Hi Scotty! Love your vids. Just cam across them a couple months ago. Airborne! So...Ford Taurus, 2007 SEL. I am looking at blendoor(no heat, did a pretty good flush of coolant, no really the core though. I did get out 2-3 buckets of Brown. I felt heat kinda for a few minutes after. I was thinkin' of buying a $15 blend door on amazon possibly. So, I was turning knob with car started while looking with led light at what I think is the blend door behind radio console,etc. I don't see the white post area moving. I was able to even fit a finger behind blend door box and feel the 2-3 grooves on post while turning. Nothing. No sound, no clicks or nothing. Bout it used froma guy a month ago who said AC is out. I didn't care much. After just researching on web...Maybe tomorrow I will unplug F2-27 Fuse for a minute and try this. Do you think i need a new door or use the peak flush kit tool I did not use the other day when flushing? I don't know why i stopped right then. I didn't want to make a huge mess all over the parking lot. Thanks Scott! You rock man.
So it seems you're "chasing down" 2 suspicions.
1) is hot coolant circulating through the heater core?
2) Is the Blend door operating?
Both are easy to determine.
1) is hot coolant circulating through the heater core?
If you look on that Taurus, between the engine and the firewall you'll see a hose/metal tube unit.
It's a "one piece unit." A "confabulation" and abomination of flexible hose, "factory joined", with metal tubing.
Probably looks something like this:
So with the Taurus, a large part of this unit sits very low in the coolant circulation system and any "sludge" tends to settle there.
So, is the coolant circulation through the heater core?
Tools required: 1 hand.
Feel the hose going into your heater core and the hose coming out.
Both should be hot.
OR, Is this an issue with the blend door?
Drop the actuator. (pop out the back of the glove compartment box and you can access the screws on one side and then get the other one from the driver's side.) Maybe 5 minutes.
With the actuator in your hand and connected, when you change the heat/cool setting does the actuator spin?
OK, digging deeper. Why did you find brown sludge in your cooling system?
If memory serve me correctly that Taurus used an HOAT (Hybrid OAT) coolant.(Yellow)
That can't be mixed with IAT (Inorganic Additive Technology) coolant.
If you do that it creates sludge.
I think a previous owner did that
I would advise AGAINST buying cheap auto parts on Amazon. Unless you like fixing things twice.
Cool, thank you yes...OEM version always. Thanks for reminding me. Lemme find that skew at least. Prob $30ish compared to $15,etc.
Hi, was an orange type gunk...Reservior tank looked like crap and all orange-ish and had lots of build up. I figured it couldn't hurt to flush since it was used and who knows. Oh, 80,000miles BTW. I checked it and it was green on top of amber. So, previous did mix/match and it sure looked like brown, rusty water coming out of there for 2-3 times. Bought the t-bar thingy and didn't use it. I will take your advise...I need to check the hoses and test the Actuator. Will do tomorrow. Thanks!
if someone mixed green and orange antifreeze, then you could very well be dealing with sludge in there.
I think so, just realized i had better do a proper flush then with hose and Peak kit. Get a lil' pressure in there and really clean that heater core before buying parts. Thanks Community!
Well, checked both hoses and both were Hot. I at least have started to take screws out of blend door. Can't get this last 1 this morn...was kickin' my butt. I'm trying to remove radio so I could prob get to it way easier. And of course, coat hanger or screws,etc. don't seem to budge it. It's really in there it seems. I'm gonna buy the tools today. Moreover, can you attach a pic on here? Took pic of blend door(mounted) and I can literally grab about 3/4" of the white post without even taking it off. It's plugged in and doesn't turn while turning,etc. Seems like that would be the diagnosis then...It should turn prob just a little even without dropping it. Thanks.