After getting MUCH help from this board I finally get to give something back. I just fixed a strange problem with my '95 Contour and I hope what I learned can help somebody else someday.
While coming in from Memphis yesterday on the interstate I ran through a series of rainstorms. I started noticing that my windshield was fogging up, the blower output was very low at the defrost vents and the fan was roaring. I figured that a vent hose had dropped off a connection or that a diverter door had failed, diminishing air flow to the vents. Well, I grabbed a handful of crumpled newspaper and wiped a hole to see through and came on home.
This morning I pulled it in the shop and started troubleshooting. After crawling inside the dash and finding nothing wrong I turned my attention to the fresh air intake under the wipers, thinking that the drains had clogged up letting water block the intake. I was half right but it wasn't clogged drains. The cabin air filter (which up until now I didn't know I had) WAS soaked with water, effectively plugging it shut (hence NO airflow through into the car) But the water didn't come from clogged vents. It came from a failed seal between the windshield and the intake cover (the long black plastic cover with the slits in it under the wipers). The seal had deteriorated and crumbled leaving a nice wide channel for water sheeting off the windshield to cascade directly onto the filter element that procedded to soak it up like a sponge. After installing a new filter ($11.00 at autozone), I scraped the old seals from the vent covers and replaced them with lengths of 1/2" thick foam stick on insulation that you buy in rolls at home depot for weatherproofing doors and windows. Now my system is ready for another 10 years of troublefree defrosting
(I hope)
