| For a number of years the others that post here regularly have seen me predicting just how difiicult servicing certain cars was becoming. Congratulations on owning one of the worst when it comes to having good service information for it, as well as being even able to take this to an average shop because they are not likely to have a scan tool with software that supports the climate control system in this car. First are there any codes being set by the climate control head? I don't have the information at home on how to retrieve the codes manually, or if that is even possible. Another thing to consider, there is nothing here that truly suggests the car "is doing the same thing". Simply because of how heater, and AC systems operate, one using hot engine coolant, and the other a refrigerant system to cause an effect in the air temperature. Now granted they do share certain components in the dash, especially mode doors which are electrically operated, computer controlled with feedback signals to the control head. Plus in order for the climate control system to change the door positions in the in car, it has to know the ambient temperature (outside), the in car temperature, and the desired temperature by the operator. There are sensors called thermisters on the left side of the evaporator case that report this information to the control head. Do you really want to know how complicated this gets? The system has a water control valve, that either allows coolant to flow through the heater core, or blocks it depending on the commands from the control head. In 2000 they had issues with the valve plugging up, so they added a filter screen. The 6-clys do not use an auxillary coolant pump, but the V-8's do. Is the coolant level correct? Is the thermostat opening too soon? All of these could be impacting the heat the system delivers to the interior, and have nothing at all to do with the way your AC was working. I have never had one of these in the shop, and cannot say for sure if I have the software to support the climate control system. The 2000's used the same system as did the Lincoln Continentals. 2001, I don't know. I'd be hesitant to take this in if the shop was busy because it can turn into a technician trap. Which means the shop could lose money and time dealing with this as it could be the one and only time they see one of these. I suggest you use a shop that regularly works on these, or the dealer. |
