My fan directional control stopped working

Tiny
JOSHHAGER
  • MEMBER
  • 1999 DODGE RAM
  • 353,000 MILES
My fan directional control stopped working. It can shutoff or run a defrost and that is it. I looked under the hood and found a busted wire that goes into a T connector. I am not sure what it is for or if that is the problem. Any adivce?
Sunday, February 24th, 2013 AT 9:59 PM

3 Replies

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,916 POSTS
I don't see a broken wire, but if you have a broken hard plastic vacuum line, that will cause the system to go to defrost mode for safety. It is spring-loaded to do that. Your feet might freeze but the windshield will be clear. The red arrow is pointing to the check valve for that vacuum line.
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Sunday, February 24th, 2013 AT 10:32 PM
Tiny
JOSHHAGER
  • MEMBER
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Thank you for the response. Now that you have cleared up what I was looking at how hard is it to replace the vacuum line that is broke? Also I am noticing that my truck is idling a little rough would this have anything to do with it?
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Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 AT 2:46 PM
Tiny
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  • MECHANIC
  • 33,916 POSTS
Okay, I may be slow, but I'm not stopped completely! Now I think I see what's broken. My sad red and blue arrows are pointing to the two ends of the hard plastic vacuum hose. That vacuum leak is relatively small but it will result in a higher than normal idle speed without a corresponding increase in power.

The repair is real simple. An inch-long piece of rubber vacuum hose is all you need to splice the two ends together. Any auto parts store will have it on bulk spools but they usually want to sell it by the foot. Instead, drive to any salvage yard. When you get there, twist and pull on the rubber connector, (green arrow), to pull the part off with the blue arrow so you can take it in and match it up to a piece of hose. If they aren't busy on the phones one of the guys may just chop a piece off something and give it to you. If you have one of the pick-your-own parts salvage yards, almost any car will have some hoses the same size. You want one that slides on somewhat hard so it won't come off. If you can only find something that's close and slides on real hard, spray it first with Silicone Spray Lube. That goes on like water and makes rubber parts like heater hoses slide over metal parts REAL easily, then it evaporates.

The piece of hose should be long enough to slide on far enough so it won't come off, but it should be short enough so the two ends of the plastic hose end up close to each other. That will reduce the tendency for the rubber splice to bend and kink.
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Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 AT 6:42 PM

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