Whenever i turn the a/c on, i hear a constant ticking noise somewhere in the engine. The second i turn the a/c off, the ticking noise goes away. Any idea what this might be? Is this an urgent problem?

Blend door motor. Sounds like it anyway.

Easy to fix? Is it something I need to do right away or can it wait?

Thanks

Requires pulling the dash out. And its moderately hard to do. There are 2 scres that are difficult to re,ove. If you have not done it before, then I would not suggest it.


Bryan

Is this something that can cause damage to my engine if not fixed right away?

nope.

Thanks Kitt... i can deal with a little ticking for now as long as its not doing any damage.

Now I actually have another question about the a/c... not sure if i should start a new topic for this or include it with this one since it might be related. When I turn my a/c on, the air blows out as it should, but randomly it will just stop blowing as hard. When it stops blowing as hard (and it is a noticable difference), the blowing gets louder. It sounds like its blowing hard inside the dash like its missing the vent or something, but not blowing as hard out of the vent into the car. I'll turn it off and on a couple times until its fixed and it will just randomly start blowing out again like normal. Its definitely still blowing because i can hear it, it's just not blowing out of the vent like it should. This happens often enough for it to be annoying. Any idea about this one?

Same thing, blower door motor. Think about it, the gears are going bad in the door motor, and every now and then it actually hits a tooth causing the door to move, thus causing the air to hit the partially open door and forcing the air to go elsewhere. thats why its getting louder and your not feeling anything. If you would like, I can give you step by step instructions to remove the dash. Like I said, its hard and aggravating. Too bad you dont live in my town, I would do it for you.

Bryan

I'd really appreciate the directions to give it a shot if you don't mind. The cars being used as a limo so no cool air + hot temps + angry customers is never good for business. A part number or where to buy a new blower door motor would be a appreciated too if you don't mind.

HA! I am a limo driver myself.

ok, here it goes, move the seats all the back, disconnect the battery. To remove the air bag on the steering wheel, remove the round tabs behind it, there are 2 8mm screws . Then the air bag will come out, disconnect the wires behind it. Next. using a steering wheel remover, pull the steering wheel off. and disconnect all the wires related. (dont use a hammer and your knees to remove the steering wheel, it can cause damage to the bearing inside of the column) Pull the trim pieces, these are the two that control your stiffness and your message center. You can use a flat head screwdriver to start them and they will just pull right off. Disconnect wires to them as well. Pop off the panel directly under the steering column, and the metal sheil as well (5 goldish screws) and you will see a black cover that sits over the pedals and a bar with 3 gold screws. Remove them. block your tires with a block of wood. With the ignition key in place, turn the key to the on position and press brake, move the shifter to the lowest gear position. Look upwards on the right side of the column, and you will see a small 4mm screw that hold a white piece of plastic, take the screw out and remove the string that is held on the loop above it. (if you don't do this, it will break from the cluster) Remove the 4 13mm nuts that hold the column in place and it should now rest on the floor. You should see lots of little black screw that hold the vent pieces A/C & Heater control (EATC) and passenger air bag in place. They are 7mm screws, remove all of them. there are 2 under the instrument cluster and 2 inside the glove box directly under the passenger airbag, remove them before pulling on them. Depending on if you factory radio is in there, if it is, you will need to get a Ford Radio Puller and insert the rods into the black holes on each side of the radio. If it is a aftermarket radio, then see if it will come out with the a/c vent piece. To remove the ashtray, there are 2 7mm screws under it as well that will need to be removed. To remove the glove box, there are 3 7mm screws under it, and a piece of string to the right that will need to be relieved. remove the one screw that hold the parking brake in place and move it down. On the door frame bottom, pop out the black trim and remove the screws that hold the plastic in place. this is the piece that runs from the front of the front door frame to the back of the rear door frame. the seat belt runs through it. do this on both sides. Pop off the plastic felt trim pieces that run up and down with the windshield. Remove the weather stripping from both doors. On top of the dashboard, right up near where the glass meets, you will find 4-5 more 7mm screws, remove them and the clock. (clock pops right off, pull upwards lightly and disconnect plug) remove the 1 screw that hold the kick panels on each side and move them out of the way. Now, if you look closely, on the passenger side, you will see one little nut holding the dash on, move it back till just a few thread are catching. go to the drivers side and there are 1 bolt I think 13mm, and one screw. Once you remove these 3, the dash should be real loose and ready to move forward on the passenger side. the drivers side wont go nearly as far unless you want to remove the wiring harness behind it. pull on the dash until it come forward and rests on the floor. You will see the blend door motor sitting on top of the a/c heater box.
this is the tricky part, remove the 2 screws that are close to you on the blend door motor, and see if you can get a small flat head screw driver underneath the blend door to pop off the metal rod that connects the blend door motor to the blend door. if you can, once the rod it off, break off the old blend door motor and now you can get a 8mm gear wrench to remove the back ones, once you remove the back pieces off the screws, look at the thickness of the screw holes on the new motor, put the back screws in and tighten them to about the same thickness as the new blend door motor, using a pair of cutters, cut the width of the screw from the hols on the new motor and then slide the motor into place, (making a prong the the letter "U", and make sure you pop the rod back into place as well, if the rod is in a different position than when you removed it, that fine. Put the dash together in reverse order that I wrote here and once everything is in place, turn the key and you should be good to go. this will take a non experienced person a while to complete and it is handy to have a second person to help. I can do this in about 4 hours myself, and yes there are people than can do it quicker, it might take you around 8-12 hours, so don't worry about time. but do take your time and have patience. Good luck


B

awesome info. and enough to keep me from screwing up my car. To the dealer I shall go.