Does your blower whistle?

[k9education]

The blower in my Expedition whistles. The higher I turn up the fan, the louder the whistle gets. The dealership took a look at it, said it was defective, and replaced it. However, the (allegedly) new one whistles as well. Does the blower in your 3rd gen whistle, especially at high speeds?

 

[Truck3]

I'm wondering if there is a vacuum controlled gate that is not sealing shut somewhere.

Does it do it with the fan off but at higher speeds?
Does the rear air do the same?

Hmmmmmmm?

 

[buckeyefan]

Interesting, I thought it was just mine. It does whistle on high. Haven't had it in to the dealer yet. Mine is a 2015 that I bought in Dec 2014.

 

[k9education]

Does it do it with the fan off but at higher speeds?
Does the rear air do the same?

No and no.

I'm wondering if there is a vacuum controlled gate that is not sealing shut somewhere.

Perhaps. I spoke to the dealership tech who actually replaced the blower motor today and asked him if it could be a blend door. He said that it could be, but that it could also be that the heater core box isn't completely sealed and there is air leaking out somewhere. I'm not sure how to proceed with this because he said he did all he could do without removing the dash. If he does that: (a) I don't know what the warranty covers. (b) The odds of the dash being reinstalled without any leftover parts is next to nil.

Also worth mentioning is that the sound profile of the whistle changes as you cycle between the various floor/vent/defrost settings.

 

[k9education]

Minor update on this ...

I stopped by the dealership and played around with all the various settings. The noise goes away completely if I switch it to recirculated air mode.

 

[mrford60]

there is a TSB on this, also the noise will change when you put a window down a little.

 

[k9education]

there is a TSB on this, also the noise will change when you put a window down a little.

No change whether windows are up, down, or somewhere in between. Noise does change when switching between floor/vent/defrost though.

 

[toms89]

The blower on my expedition whines loudly under w.o.t.

Sorry. Could not resist...

 

[k9education]

Minor update on this ...

I stopped by the dealership and played around with all the various settings. The noise goes away completely if I switch it to recirculated air mode.

My thoughts at this point are either: (a) This is a design flaw in Ford's system. (b) The recirc door isn't opening completely open when in fresh air mode. I asked the dealership to check its operation, but I got blown off (yeah, I said it). Service writer told me that the whistling "is a good thing" because it means there's strong air pressure. Erm, no.

 

[Gamecock]

I've noticed it on my '07 too.

 

[Truck3]

on an F-series my friend has, he reported something similar. Upon investigating he found the hole that the armature goes into on the gate itself became somewhat elongated.
He surmised that over time with the hole becoming elongated, that the gate never fully closed when it was supposed to. I asked just how much he thought it was not closing and his reply was "Just enough to create a whistling sound at the right pitch to drive me nuts."
I have never seen a core / air gate on an expy, but I cant imagine it is too much different. How would you get to it? Maybe try removing the glove box first? I'm shooting in the dark here.

 

[k9education]

on an F-series my friend has, he reported something similar. Upon investigating he found the hole that the armature goes into on the gate itself became somewhat elongated.
He surmised that over time with the hole becoming elongated, that the gate never fully closed when it was supposed to. I asked just how much he thought it was not closing and his reply was "Just enough to create a whistling sound at the right pitch to drive me nuts."
I have never seen a core / air gate on an expy, but I cant imagine it is too much different. How would you get to it? Maybe try removing the glove box first? I'm shooting in the dark here.

Mine closes fully as it's quiet on recirculate, but I was thinking it may not open fully in fresh air mode. The air inlet door actuator is fairly easy to access (and it is behind the glove), but the door itself is not.

 

[Truck3]

ok, that sounds like you may be headed in the right direction. It the case of my friend, the gate did not full close due to the armature. In your case, it may simply be that it does not fully open. The armature pivot points are usually greased with white lithium type lubricant.
Hate to say it, but you may simply need some lube in order for it to fully open. If there is too much resistance on the armature, the vacuum assisted gate may simply not be able to overcome it.
Another thought is that debris in the duct work at the point of the gate may be preventing the gate from completely opening.
I realize my thoughts on this are not very technical, but judging from what you describe, it would seem to me that something within the air gate has degraded since new. I can only think of an elongated hole in the plastic, debris in the duct.
I have never had mine apart, but can only assume it is at least similar to the F-series units.
Let me know what you find, oddly, this is somewhat interesting to me. (I know, I'm weird)

 

[k9education]

ok, that sounds like you may be headed in the right direction. It the case of my friend, the gate did not full close due to the armature. In your case, it may simply be that it does not fully open. The armature pivot points are usually greased with white lithium type lubricant.
Hate to say it, but you may simply need some lube in order for it to fully open. If there is too much resistance on the armature, the vacuum assisted gate may simply not be able to overcome it.
Another thought is that debris in the duct work at the point of the gate may be preventing the gate from completely opening.
I realize my thoughts on this are not very technical, but judging from what you describe, it would seem to me that something within the air gate has degraded since new. I can only think of an elongated hole in the plastic, debris in the duct.
I have never had mine apart, but can only assume it is at least similar to the F-series units.
Let me know what you find, oddly, this is somewhat interesting to me. (I know, I'm weird)

So my warranty is at the very tail end and I am at a crossroads. The service writer and his tech believe there is a leak somewhere in the heater box. One of the late night techs (this dealer has a second shift that works until midnight) believes it is a piece of foam that has come detached within the duct work somewhere. In any case, they are willing to rip the dash out and repair it; the warranty will cover it. The question of course is whether I want to take the risk of things not going back together quite right in order to eliminate this really irritating whistle. When I asked the service writer how confident he was that they could reassemble it all without creating additional rattles, he responded: "Wellll, that's the thing. Do you want to take the risk?" Basically, he acknowledges that there is a very real possibility that I may end up worse than where I started. He told me to sleep on it. Bah. I get more fed up with Ford every day.

 

[Heatman1976]

My 2009 does it as well in the highest speed. Only the front. Turn it from 4 to 3 and it's gone. Best I can tell, the service guy was half right. Does mean you have good velocity, not flow. The diffusers they use don't seem to like the velocity the air is coming out. I do commercial heating and air. If we put in the wrong grill, they whistle. Lol.

 

[k9education]

Ultimately, I let my non-decision decide. The service writer and service manager both said they'd be happy to pull the dash, but both warned me that it could rattle when done and they would not pull it again to correct it. The service writer was also insistent that it was the heater box and would not even entertain the possibility that it was not. He said if he had his guy pull the dash, he was replacing the heater box. Period. So if I am correct and the leak is at the fresh air door, it would all be for nothing. So that's that.

 

[RobK]

I know this thread is dated, but I just bought a '17 and I am having this issue. Can someone please post the TSB info for this?
Thank you