A/C not working? I found a fix for mine!
07-09-02, 01:36 PM
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A/C not working? I found a fix for mine!
I've seen numerous posts from FD owners complaining their a/c was not working at all or only on certain fan settings. Mine went from working perfectly to working only on the 3.5 fan setting. Strangely enough, it began to work on almost every setting (but 2) about a week and a half ago, then, last Friday, it went out completely.
Living in SW Florida, I deemed it too important to have SOME sort of air, especially in the torrential downpours we experience. So on Saturday I ripped the dash apart to check out the entire a/c unit and potentially fix the problem.
Here's what I discovered....There had been some sort of "short" which was evident on the fan control **** innards. If you've ever had it apart, it's a rotary dial (ha!) with five quick disconnects on the back side. One looked moderately fried, having blackened the plastic covering on the quick disconnect.
I disassembled the entire fan rotary dial unit a bit further and discovered that plastic had been melted on the inside as well. This is important becaus the innards are basically two copper contacts which "float" (they're shaped like upside down "U"s) with the aid of two small springs. One upside down U for each side, with one spring pushing it upwards. There are two grooves holding each leg of the upside down U. The plastic had melted on one side such that it binded the contact and did not allow it to float freely. Pushing on the fan rotary **** forced the contact down and it didn't pop back up. Viola, no more fans/airconditioning!
I managed, quite easily, to "clean up" the area and allow the contacts to move freely. I now have a working a/c system on all four of the fan settings. It was nothing more than a bad contact due to the short. What caused the short I do not know, but other FD owners have discovered something similar in their systems. I did have problems about two weeks after installing the Power FC but I feel it's a coincidence and has absolutely nothing to do with the PFC and everything to do with a marginal electrical system in the FD's. Hope this helps a few individuals out there!
Living in SW Florida, I deemed it too important to have SOME sort of air, especially in the torrential downpours we experience. So on Saturday I ripped the dash apart to check out the entire a/c unit and potentially fix the problem.
Here's what I discovered....There had been some sort of "short" which was evident on the fan control **** innards. If you've ever had it apart, it's a rotary dial (ha!) with five quick disconnects on the back side. One looked moderately fried, having blackened the plastic covering on the quick disconnect.
I disassembled the entire fan rotary dial unit a bit further and discovered that plastic had been melted on the inside as well. This is important becaus the innards are basically two copper contacts which "float" (they're shaped like upside down "U"s) with the aid of two small springs. One upside down U for each side, with one spring pushing it upwards. There are two grooves holding each leg of the upside down U. The plastic had melted on one side such that it binded the contact and did not allow it to float freely. Pushing on the fan rotary **** forced the contact down and it didn't pop back up. Viola, no more fans/airconditioning!
I managed, quite easily, to "clean up" the area and allow the contacts to move freely. I now have a working a/c system on all four of the fan settings. It was nothing more than a bad contact due to the short. What caused the short I do not know, but other FD owners have discovered something similar in their systems. I did have problems about two weeks after installing the Power FC but I feel it's a coincidence and has absolutely nothing to do with the PFC and everything to do with a marginal electrical system in the FD's. Hope this helps a few individuals out there!
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