeled #1 in the attached pic) maybe the problem. The blue lever (controlled by the motor) moves this door to select cold vs. hot air. Ok, with the rear A/C to on position, rotate the blue lever (counterclockwise, I believe) and check if you get cold air from upper vents. Rotating the lever should cause the air to switch between cold and hot, unless of course the door is stuck in hot air position. Please, try this and post back the result. It's summer and we got to get you cold air, you know! Good luck.
No cold air when you unhooked the arm from the lever, Dave??? The door (labeled #1 in the attached pic) maybe the problem. The blue lever (controlled by the motor) moves this door to select cold vs. hot air. Ok, with the rear A/C to on position, rotate the blue lever (counterclockwise, I believe) and check if you get cold air from upper vents. Rotating the lever should cause the air to switch between cold and hot, unless of course the door is stuck in hot air position. Please, try this and post back the result. It's summer and we got to get you cold air, you know! Good luck.
Actually my blue lever rotated clockwise (or down) to switch from floor to ceiling, but now I get hot air from the ceiling vents. I may have to tear into it again this weekend and get some pics of everything I'm seeing. It makes "thump" noise if you will when I move the lever as though a door or something is moving\closing.
I wonder though, could low refrigerant cause this, I noticed later in the evening after it cooled down (weather not van) and I tried it, while I didn't get the nice cold air like I do up front, the rear wasn't hot, but it wasn't cold. Could that mean anything?
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Dave '00 Tropic Green SVT Contour \ #905 of 2150, born 12/14/99 \ knauberized \ Pioneer H/U \ topshop eyelids \ painted oval
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Good luck.
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