Ford Crown Victoria/Mercury Grand Marquis Climate Control

martens

Our '98 GM makes a gurgling sound behind the passenger-side dashboard when the car is accelerating. This occurs in all conditions, whether air conditioner or heater is on. Is this something in the heater core and can I fix it myself in some way without too much trouble? Thanks. Chris.

euphonium

When the engine is cold after sitting all night, check the coolant level in the overflow container. If low, add water.

p2min

Where do you add water on a '94 Crown Vic? In the overflow container?

euphonium

Yep, after you unscrew the top - fill it to the line leaving a little room at the top for possible overflow. The coolant is anti freeze 50% and H2O 50%. The H2O evaporates in time requiring the overflow container to have water added.

vmon

I have a 2003 CVLX. The fan will not blow air from vent. It changes between floor and defrost for unknown reasons. it does not matter if it is heat or AC. It switches with notice or any action on my part. Has anyone experienced this?

vmon

p2min

Thanks. I changed the thermostat in this car yesterday, filled it with the 50/50 mixture and it drove cool. However, when I stopped and started again I had puddle of fluid directly under the car, but not near the radiator. What could this be?

euphonium

Marsha is correct if the fluid color is same as coolant.

If the fluid on the floor is clear, it is probably condensation from the A/C system, which is normal.

mr5x5

I have been searching the Forums on www.crownvic.net and fiddling around with the EATC System Blower Motor Controller circuit on our 2001 GM LS for a year trying to solve the (initially) intermittent operation of the Blower for a year. After running with the Blower hot-wired thru a toggle switch for six months (when the intermittent problem went to complete failure)I finally got around to pulling the Controller Board out of the Heater/AC box last week.
On my last search of the www.crownvic.net Forums I turned-up a note from a fellow who said "[i]most guys just fix it with a little bit of solder[/i]" this turned-on a lightbulb for me and today I had a look at the solder-joints where the connector is attached to the Controller Board. Sure enough, I could see that the solder was cracked at one of the big lugs of the connector!
I heated-up the pins at all 5 connector lugs and flowed a little solder into the "gaps" around the pins. When I plugged the Board into the harness I found I have a Blower that once again works under control of the EATC!
Now all I have to do is re-install the Board into the Heater/AC Box - a real tight squeeze. Right now I have it tie-wrapped to something under the hood but the heat sink on the Power Transistor gets REAL HOT - I think the best place in it is back inside that Heater/AC Box...

jsylvester

Mine went out as well a couple of weeks ago on my 2002 Grand Marquis. I think it did the same thing yours did, as my mechanic said it was not burned, it just quit working.

This should make you feel better - it cost me $145 to have my mechanic fix it, including parts.

dillansdaddy

I read that you can check your Connectors and possibly Solder to fix the Blower problem. Where might I find the Heater/AC Box so I can access it and see if I have the same connector problem?

cabinetpro

I had this problem on my Marauder. Try unplugging the vacuum plugs at the passenger side behind the oil and volt meter. then take a jumper vacuum hose (starting with stub that has vacuum in it, with the car running) and plug it into different stubs and see if the blendoors change, (the air will come out of the defrost or vents). If it does, then the climate controller is bad. New at the dealer about $500.00. used on Ebay about $50.00.

This fixed my air problem.

Good luck.
Brian

ascorbate

I have read thru another post in this forum about heater and a/c blower motors that stopped working suddenly.

I have a similar problem with a 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis LSE with climate control (Electronic Automatic Temperature Control or EATC for short). I have checked the obvious including the inside passenger compartment fuses plus the power distribution box underneath the front hood with particular attention to both the blower motor relay and blower motor fuses. I even swapped them out with other working relay and fuses in the power distribution box. I then measured the voltage being applied to the blower motor itself under the hood. It read anywhere from 1 to 6 DC volts or so. I have a similar blower motor layout in a well maintained 1997 Ford Crown Victoria (without EATC) and that voltage reading was 13-14 volts whether the fan speed control was set on low or high. So I'm suspicious of the lower voltage I measured in my Grand Marquis versus my Crown Vic... why would there be this big difference?

While traveling down the highway yesterday at 50-60 mph with the a/c set to 70 degrees, I could feel cool air coming from the vents in my 2003 Grand Marquis probably because of some of the air being recirculated from the outside to the inside. The faster I went, the more cool air I could feel coming from the vents BUT still the blower motor wasn't working. So the A/C system is working, it just ain't blowing this cool air around the inside of my car!

I read about a EATC module self test today at: http://www.p71interceptor.com/eatcswap/selftest.html which I performed with NO Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC) indicated. I then disassembled the fan speed control switch, cleaned it with a cotton swab and some rubbing alcohol, reassembled everything but still the same result... the heater and a/c is not blowing any warm or cold air whatsoever.

