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White paper like particles blowing out vents


sleepysam22
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Good afternoon all....2019 Fusion with 1.5. This morning when I turned on my climate control it began to blow a large amount of what appeared to be small white paper like particles from the vents. This went all over the car. I immediately took it to ford and the service advisor said oh it's a dirty cabin filter. I found this quite odd as the vehicle has 18,000 miles but told them to replace it if that's the cause. Needless to say it seems to have resolved the issue. Has anyone had this issue or know about it?

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Sounds quite possible/probable to me.

I have a 2019 Titanium Edition, and I noticed a very limited amount of air coming through the vents a while back. Since I purchased this "CPO" car with less than 10k miles on it, I didn't know the history behind it, and I decided to change the cabin air filter; when I got the filter out, I could hardly believe the amount of collected crud that was lodged in the filter. There were small leaves, grass clippings, and great globs of cottonwood floss clogging the filter! And I garage the car every night! The filter I took out wasn't a Ford OEM factory unit, so it had been replaced at least once before I bought my one-year-old car.

 

The filter sits directly atop the blower, so I could easily see how an overloaded filter could sag right into the blower and get shredded to bits. When I was shopping for the replacement filter, the parts department guy said that a lot of people simply take out the filter and don't replace it, because it costs about $25 plus labor, and tends to get plugged up so easily. But that can lead to other more serious problems, so...  I didn't buy the Motorcraft replacement filter because of the price (even with a "good customer discount") so I went to WalMart and bought a Fram "Fresh Breeze" cabin air filter (Part # CF11775), and installed it myself.

 

My personal take on this: Learn how to do the job, and do it yourself. You'll know that it was actually done, and if YOU do it, you'll know how well it was done. It's a pain in the a$$ to access it but really isn't that difficult once you get the hang of it. Dealers will charge you to do it, since it's considered "maintenance" and not covered by the warranty. Good Luck!

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Thanks for your input. After filter replacement it still does this but it's intermittent. The particles look like small salt crystals and when you touch them it seems to turn into a powder type material. I'm hoping someone will chime in that has had this happen in the 2019 fusion and was able to get it resolved. Any certified Ford techs out here?? Thanks again

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Mr. SleepySam, have you looked at the location of the filter yourself?

It's located under the glove box at the extreme right of the dashboard. The filter panel is about 8" x 10" x3/4" thick. (don't quote my dimensions, please) The filter slides into a slot and sits horizontally directly over the entrance to the blower. When you (or anyone else) removes the old filter, there will be a load of detritus (AKA: Crud) on top of the spent filter.I advise do-it-yerselfers to stick a Shop-Vac nozzle in the area and suck out all the loose crap that doesn't come out with the filter. A lot of the crap can & will fall off the filter and land inside the heater-AC plenum and get blown through the system, and ultimately in your face from the dash vents.

If you (or anybody else) does the job on their own car, they're usually quite careful and picky about getting it done well; this ain't always the case at a dealership.  Frankly, I don't envision any dealer service tech taking his time and dragging out a Shop-Vac to do a pristine job on a customer car.

Okay, my Epistle is over; I think you probably had a little bit of loose junk still floating and flying around the insides of the heater-AC system, and it will likely fade away soon. Don't forget to swap out the filter sooner next time.

Good Luck!

 

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Well hoping your right but there also are issues with the evaporators flux flaking off and blowing into the vents. In fact ford has a TSB for it from earlier model edge's. Hopefully that's not the case cause it takes some serious vacuuming with compressed air and your right a service tech is going to probably care less about doing a decent job. Warranty labor on that TSB shows 1.4 hours. Appointment for Monday morning so we shall see what's found.

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Took car to ford and they were able to see the problem. It appears to be getting worse and they said they have not seen this on any fusions. They will be pulling the dash Monday morning to investigate. They gave me three possible scenarios.

1. Rodent damage

2. insulation came loose and going into blower motor. 
3. issue with evaporator.

I highly doubt its rodent related as there is no smell, it's intermittent and I store my 2019 mustang gt in the garage and it's rarely driven and has zero issues like this. I will report back once the car is fixed and what it was.

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Well folks got the bad news from ford. It is the evaporator and the entire dash has to be pulled. Evaporator has been on national back order for 6 months and the only way they can get 1 is if they order a whole box which we're waiting for ford to approve. If any of you experience this issue get your fusion into ford quick.

A8BC30E4-7EAA-4390-8714-55A355BCF3AE.jpeg

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304760C9-7D3F-4278-98FF-7EA88B9DB8E6.jpeg

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2 hours ago, sleepysam22 said:

Well folks got the bad news from ford. It is the evaporator and the entire dash has to be pulled. Evaporator has been on national back order for 6 months and the only way they can get 1 is if they order a whole box which we're waiting for ford to approve.

 

I started to experience the same problem recently, but my Fusion is from 2013 and it has around 102k miles already. So I guess if I'm not on a warranty then I would have to pay over $1k for the whole dashboard to be replaced?

 

2 hours ago, sleepysam22 said:

If any of you experience this issue get your fusion into ford quick.

 

I wonder what would happen if I just ignored that problem.

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Okay, now you have me wondering...

Just exactly what IS/WAS the white stuff?

 

Where did it come from... "the evaporator" is a small rectangular bit of aluminum honeycomb through which refrigerant flows, transferring thermal energy to surrounding air flowing around it.

Did some stuff begin flaking off the evaporator itself? It must have originated with the evaporator or the plenum housing because the incoming air is passed through the filter, which would trap any incoming particles... unless the particles were bits and pieces of the filter medium itself.

Could the evaporator be corroding and disintegrating? Have you ever sprayed anything into the outside air intake by the windshield, like some odor removers and air fresheners I've seen advertised: ("Ozium," "Febreze," "Cannabolish," or others, etc...)?

 

I'm really curious about this...

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And what if Ford do

9 hours ago, sleepysam22 said:

Well folks got the bad news from ford. It is the evaporator and the entire dash has to be pulled. Evaporator has been on national back order for 6 months and the only way they can get 1 is if they order a whole box which we're waiting for ford to approve. If any of you experience this issue get your fusion into ford quick.

A8BC30E4-7EAA-4390-8714-55A355BCF3AE.jpeg

AE2FBFCA-426A-40B6-BA5C-2E3B2C148C92.jpeg

304760C9-7D3F-4278-98FF-7EA88B9DB8E6.jpeg

And what if Ford doesn't approve?

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YIKES!

 

I can't see or feel it up close and personal, but it certainly looks like the aluminum is corroding.

Has anything corrosive to aluminum like bleach, ammonia, or other strong cleaning agents come in contact with your evaporator? Simple Green, or "Purple Power" come immediately to mind. What about those odor remover products, like Ozium and Febreeze sprays? Some of the "vehicle" of those sprays can attack aluminum., as can acidic substances.

 

I hope this works out for you... what are you driving while your Fusion is being de-Fused"?

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