2007 Ford Explorer Heater - mechanic question

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

The cold Minnesota winter killed my battery and uncovered a thermostat problem, so both items were replaced last week. But it isn’t really about that… Up until those were replaced, my heater has always worked like a champ, blowing out all kinds of hot air. After the battery/thermostat were replaced, I quickly discovered that hot air was blowing out the dash vents while icy cold air was blowing out the floor vents. Had to drive two hours like that and thought I was going to get frostbitten toes.

I returned the car to my mechanic yesterday and explained the problem. After a couple hours, they came back to me and said that the heater was working just fine and they couldn’t find a problem with it. Sure enough, when I went in, hot air was blowing out of both the dash and floor vents. The mechanic admitted, yeah, the floor of the driver’s compartment was really cold when I first came in, but then advised me that I should first heat the floor until its warm and then turn on the dash vents. I’ve had this vehicle 10 years now and have never had to do that before.

I’m pretty skeptical of all this. I’m glad I’ve got my heat back, but my true concern now is whether my mechanic is being honest with me. Is it possible that in the process of replacing the thermostat they inadvertently disconnected heat from the floor blower - and once they had my vehicle back, they simply fixed what they messed up? Or… is this a classic case of “going to the dentist and having your tooth stop hurting”?

Thanks for any insight!

2

No, I think the really cold temps just made things not operate as well as they should.

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Disconnecting/replacing the battery can cause the Climate Control Module not to operate properly until its gone thru a relearn procedure.

http://www.aa1car.com/library/battery_disconnect_problems.htm

Since the climate control is working properly now, I think that’s what happened.

Tester

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Thanks for your reply, but I’ve experienced plenty of cold MN winters and never had this problem. Also after I left the mechanic, it was every bit as cold outside but now the heater was properly working, so I don’t think it’s just the cold.

The second respondent’s answer concerning battery disconnect problems and “relearn” phenomenon makes more sense to me.

5

Thank you for your reply, this makes sense to me. I feel a little better now that my mechanic wasn’t lying to me.