I was on my way to school today when I noticed hot air coming out of the defroster vent that points at the driver's window. I looked down and I had the selector pointing to the feet. I turned the selector to various settings and the air was still coming out of the defroster. The only way to keep it from doing so was to turn off the blower.

I thought I had a vacuum leak so I accelerated hard and the air still came out of the defroster. I released the throttle completely and the air still came out of the defroster.

Since I've had the truck (6 months or so) I've noticed the A/C compressor kicking on when the heat was in any setting. I never checked though to see if air was coming out of the defroster vents.

Any ideas? Maybe the thing that does the switching is bad?

 

Check your lines thoroughly. Don't forget the vacuum ball.

The compressor is normally on even with heat except in face and floor settings. Thanks Ford.

 

I am not an expert but have experienced similar problems.

In my situation I had "heat stuck on" and "air comes out of defroster vents no matter what mode is selected." These are 2 different problems.

I fixed the "heat stuck on" problem by fixing my "blend door actuator" as described on this webpage: http://www.blenddoorfix.netfirms.com/

To the best of my knowledge the "defroster vent only" problem is due to a vacuum problem. I haven't yet resolved this...it was never a big deal to me but recently I've been wanting to fix it just for the sake of fixing it.

 

How does a guy go about testing vacuum lines?

 

Use a hand pump with a vacuum gauge. Its commonly sold as a one man brake bleeder. They run 20 - 40, you might be able to get one a loaner from a parts store.

 

I noticed this also when i had the **** selected on my feet it only came out the side vents up top that clear off the left and right windows but when i switched to the dash vents it shut off so idk

 

Jacob, check the vacuum line on the vacuum ball up by your radiator down low on the passenger side. The top line coming off the ball controls the defrost door. The other line is the vacuum source. Mine was broke and after I replaced it everything worked just fine. Here is a picture of the vacuum ball and the line. Hope this helps.

 

Mine did that last year. vacuum issue, cant remember if it was the ball or a hose though. I was in afghanistan and my wife got it fixed.

 

If your problem is that air blows out the defrost vents instead of the floor vents when the "FLOOR" mode is selected, then check out: https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...7&postcount=43