[BLUE_02_ZX3]

Are you sick of the defroster switch turning on your a/c (not all foci do this) But if you have one that does it and you hate it LIKE ME then heres how you can fix it in less than ten minutes.

Remove the radio using a ford tool (or a bent coathanger for you mcgyver like folks out there)

Then undo the four (I beilive 8mm) bolts that hold the radio bezel on (just so you can see better, you prob can do this without removing it)

Your heating and air conditioning panel consists of 3 knobs, the left is the temp of the air, the center controls where the air goes, and the right controlls the speed of the blower fan. The middle knob (the one that controls where your air is going ie... defrost, panel, floor) has a little GREY square plug on the back of it.

Unplug the little grey square plug on the back of the middle knob, and wrap it in electrical tape (prob not necissary but just for safety)

Start your car, and turn the fan on full blast, then turn the middle knob to defroster and back a few times to make sure that the a/c doesnt kick on. If it doesnt then YOUR DONE(well after you put it back together) and if it does then either you did something wrong or your car is different then mine!!!

Be carefull and enjoy the stress reliever that ford just seemed to not think about.

SORRY I EDITED THIS POST BECAUSE STUPID ME HAD TOLD YOU TO DISCONNECT THE LIGHT PLUG, IM NOT SURE WHAT HAPPENED IN MY HEAD PERHAPS A BRAINFART SO I APPOLOGISE

ITS CORRECT NOW

 

[Nacron]

Isn't that the plug to power the lights in the hvac surround?

 

[BLUE_02_ZX3]

YOUR APSOLUTLY RIGHT THANK YOU FOR SPOTTING THAT AND TELLING ME BEFORE I HAD SOME PEOPLE WITH PROBLEMS
I edited it and its corect now

thanks again

 

[NeonFocus]

THATS GREAT!!!! I hate it that it turns on the ac by itself.

 

[Jared]

it does that because the defroster works better with A/C...

 

[Jimmy]

it does that because the defroster works better with A/C...

Yup.

IIRC, the AC basically removes moisture from the air. Moisture in the air would cancel any defrost effect.

Why do you hate having the AC on? It doesnt automatically make the air cold.

 

[whiskeytangofoxtrot]

It sucks because it robs power and makes the car lurch when it kicks on. I prefer to be able to hit the A/C button if the def. isn't doin' it's job, not have the car force me to use A/C all the time.

Thanks for the write up, I've been waiting for this one for a loooonnnnng time.

 

[rpvitiello]

My old focus did that (01 se) and my new one does not (02) ZTS and I HATE that it dose not. I honestly would rather have clear window to help avoid a crash, than a little more power.

Dose anyone know how to get it to work so the ac DOSE go on automatically on Foci that it doesn't already?

 

[NeonFocus]

whats to stop you guys from hitting the ac button to turn it on?

i dont like it on cause in the winter when i remote start my car from the house

i would like to have the defroster already set and that the windshield doesnt get hit with more cold air.

 

[Ray]

Dose anyone know how to get it to work so the ac DOSE go on automatically on Foci that it doesn't already?

depress the "ac" button.

 

[whiskeytangofoxtrot]

The A/C comes on automatically with the defroster on all Focuses. The light just doesn't come on on the newer ones.

 

[Kstrhypes]

i dont like it on cause in the winter when i remote start my car from the house

i would like to have the defroster already set and that the windshield doesnt get hit with more cold air.

Turning the a/c on DOES NOT produce cold air if you set the temp controller in the red zone. What it will do is dry the air and allow the defogger to work more better!

 

[BLUE_02_ZX3]

The A/C comes on automatically with the defroster on all Focuses. The light just doesn't come on on the newer ones.

This is not true
my g/f has a 2002 se and it does not do that
the deforster is a position for the air to blow not a whole nother system

if your in cold weather the a/c is going to do absolutly crap
but ive noticed that if you stick with warm air then eventually the windshield will clear
but the whole point for me is I DIDNT PUSH THE AIR CONDIONER BUTTON THEREFORE I DONT WANT IT TURNING ITSELF ON

last time i checked thats why there was a button so I could control its activation

and besides I dealt with it for a while and then i accidentaly found this out and now i am happy i did.

to each his own noone HAS to do this its all up to you

and im not sure how the air conditioning unit could dry the air out anymore than the manner in which the air is heated drys it out itself

the only thing the ac has going for it is the evaporator canaster and the refrigerant is what passes through that and it dries the REFRIGERANT the AIR and the REFRIGERANT never come incontact therefore the only thing that the ac does is passes the air through the ac condenser which has refigerated air passing trough tubes (much like the cooling system radiator) and in turn causes the air that goes into the car to be cold (depending on the amount and quality of your refigerant) so turning your air conditioner on is doing nothing but cooling the air. I dont see how the air conditioning and the heating are and different in any other manner than temperature

someone please correct me if im wrong

 

[Jimmy]

^^ Ok, my 2002 DOES turn the AC on, it just doesnt light up the light. (owner's manual tells you many interesting things)


Warming up air does NOT dry it out, warm air can hold MORE moisture than cold air (hence, when things get cold, they get moisture on them, because the air surrounding the cold item also cools off, and deposits its moisture).


And the AC does NOT automatically make air cold, it will accentuate whatever temp you have selected. Go ahead, during summertime, crank the temp into the red and crank up the AC...just SEE what happens (I've done it accidently, and it aint cool).

