A/C Fan Making noise

POWLESSFAMILY4

MEMBER
2002 FORD ESCAPE
220,000 MILES

I recently had my A/C in my Fors Escape replaced. It cost me $835.00. Now when I turn the blower on the A/C makes a horrible grinding noise. The Max A/C will not blow and the the reguluar settings will not blow if you put it past a 3. The A/C is cold. I just can't get it to blow out of the vents.

Can you please diagnose this and also how expensive is it and do you think a guy with basic knowledge of a car could repair it. I really don't want to put anymore $$$ into the A/C then I already have.

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,873 POSTS

Can't diagnose it over a computer; if we could, we wouldn't need mechanics. What I CAN suggest is the first thing is you have to determine where that grinding noise is coming from. Is it under the hood from the AC compressor? If so, it will only occur with the engine running and you may hear it cycle on and off. If it occurs from inside the car, that is likely the heater / AC fan. That can run without running the engine.

If the heater fan doesn't run on all speeds, that is usually caused by a bad resistor assembly or fan speed switch. In the last 15 years or so the engineers have added a very unreliable computer to do things computers were never needed for before. As a result, it is common to have all kinds of new and unusual problems caused by those computers.

The place to start is by returning to the shop the did the AC work to allow them to recheck their work. You do not have the entire AC system replaced. You have defective parts in the system replaced, and one of the new parts could be defective or there could be some other problem the mechanic didn't see earlier.