01 Ford Focus blower stuck on full

El Inho

Hi guys,

I have a 01 ford focus with the blower stuck in the on position. The only thing that turns it down slightly is putting it on full heat.

I've completely disconnected this under the glove box for the time being, and think this could be a resistor in the switch.

Any opinions?

Kenny Logins

Yeah, there is a resistor pack in behind the glovebox tray that (I think) could cause that. When mine went the first two positions on the switch were duds.

Toyotafanboi

If it isn't turning off even when you go to 0 on the switch I don't think the resistor is as likely.

This happened to me in my focus mk1 (stuck on speed 3) and it turned out that the back of the switch itself had melted.

kirving

Hi,

Had this problem on a Mk1 Focus, and head two people in work had the same/similar issues. Researched it a bit, and I think the follwing happens. First, water finds its way through the seal by the bottom of the windscreen which covers the pollen filter. From there, it can drip on the fan/resistor pack. (There is also talk online that it can drip ont he bearing for the fan and cause it to always be under load, I'm not sure)

Rather than using PWM to control the fan speed which would require a seperate controller and be costly, the 1-2-3-4 speed setting is used to select a different number of resistors.

The resistor pack in cooled by the fan itself, but can eventually wear out. When it does, you have no resistance, so only available settings are Off and MAX(ie: dierect connection and no resistors)
If you run like this for a while, you also have the possibility of the 1234 switch itself melting. I'm not sure why as it should be able to take the current.

The corrective action here is to replace the Resistor Pack, Pollen Filter and Window seal befor the 1234 switch melts.

El Inho

Great answers guys. Thanks.

Would it be a reasonable fix to replace the switch for the time being and look to fixed everything else ASAP.

I just want to have reasonable control to defog the windscreen - a quick fix essentially.

El Inho

in addition to this. Had anyone ever had a situation where a switch has melted, leaving it very hard to get the connection loose on the loom

Toyotafanboi

El Inho wrote: »

in addition to this. Had anyone ever had a situation where a switch has melted, leaving it very hard to get the connection loose on the loom

Absolutely yeah, mine was rock solid but with plenty of wiggling, skinned fingertips and swearing it came out.

El Inho

just making sure

thanks a mill. have a new switch and going to fit tomorrow. fingers crossed (and likely skinned)

Toyotafanboi

The resistor is very cheap and easy to do, definitely something an amateur diy-er could do.

El Inho

thanks for the help everyone. Fans are back working.

The directional switch is stuck, though... looks like the cable that chooses outlet isn't tight enough...

any experience with this?