What else am I overlooking?

ascorbate

I read in another forum where some Ford tech at a local dealer was replacing tons of Ford basic part # 19E624 which seems to be known as the blower speed controller. I took a chance and purchased one and replaced mine; it fixed the problem and now the A/C will blow your hat off!

Let me tell you though that this was an absolutely "miserable" module to replace. It is under the hood sandwiched below the two heater hoses and underneath the vapor mangement valve and secured with two 8 mm screws. What should have been a 10 minute job turned into a 2-3 hour miserable job thanks (once again) to the forward-thinking engineers at Ford Motor Company. I don't know what those automotive engineers were smoking but it must have been damn good!

I did read somewhere that if this blower speed controller needed replacement, that something else (like the blower motor itself) may have been the real culprit. Anyone else have any opinions about this?

zigback

I smell gasoline when running the ac. Has anyone else had this problem and what can be done?

jsylvester

My 2002 LSE did the exact same thing - there is a blower resistor module that goes out - it is located in the climate control plenum on the firewall. It is cooled by any air that moves through there, and apparently it is a result of the "lowest bidder" supplier agreement method.

I paid $150 to get mine fixed by my local Mom and Pop garage. One advantage of the Grand Marquis is everyone knows how to work on it, so don't overpay for a dealer to fix it.

One suggestion is to find the garage your local police uses for repairs - they will know the car inside and out.

boscoal

I found the same thing on my controller . I also found a bad diode. Have not repaired it yet just found it due to your comments
Thanks
Al Malone

bigmerc

My EATC(automatic Climate Control) is loosing vacuum.
I checked the system, all doors function and do not loose vacuum, supply holds vacuum even post car being off, so storage canister is fine, no leaks in connection.
What is left? EATC
Symptoms are that air is coming from vent but changes to def/floor or will just come from def/floor.
The only reason I can see after checking everything is that the solenoids in the EATC that regulate the vacuum to the different doors are not getting enough current. This in turn allows the opening to the outside air to open when the solenoid is activated and therefore loosing vacuum in that part of the system.
Does anybody know how to fix this, short of replacing the EATC and does anybody have an electric schematic of the EATC?

jiggyfli

OKAY I AM NOT THE SMARTEST PERSON IN THE WORLD, BUT EVEN I SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIND THE A/C DRIP LINE. BUT FOR WHATEVER REASON I CAN NOT FIND IT. MY A/C IS NOT DRIPPING AND I CAN HEAR WATER ROLLING AROUND IN MY DASH. I HAVE MY CAR UP ON JACKSTANDS RIGHT NOW BUT I STILL CAN NOT FIND IT. PLEASE HELP...............

keatsarizona

13 July 07
Mr5x5,
I've had the exact same problem in my 2001 GM LSE. Last year Feb. I had the blend door actuator replaced. I'm thinking that perhaps the mechanic bumped or somehow caused the Controller Board to have a solder crack. Until then, the blower worked fine. A short time after the repair I noticed that the blower was intermittent. My blower stopped completely last week.
I could not find anything on line to explain this until I read your post. Can you explain where I find the "Controller Board" to check it out. Naturally with the LSE it has the center consul making everything a bit harder to access under the dash. It sounds like it needs to be inside the heater/AC box to maintain the right temperature so it doesn't burn out.
I'd sure appreciate any advise you can give me.
Thanks,
Sweating it out in Phoenix Az. Whew!!!
KeatsArizona :shades:

bryanm747

My 2003 Crown Vic blower just stopped working.I took out the blower controller and inspected the solder connections. They looked fine, but when I used my ohmmeter to measure the continuity of the pins to the board, sure enough there was an open on one of the big lugs where it connects to the board. Even under a magnifying glass it looked ok. I scraped the board around where the pins connect and soldered them. Now it works great. I found that removing the stud where the ground wire and the heater hose connect to the block near the module, then using some bungee cords to pull on the heater hoses, it was a lot easier to get the module out of the AC duct. What a tight squeeze though!

twocassels

My problem is exactly the same as that posted by bigmerc on July 5, 2007. I have a 2002 Grand Marquis LSE. Has anyone figured it out yet?

