Door chime and Rear Heat/AC

Hi,

I have 2 problems with our '98.

1) the key in ignition chime sounds anytime the driver door is open, whether the key is there or not, clueless shop replaced the ignition switch but it didn't help

2) the rear ac/heat system only blows cold air out the roof and side vents, front heat works normally , this all worked fine last year but now its cold outside I found the kids in the back are a little on the chilly side : ) ,,, could this be as easy as replacing the rear ac//heat control switch?

Thanks!

Tim

For #2 it's likely your auxiliary air control motor is stuck. You will have to go into the side panel and take a look. Before you do that, though, as a quick test look under the driver's side into the central column for a white "wire" that is plugged into a green one. These are actually vacuum lines.
Unplug that white tube from the green one and try your rear heat. If it works, then your auxiliary control on the central console (the one that directs heat and cooling in the back) is faulty. If it's still blowing cool air regardless, then your motor in the back is jammed or defective.

Finally had time today to mess around with this. The actuator in the side panel works fine but is under constant vacuum regardless of where I put the center console control knob. If I remove the vacuum line the control arm goes up, I hear a blend door or flap close, and heat flows from the floor vents. Put it back, the arm comes down and cold air comes out the ceiling vents. Does this help narrow it down for anyone out there? Seems to point to something messed up in the center console controls?

Thanks for any help,

Tim

That tells me that your auxiliary control knob is defective.

I installed a new switch from Ford, the one that you select A/C, defrost, floor, defr and floor , etc but it did not fix the problem. I've uploaded 2 pics to http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/timstiles/album?.dir=/8af7&.src=ph&.tok=phhGWMCBviP_1kvG .

If I disconnect the vacuum line at the side panel, or if I disconnect the black hose that forms a loop, pic P1000057, the air comes out of the floor vents in the back. With the new switch connected everything blows out the ceiling vents. Did I replace the wrong part?

The knob I was referring to is all the way to the right... the one that allows you to select heat or cool, fan speeds for the rear. My apologies for any confusion I may have caused.

For #2 it's likely your auxiliary air control motor is stuck. You will have to go into the side panel and take a look. Before you do that, though, as a quick test look under the driver's side into the central column for a white "wire" that is plugged into a green one. These are actually vacuum lines.
Unplug that white tube from the green one and try your rear heat. If it works, then your auxiliary control on the central console (the one that directs heat and cooling in the back) is faulty. If it's still blowing cool air regardless, then your motor in the back is jammed or defective.

thiswas a winner for me: my rear heat wouldn't go off no matter what the centerpanel rear control indicated. I unplugged the green and white tubes, plugged them back in and heard the diverter clump into proper position. My guess is that the vacuum tube is so small that it can clogged easily.
Thanks for your post: I love the Internet - even an idiot like me can fix cars if I pay attention to what I'm doing in the car and read posts carefully.