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Blower motor/radio shuts off and comes back on

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5.5K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  Rsmach1  
#1 · (Edited)
Hello everyone, I've got alot of great info here and hope you all can help me once again. I have a 98 Mercury Sable with the DOHC engine and automatic climate control. I'm having 2 problem.

1. When the A/C or defroster is on, after a short time the interior blower motor and the radio will shut off, like a breaker has tripped. After a second or two they come back on, like a breaker has reset. When they come back on I also get an engine surge to 1500+ RPM.

Think I know what #2 is but will ask anyway.

2. When I turn the wheel I hear a squeaky groaning noise from the front of the car, I also hear it in the column. Doesn't sound like it's from the P/S pump. I'm thinking it's the rack.

I've also just noticed that I have a P1000 code, I know this is code you get after disconnecting the battery, the battery has NOT been disconnected. Wondering if problem #1 is causing the obd to reset as well.

Thank you all in advance for any help.
Randy.
 
#2 ·
Turn the ignition off then on and see if everything starts working again. I had a bad ignition switch in my '00 do weird things.
Make sure your battery connections are clean and tight also. That's step one.
 
#3 ·
If it is JUST the radio and blower going out, you can check the wiring harness going to the back of the control cluster. When I got my 02 Sable, I installed an aftermarket stereo and in the process learned that the previous owner also apparently had an aftermarket stereo and had put the original back in for the sale. His wiring job was... lacking. If when the blower is going you hear a whine in the speakers, then it is likely a ground issue. The stereo and blower should not be on the same ground, but sometimes it happens.

But as Repairman said, it does sound like you might have a bad connection to your battery. Wiring under the dash shouldn't affect your RPM's.
 
#4 ·
Thank you for the replys, when the blower motor / radio cut out it's only for a second, two max. In the time it would take to turn it off and restart the car it would already have come back on. All the battery leads are clean and tight.

When checking today I noticed the a/c compressor also cuts out when this happens. I also noticed when on, the compressor clutch is a little noisy, like it's scrapping internally. So I disconnected the lead to the compressor, and the issue stopped. I'm wondering if it's possible that the a/c clutch has a short and that is the cause.
 
#5 ·
For good measure, take off your engine to firewall ground strap and clean
its connections and put it back on. clean your battery cable connections.
clean any ground lugs on the fenders and such

The AC noise is probably the pulley bearing going bad. Could be the pump too.