 

[Ray]

and im not sure how the air conditioning unit could dry the air out anymore than the manner in which the air is heated drys it out itself

the only thing the ac has going for it is the evaporator canaster and the refrigerant is what passes through that and it dries the REFRIGERANT the AIR and the REFRIGERANT never come incontact therefore the only thing that the ac does is passes the air through the ac condenser which has refigerated air passing trough tubes (much like the cooling system radiator) and in turn causes the air that goes into the car to be cold (depending on the amount and quality of your refigerant) so turning your air conditioner on is doing nothing but cooling the air. I dont see how the air conditioning and the heating are and different in any other manner than temperature

someone please correct me if im wrong

Warmer air can hold more moisture. By using the AC you chill the air, drawing out the moisture, then heat it (as desired) to dry stuff out.

 

[Jared]

allls i know is Warm Air + A/C on = faster defrosting.

in the winter when you remote start your car, it's not the A/C that makes the fogging worse, it's the fact that your defroster is spitting out cold air cuz the engine isn't warmed up yet

 

[Honkeytonk Monkey]

When it hits -40 here, it will take twice as much time to clear my windows inside if the AC is off. Either way it only takes a minute or so at most so I don't see the big deal. Just don't hop in your car directly after a shower

 

[Hocus Focus 2001]

actually, on top of all things, the ac WILL NOT cycle when the outside temp is below somewhere around 40, if it did, you would have some serious problems with the ac system. the extra fan might cycle, but thats not the compressor

 

[rpvitiello]

and im not sure how the air conditioning unit could dry the air out anymore than the manner in which the air is heated drys it out itself

the only thing the ac has going for it is the evaporator canaster and the refrigerant is what passes through that and it dries the REFRIGERANT the AIR and the REFRIGERANT never come incontact therefore the only thing that the ac does is passes the air through the ac condenser which has refigerated air passing trough tubes (much like the cooling system radiator) and in turn causes the air that goes into the car to be cold (depending on the amount and quality of your refigerant) so turning your air conditioner on is doing nothing but cooling the air. I dont see how the air conditioning and the heating are and different in any other manner than temperature

someone please correct me if im wrong

I have no problem with you modding your car to have more control over it, but I think you are modding your car because you don’t understand how the system works.

Have you ever noticed window Air Conditioners DRIP WATER! If your car is parked in the same spot for a wile with the ac going, haven’t you noticed the puddle of water on the ground? Also have you ever noticed AC dose NOT stand for Air Cooler, it stands for Air Conditioner. that’s because AC both removes moister from the air, and cools it at the same time. For people who want cool air this was a benefit, because dehumidified air feels cooler than humid air. that’s what hot and humid summer days feel so much worse than dry summer days. Its just the nature of air, the warmer it is, the more humidity it can hold, the colder it is the less humidity it can hold.

The idea behind using the ac in a car defrost is that it first REMOVES the moister from the air, and then HEATS the air to increase the amount of water it can absorb off your windows. By turning the AC off you make the system less efficient.

Also in the focus if the outside temperature is below a certain point no matter WHAT you do with the controls the AC will NOT turn on, that however dose not matter because of the second part of the system.

When you flip the knob to defrost in the focus, it automatically turns the re-circulating air off, and switches to outside cold air. In the winter it means it already has cold air to work with, which has less moister in it, so there is no dead to cool the air further. Defrost also switches over to outside air because of YOU. People breath out water vapor, remember breathing against cold class to fog it up? Well the same thing applies to inside your car, your not breathing RIGHT on the glass, but you are fogging it up. Because of this the car uses outside air which is usually going to have less moister that the air in the car.

Next time try this…

First try to defog your windows with the heat on but no ac, and if possible re-circulate on. It will probably take a wile for the car to clear. Once it dose clear turn the heat off, but leave the car closed up, you should soon have condensation again.

Next try and use the defrost as ford designed it, with the re-circulate off, and the AC on. You should notice it dose not take nearly as long to clear your windows at it originally did. Then turn the system off, this time you should also notice it will take longer for the condensation to re-appear. That’s because in this case you actually got rid of some of the water, whereas in the other situation, you just maid it possible for the air to handle more water.

As a note in my old focus where it lit up to tell you the AC was on with the defrost, you could hit the ac button and it would shut off. In the newer focus you have no way of telling if the AC is cycling on or not (other than maybe hearing it, or noticing a loss in “power” from it running wile you were accelerating) You also have no real way to override it if you REALLY wanted to. (as in want to use “defog” as a vent position when the car is not fogging, and don’t need the ac on because there is no water to remove) Also on my old car it only switched to re-circulate if you put the vent position fully on “defog” on the newer focus if you even put it on ½ floor and ½ defog it turns re-circulate off. This has no manual override either and can be somewhat annoying as well.

I would prefer the pre 2002 controls to the 2002 on controls. (not to mention on pre 2002 cars they don’t right “max AC” across the bezel to tell you to turn re-circulate on

 

[mikeyboy]

Re: DEFROSTER=AIR CONDITIONING(Some of you know what im talking

rpvitiello - that was an awesome write-up! yes! the heat will increase the amount of water vapor the air can hold, when it vaporizes the condensation that's fogging the windshield.

i'll cut it all short, however, and make this simple suggestion. turn your knob about 2 clicks away from defrost, and you get almost the same volume of air out the defrosters as you would with it turned all the way. and the A/C didn't kick on. when you want to.

then, when you want the extra kick with the A/C on, turn it all the way!

it goes to eleven!