bigmerc

Twocassels, Is it Hot!
Not in my Merc, I made it a 'manual' automatic climate control.
Since you have the same problem as I have I thought to fill you in on my fix.
I use the vacuum supply line to directly connect to the actuators of the doors. Since it is about 95 degrees I choose to have it all come out of the vents as the car would normally do. Initially not as good as 'factory' until I added vacuum to the Air inlet door as well. This gives you the well known blast of cold air from the vents.
The fix: Hope yours is like mine: Underneath the dash in the foot well there is a vacuum connector plug with multiple vacuum lines that goes to the Climate control unit. Disconnect this and use the male end to make the connections.
Here is what is what on my 03:
Black: Supply
Blue: Panel door
White: Air inlet door
Yellow: Floor/defrost door
Red: Floor door
As I said, I used a vacuum hose directly from Black to Blue and White, needed for this is a short piece of vacuum hose with one T connection since you will use three connections.
It works like a dream and the temperature control still works as before including fan speed control.
Enjoy.
Till I find a fix or a reasonable priced replacement unit I will live with this fix.
For winter driving you probably will have to connect black to yellow directly.
Happy cruising and playing with this manual fix. :shades:

jspikes

I've got a '98 GM LS and the a/c only blows hot. I've checked around, and found out that the possible culprit is the blend door actuator. I don't think that the electronic climate control is the problem, but if you have any other ideas, please let me know. My question is this; Do you really have to pull out the dashboard to replace the actuator? Is it possible to go in through the glovebox opening?

cobrass

I have the same freakin problem on my new ride 96 grand marquis Ls.
I thought it was low on coolat which it was, it took like a gallon of coolant ... each time I fill it it goes down to nothing as i drive for a day until I finished a gallon and now It's stable (Level) but that noise is bothering me, you can hear the flow of the coolant with turbulence in it close to the firewall in the interior side of it.

Thanks
sam,

mike280zx

While visiting my mother yesterday, I was driving her car and I tried to defog a slightly fogged windshield. Much to my surprise, the defroster started spewing its own fog onto the windshield to the point that I couldn't see out. The fog was so intense that the fog permeated the interior. Any ideas?

Mr_Shiftright

leaking heater core.

euphonium

I agree. New heater core. Requires removing the front seat, dash, console if any and at least eight hours of labor just to replace a $99 part.

tomanycarz

I had great AC in the summer nice and cool. In the winter I still only get cold air!! and the AC compressor kicks in with the switch to full heat. The vacum system seems to work switching between defrost, vent etc. The temp contol in the dash has circuit board type sliding switch. Anybody have any experience with this problem. It was 10 degrees up North. I need heat! any ideas. Thanks.

bigmerc

If I am not mistaken on my 85 there was a valve (solenoid?) in the hose to the heater core. Again, this is from memory a long time ago, but I think this went belly up and all there is to do then is to replace it and you will be nice and toasty again.
Your airconditioning should not be comming on when it gets close to freezing though! Hope it is of any help, nothing lost if not right?
Good luck.

fred90

Can any one tell me or post a picture of where the module is. My blower or fan motor checks out ok but my fan control only had high speed and now it does not work at all.
I have also does the easy part - check all the fuses and relays but to no avail.

Help it get hot here in Houston

joeveto

My Grand Marquis with the EATC had been blowing through the defroster mostly, and occasionally the floor. With 90 plus degree days, this wasn't going to cut it. So I took it into the dealer...

The problem was the EATC head unit. Apparently, as noted elsewhere here, the solenoids can go bad. The total cost was over $900 to fix. Roughly $650 of that was for the part, a little over $200 for labor. Then tax.

Not fun.

So be warned. It's a great car. I truly love it. But this hurt. The first unit lasted 87000 miles. I'm hoping this one lasts longer!!

lilborther

Many thanks to BIGMERC!!! I had this same problem with my 2006 Grand Merc, I took it to my local mechanic and he was going to charge me around $300 to replace my air door actuator. I followed directions from BIGMERC and his suggestion fixed my problem. Great Job! I had a T in the shop so it costs me nothing! I'm cool and BIGMERC is SUPER COOL. Thanks.

hag100

Brian,

Hate to sound stupid here, but when you say climate controller, are you talking about the in dash unit with the push-buttons on it?

Do you remember where on EBAY you find the unit?

charlie1953

This is about a 1998 Merc. Marquis. Air blows hot during vent and ac. Just like the problem jspikes wrote about on 7-2-08. Was there an answer to that problem? Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
Charlie

jamocrazy88s

When I turn on heat my AC comes on.Samething.when I move the control to vent.When it moved to floor I get nothing.Always cool air.Can any one tell me something.

mrspeedycar

Have you checked the Vent Control unit in the dash . This is what changes the duct system from hot to cold . If its stuck to A/C side , then all you will get is cold air .

