2001 Windstar - no cold air in front

[yitzg]

I'm a new owner of a 2001 Windstar (80K) miles, and I already had to deal with the P0171/P0174 issue (fixed for $313, I wasn't brave enough to do it myself), and the P0401 (which I replaced myself) -- and I owe a tremendous thanks to this forum for all the info on that.

I'm having a problem with my heating that seems to be different than the standard "blend door" issues: My van has dual controls and I can only get hot,hot air in the front. The front control for the rear heat and the rear controls work fine. I do not hear any thumping sounds when moving the selector from hot to cold. Anybody see this before? Any suggestions? Can this still be a stuck blend door motor?

I'm also having problems with the front doors (I can only open or close them with the key, the controls don't move them enough) -- but I'll save that for another time...

Thank you!

[wiswind]

Temperature is controled by the blend door....which is driven by a electric motor with nylon gears...as you will see in other posts by those who have repaired theirs.
Of course....make sure that the electrical connections to the switch are good.....and maybe verify that the switch is good.

Where the air goes (defrost, vent, floor) is controlled by several vaccum driven actuators.
If vaccum is lost....the default position is defrost.

Based upon that....it sounds like your blend door is stuck in the heat position.

[yitzg]

Thank you, wiswind.

Any tips how to verify that "the electrical connections to the switch are good.....and maybe verify that the switch is good"?

The bottom slider (for the rear heat) is working okay.

I think I have enough info (from searching this forum) to replace the motor, but I want to be sure that it's not the switch. I do not hear any noises whatsoever when I switch back and forth from cold to heat, but then again I just got this van and I don't know what was going on before then.

P.S. I just bought two power lock motors that I hope to install soon, thanks to past posts on this forum.

[wiswind]

I would physically look at the connections....making sure that you don't have a broken wire....or disconnected wire......possibly from when someone worked on the dash in the past.

After that, you will need a meter to measure voltage and / or resistance to see if the switch is good......or if voltage is getting to it.....and then to the motor.
The temperature adjust "switch" will vary in resistance as you move the knob....but it should not be an open circuit.