98 Taurus

I have two issues.

Issue 1:
There is a serious vibration when I'm going over 30mph. It's coming from the passenger's side and it gets louder around 50mph and almost gone at 55mph. It grinds hard when I make a right turn but it's gone when I make a left turn. I was told it may be a stuck brake caliper. It's not clicking like a cv joint, it's grinding. I took the tire off and the pads are touching the rotor but I wouldn't know if that's normal.

Issue 2:
I have no a/c or heat. When I flip the knob it hisses and that's it. It blows no air at all.

It's a v-6 3.0L Ford Taurus SE

Heeeeeeeeeeellp!

With the a/c heating issue. I am a certified commercial technician. If you are not getting anything out of the vents. That only means that there is no power going to the fan. The hissing noise is created because the freon is not circulating out heat / a/c. If you do not correct this issue soon, your a/c module is going to fry.

With the brake caliper issue. Sounds to me that there is no spacing between the pads and the rotor. Either the cylinder inside the caliper is popped out or you need to adjust the caliper in general.

With the a/c heating issue. I am a certified commercial technician. If you are not getting anything out of the vents. That only means that there is no power going to the fan. The hissing noise is created because the freon is not circulating out heat / a/c. If you do not correct this issue soon, your a/c module is going to fry.

With the brake caliper issue. Sounds to me that there is no spacing between the pads and the rotor. Either the cylinder inside the caliper is popped out or you need to adjust the caliper in general.


How do I get power to the fan? I'm an idiot, sorry. I know nothing about repairing vehicles. Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.

Oh, for the caliper, do I just adjust a screw or is it more in depth than that?

With the caliper, I would check to see if that cylinder is popped out first before making adjustments. I had a 1994 Taurus and when the cylinder popped out, my brake pad did not last for single trip.

With the a/c there are generally two fans. The receiving fan (sucks the air into the system) and the condensor fan (blows the air out) every model is different on where the fans are located. My 1994's fans were located behind the glove box. I really cant tell you for a 98.

The hissing noise with the HVAC system could be a vacuum leak. The manual controls on the Taurus are vacuum actuated. When heat is requested, and not A/C or defrost, the A/C compressor doesn't kick in. Since the controls, including the different "doors" for the air flow, are vacuum actuated, if you have a vacuum leak to the controls, you may not get air flow even if the blower motor is working properly. Do you hear a louder noise if you select the high fan speed versus the low fan speed? If so, the blower is probably working fine.

Also, if the pressure switch is working properly, there is not a risk to the "A/C module," whatever that is. I assume you're referring to the compressor. If the system relies that much on the evaporator core, the pressure will build and the pressure switch with shut off the compressor clutch.

As for the circulation, there is only one blower motor for the cabin circulation, which is located behind the glove box. There is no blower (and I've never seen a car with one) to pull air out of the cabin. The fan on the condensor pulls or pushes (depends on if it's in front of the condensor or behind the radiator) air through the condensor and radiator, but has nothing to do with circulating air in the cabin.

The grinding noise during turns may be a bad wheel bearing, depending on the noise. It's hard to determine this based on a verbal description. It is normal for the brake pads to be making contact with the rotor, even when the brakes are not applied. The wheel should be able to be rotated freely though. You may hear a slight rubbing sound during the rotation. This is normal. If the wheel is not getting abnormally hot during a normal drive, not a drive down the side of a mountain or an abrupt stop from highway speeds to your driveway, and the brake pads are wearing evening between the inside and outside pads, the calipers are probably not the source of the noise. There's really no adjustment for them unless the slide pins are seized. If that's the case, the pads will not be wearing evenly.

-Rod

Ditto on all points Rod