Well, after about a week and a half of having A/C on high only, I pulled the heater resistor today and, yeah it looks shot. It had black scorch marks around 2 of the 4 stainless steel-looking terminals. The plastic wiring connector didn't look that great either. One of the 4 black wires looked as if the rubber coating had melted off and some of the copper wire was bare. And part of the black plug looked as if it started to melt. I'll try to post some pics soon!
I did a Google search and found the resistor assembly/wiring harness recall (01S22) on the NHTSA website. I called my local dealer, and after explaining the situation, his response was "Uh, well I don't see any recalls listed for your vehicle, sir".
Not happy with that, I sent an e-mail to Ford's Customer Relations Center, but I'm still waiting for the response.
I found the heater resistor and the wiring harness at fordpartsonline.com for less than $10.00 each.
My question is: How difficult is it to install the new wiring harness? The thought of snipping and splicing wires is not appealing. If I can do this myself without dickin' around with Ford, I'll do it. But if they won't honor the recall repair, I'm ready to go toe-to-toe with 'em.
Any thoughts/suggestions?
(oh yeah, and on a side note, I never received a recall notice back in '01, and I'm the original owner of the vehicle. Reading the recall notice, I/my vehicle meets all the criteria. Anyone else have this problem?)
Thanks.
