ac problem

I have a 96 ford thunderbird lx. The ac works fine blowing really cold and then all of a sudden its starts blowing out super hot air. turn all controls to off and I still got major hot air blowing on my feet. Its like a flap or something is staying opened and letting all the engines hot air in. I can pull over and turn off car, wait a few minutes and turn car and ac back on and get my cool ac again. Sometimes my ac works all day and some days as soon as I put car in drive and take off the ac starts blowing out really hot air again. It seems like a vent flap or something, I really have no clue. The air is twice as hot as the air outside.

It sounds like the Temp Blend Door isn't operating correctly which allows the hot air from the heater core to come through. Do you have Semi-automatic Temp Control? If so go back to page 19 or 20 and look for a thread named "heater 94 t-bird" and scroll down the first page of the thread to see where I tell them how to run a self diagnostic check. If the code 24 or 25 shows up then the Blend Door Actuator is probably at fault.

I'm new to this so bear with me but what forum should I look for page 19 or 20 on. You say to go back to these pages but back where? Sorry , I know this is probably stupid question.

At the bottom of the first page that lists all the threads (yours is ac problem) you scroll down to the bottom of the threads and you will see a row of page numbers. Click on the 8 to go to page 8 and then scroll down that page and click on the highest number until 19 and 20 appear in this row of pages. I just checked and the thread I told you to check is the last on on page 19 so check there first. If anyone posts a new thread before you read this then the post will go to page 20. I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say and good luck with the ac.

Sorry it took so long. But found your thread and ran the test on my temp control panal and it came up with one error code, 188. Also where would my temp blend door be on my 96 thunderbird? Appreciate the help.

You have to run the test when the system is giving you trouble. The code 88 F C means there is no problem. The electrical connector that goes to the blend door actuator is accessedthrough the glove box. It is above the glove box and is a rectangular 8 pin (4 in each row) connector. Since the problem is intermittent I would check this connector and the ones on the back of the SATC contol panel. The panel is removed like the radio. Insert radio removal tools or a couple pieces of HEAVY coat hangers bent into u shapes into the 2 holes on both sides of the panel and apply a side pressure away from the panel to disengage the clips and slide the control panel out. The blend door is near the heater core. Look where the heater hoses go through the firewall to give you an idea where it is.

I ran the test when the system was giving me trouble and the was actually -188, also after I ran this test I waited the 30 or so seconds then turned the ac back on and the ac started working again. It was like it reset something. Although it didn't last long when the ac cut out again and hot air came pouring in. Thanks for all your help though, much appreciated.

Hi I've been following your threads on the heater / AC blower issue. I have a 95 Lx 4.6 Tbird. It has subscriptions to the issues it has at this point. But the issue of the moment is the one with the heater blower. It also runs when it feels like it. You can be ejoying a nice cool AC moment and the heater blower will kick in and run nice hot air across your feet. A week ago after a nice heavy downpour my Outside temp stated it was -38 degrees, which was off by oh ALOT, it was about 98 degrees. Progressively it was creeping up each time I pressed it each day. Today it was reading about 74 degrees. I followed your procedure to pull a code from it and got: 08 0C 02 21 08 in succession, then it went back to say 75 F degrees. When you exit it flashed -188 F. Mind you I've owned my bird about 30 days, the previous owner was not kind and I have had the remains of remote starter pulled out of it already. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. **K**

Apparently the codes for '95 aren't the same as '97 since the only codes I see listed in the '97 manual are 24,25,30,31,40-43,50,52,and 53. See my post in the tech help thread to order a manual for your year Bird.