We had a bad storm yesterday and I found alot of water on the floor of the passenger's side. Heater fan did not work either, for a while. Temperature was near freezing and after leaving the hood up for an hour the fans worked.

First major rain storm after a heavy Ontario winter.

Any thoughts as to the cause.

Does your Taurus have a sunroof?

Have you checked the forum for the common cowl leak to see if it possibly applies to your car? Try the "Search this forum" feature from the Taurus forum main page for the keyword "leak."

Also, are you sure it's water and not coolant from a leaking heater core? You'd certainly be able to tell the odor of coolant....

-Rod

You should pull the blower motor assembly out and clean/dry it. The motor will sit in the water for some time while still trying to work and eventually likely be ruined.

This problem is a known issue at the dealership. There is a bad seal in the vicinity of the cabin air filter and the blower motor. My blower eventually shorted out from the constant water infiltration.

The problem originated after I brought the car to a quick oil change place where they pryed the cabin air filter out to show me how dirty it was and how I should replace it. The leaking occurred shortly thereafter.

When I brought the car to Ford, they told be about the bad seal with that model.

Where exactly is the cabin air filter? I've heard of it but never seen one, found one for sale or even in references. Sounds mythical to me.

The cabin air filter is on the passenger side just below the grill at the windshield. It sits directly above the blower motor (makes sense). It's not easy to remove. Mine was full of the little seeds from the trees, but otherwise not dirty after 3 years.

http://www.wikihow.com/Change-the-Cabin-Filter-in-a-2003-Ford-Taurus

There have been some pretty interesting posts on this forum related to the cabin air filter. It sounds like some Taurii came with the filter, some did not. No apparent rhyme or reason as to which ones came with it and which did not. You may want to search the forum for "cabin filter" for some interesting reading on the subject.

-Rod

Well, I've determined why I'm so not familiar and informed about these air cabin filters on my vehicles. None of them have it. Not my 94 and 95 taurii and 95 windstar. The rest of my stuff is too old for that kind of nonesense. From what I have found from suppliers, newer models do have the filters, but no particular year seems to be when Ford added them to their vehicles, no rhyme or reason. Sounds like a car manufacturer.

I change the cabin filter on my '02 every year. The old one comes out black and nearly plugged with debris.

My mom used to have a 03 Sable LS that once had the exact same problem that occored under the exact same circumstances. You have a bad seal on the climate control system, and you will probably need to have the blower motor replaced as well.

Is there an inspection or repair the DIY person can do to find the bad seal?

Simply look at the black wiper cowl on the passenger side of the car. Is it flush to the windshield with no gaps? I bet not!

Ford updated the cowl and it is easy to replace. I also suggest replacing the blower motor and resisitor since they already got wet and will fail soon.

We had another good rain and I found where the cowl was warped on the passenger side and have concluded that that must be the problem. Thanks for your responses.