1998 windstar air conditioning not working

I have a 1998 Ford Windstar. The front and back air conditioners won't work. The front one doesn't even blow air, while the rear one blows only hot air. The only way we can stay cool is to put on the defrost on cool, it then blows out of the defrosts above the dashboard and at our feet. Just wanted to try to troubleshoot it before I take it to have it repaired. I would appreciate input, thanks.

Is the air COLD when it comes out the defrost / floor vents?
If so, then we can figure that the compressor, etc are working.

If it is cold, for the rear unit (which I don't have....so only repeating what has been posted here), the dashboard switches are controlling vaccum to the rear unit.....and the vaccum does the work of moving doors to determine where the air goes....and if it is moving over the hot coils....or cold coils.
Many have found the dashboard switch to be defective......or a problem with the vaccum lines.

For the FRONT unit.
The switches are all electrical.....not high failure.
The door that controls the airflow over the hot coils or cold coils is electrically driven.....is called a "blend door".
If the air is cold when it comes out the defrost......the blend door should be fine.
The doors that determine where the air flows.....defrost, vent, floor, are vaccum controlled.
If you can get the air to go to the places that it is supposed to....then these are working just fine.
If there is NO vaccum to these doors......the default position is defrost.

If the air is COLD in the defrost position.......and not in the A/C positions.....I would wonder about the selector switch, or some other electrical problem.

Not blowing air in any position but defrost....again sounds like a defective selector switch. Power to the blower motor (on my '96) goes through the function selector switch (which is 2 switches mounted together on the same shaft) with NO power to the blower motor ONLY in the OFF position....there should be power to the motor in all other positions.
The blower motor speed select switch is also inline with the blower motor.

Another level of the function selector switch has the contacts that connect power to the A/C cycling switch.....to turn the A/C on in the selected settings.

Thank you so much for your reply, I'm taking my windstar to a mechanic tomorrow and I feel you've given me something to work with! I'll let you know the outcome, thanks again

The switches are all electrical.....not high failure.

On my '98 the switches are electrical AND have vacuum lines. I've had to replace both front and rear switches.

Hi,

I am late to this thread and hope someone will pick it up. We just picked up a 1996 Windstar. Front AC is working. For Back AC I can hear the fan blowing but I am getting any air out of the vents. Sooo... we are talking about some sort of door not actuating? Thus probably a vacuum problem?

Thanks,

Dana


Is the air COLD when it comes out the defrost / floor vents?
If so, then we can figure that the compressor, etc are working.

If it is cold, for the rear unit (which I don't have....so only repeating what has been posted here), the dashboard switches are controlling vaccum to the rear unit.....and the vaccum does the work of moving doors to determine where the air goes....and if it is moving over the hot coils....or cold coils.
Many have found the dashboard switch to be defective......or a problem with the vaccum lines.

For the FRONT unit.
The switches are all electrical.....not high failure.
The door that controls the airflow over the hot coils or cold coils is electrically driven.....is called a "blend door".
If the air is cold when it comes out the defrost......the blend door should be fine.
The doors that determine where the air flows.....defrost, vent, floor, are vaccum controlled.
If you can get the air to go to the places that it is supposed to....then these are working just fine.
If there is NO vaccum to these doors......the default position is defrost.

If the air is COLD in the defrost position.......and not in the A/C positions.....I would wonder about the selector switch, or some other electrical problem.

Not blowing air in any position but defrost....again sounds like a defective selector switch. Power to the blower motor (on my '96) goes through the function selector switch (which is 2 switches mounted together on the same shaft) with NO power to the blower motor ONLY in the OFF position....there should be power to the motor in all other positions.
The blower motor speed select switch is also inline with the blower motor.

Another level of the function selector switch has the contacts that connect power to the A/C cycling switch.....to turn the A/C on in the selected settings.

Wiswind Has Probably Given You All The Info You Need On This, But If It Helps I Have A 98 Winstar, That Was Doing The Same Thing, And It Was The Vacuum Switch That Controls The Rear Heat And Air On The Dash, I Took It Out And Took It Apart With Help From Another Person On This Sight, And Removed A Small Green Gasket If Thats What You Want To Call It, And Replaced The Switch, To See If That Made Any Difference, And It Basically Took Away Everything But The Defrost, Which Sounds Like The Same Problem You Are Having, The Gasket Was About Shot, But When I Replaced It And Put It Back In Again, The Front Air Worked And The Back Was Still Blowing Hot, So Bought A New Switch From The Dealer (about $30) And That Solved The Problem. When Replacing This, You Lose Your Vacuum And Since Your Rear Air Has Not Worked For A While It Takes A Bit For It To Cool Down, And Maybe 30 To 60 Seconds For The Vacuum To Get Going, But Once It Got Going Everything Worked Again.

It is coming into clearer focus. Guess I might pull the panel for the second row fan switch just to see what I can see. It is easier to do than initially pulling the front panel apart. After that I'll probably try replacing the dash switch for the rear ac/heater unless there is something obviously wrong with the vacuum hoses... and I'm not sure how I can test that just yet.

Dana

Wiswind Has Probably Given You All The Info You Need On This, But If It Helps I Have A 98 Winstar, That Was Doing The Same Thing, And It Was The Vacuum Switch That Controls The Rear Heat And Air On The Dash, I Took It Out And Took It Apart With Help From Another Person On This Sight, And Removed A Small Green Gasket If Thats What You Want To Call It, And Replaced The Switch, To See If That Made Any Difference, And It Basically Took Away Everything But The Defrost, Which Sounds Like The Same Problem You Are Having, The Gasket Was About Shot, But When I Replaced It And Put It Back In Again, The Front Air Worked And The Back Was Still Blowing Hot, So Bought A New Switch From The Dealer (about $30) And That Solved The Problem. When Replacing This, You Lose Your Vacuum And Since Your Rear Air Has Not Worked For A While It Takes A Bit For It To Cool Down, And Maybe 30 To 60 Seconds For The Vacuum To Get Going, But Once It Got Going Everything Worked Again.

I just changed my front/rear switch. It was leaking something bad on the vacumm side. Everything works great now. All the other problems went away and it was done in 10 minutes. Easy fix.