bobfromri

My '99 LS always blows hot air regardless of the temp setting I select or if I put on manual A/C or Max A/C mode. I checked the refrigerant and it seems fine. The lines coming out of the A/C unit are cold to the touch. Do these cars have a problem with the heater getting stuck in the "on" position? It seems to me that the heat would overwhelm whatever the A/C is putting out. Could this be a solenoid stuck directing the coolant always to the heater core? Or maybe a duct problem? --There does seem to be something stuck near the fan that makes a fluttering sound when the fan is turned to high. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks from Rhode Island home of the . . .well uh, me.

mergramar2001

I have a 2001 Mercury Grand Marquis. It has automatic climate control. The air conditioning compressor broke, I had it replaced and now the climate control system (the head unit) and the blower is acting goofy. The display lights flicker and the fan blows slow and fast, all at random. It used to work perfectly, smooth and precise. Now, it's just all over the place. This happens whether you run it in automatic or manually. When you run it in manual, the fan speed doesn't have a middle. It either runs full out or slow. Does anyone have an idea what the problem could be? I don't even know where to start.

euphonium

Return the car to whomever worked on the A/C last. Give them a chance to correct their errors.

sagebrush22

My 1997 Crown Vic LX automatic climate control started acting up about a year ago. When I started the engine a repetitive "thunking" would start and get faster and louder when I turned on the AC. Eventually the thunking stopped but now I have no hot/cool air control. But get this! When I make a sharp right turn I get hot air but if I make a sharp left turn i get cold air. Over a 6 month period its very consistent. Also there is no longer any temp control-its either cold air all the time or hot air all the time. Any ideas. I've been leery about pulling the dash because i would have to disable the airbags.

mergramar2001

Thank you for your response. I did speak with the mechani8c who fixed it. It's a one-man operation that does great work for cheap, but he said that it has nothing to do with what he did. All he did was evacuate the AC system, change the compressor and and then refill the system. I halfway believe him and would very much like to have him help me fix it, but he may be right. He's not the best at troubleshooting specific make/model complicated issues. Sometimes, you just have to go to the dealer to get an expert and pay the price. I was hoping to avoid that.

jet1936

I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM ON MY 2003 MERC GRAND MARQUIS. I CAN'T FIND A DRIP HOSE FOR MY A/C SYSTEM. THE WATER USED TO GUSH OUT AND LEAVE A LARGE PUDDLE. NOW A GET AMBE A SPOT ABOUT THE SIZE OF A HALF DOLLAR. DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE THE A/C DRIP LINE IS?

dudat

My ventillation syatem started acting up and for a while when I would switch between Vent , A/C, Floor, Defrost, etc.. the dampers would hang up, slowly change, and take a long time to shift to the selected mode. Now it is stuck on Defrost. The A/C blows out the defrost ducts, the heat does also. Any help out there?

nwraaa

Either the electronic automatic temperature control is defective or the blend door actuator is defective. The temperature control is easy to replace but the blend door is not.

thetaz

I have a 2002 Crown Victoria LX Sport, the one with center console. The AC works fine and blows cold air but it keeps switching from dast to floor. If you take your foot off the acclerator it switches back to the dash. If you put the car in a pull, up hill etc., it switches back to floor. Anyone know what the problem might be?

Thanks
thetaz

Mr_Shiftright

That sounds like a vacuum leak to the blending door actuator

thetaz

Thanks, I will test the vacum system next time I get home

Mr_Shiftright

It makes sense, since engine vacuum drops as you go uphill or press on the throttle---so with a leak to begin with, any drop in vacuum would put the actuator in a default (no vacuum) mode. Once the throttle is released and it hardly cracked open, you have high vacuum and so the actuator is pulled to the position you set originally.

nebula7

I have the exact same problem I would appreciate if you could reply back as soon as possible with the results, I have a 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis.

mentorman

Nebula7: I am having the exact problem with my 2003 Mercury Gand Marquis. But my repair shop is telling me the actuator is controlled by manual link, not vacuum. I don't think he knows for sure as he has young techs working for him. He says the dash has to come off to change it. But I'm reading on other sites that there are loop tools to take the digital climate control module (CCM) out easily and the actuator is right behind it. I hope someone educates me on this. --- I've had to replace two CCM's in the last four years. The last one I had rebuilt via an outfit on Ebay that guarantees it for life. But the symptoms are different, like the first post said, accelerating or up hill redirects to the defrost, then floor, then back to dash vents. When the CCM went out before, it would do so w/in minutes of the first redirect which I believe was unrelated to the acceleration. I'm really hoping this is a vacuum problem and the actuator can be changed as easily as I've seen on other ford vehicles with digital CCM's. I'll try to find your username and pm you if I find any info on this, try to do the same for me. Thanks

thetaz

It is vacum accuated and I can see it from the drivers side floor. Lots of stuff in the way to remove but it can be done. You can contact me at rnavdave@gmail an we can exchange phone #'s so I can call you when I work on it.