Hey Guys,
Long time reader first time poster. Wonder if any of you guys/gals would have an educated guess on what is happening with my car. I own a 02 Taurus SEL. I bought it new 10 years ago and just love this car.

Anyways, what has been happening for a few days now is that my heater will just pop on by itself and blow hot air in the middle of summer,,,just great. I noticed this morning that while it was blowing hot air the radio was also unreponsive, i could not turn it on. Also when it blows the hot air it comes out of the defrost and foot area. This is not where i had left it the previous night due to running the a/c out of the panels. If i turn the a/c on while this is happening, the dash looks like the a/c came on but hot air still comes out of the defrost. WTH? The SEL edition is all button on the dash i have no ***** to turn. I hit the off button and hot air continues to blow out. It's crazy. Any ideas from the smart masses here? lol

Whats interesting about this situation is that it comes and goes, when i walk out for lunch later i will be able to turn on the a/c just fine. but when its time to go home, the heater will be stuck on again. its insane.

anyone ever heard or encountered anything like this before?

 

This will require further checking to confirm, but there is a GEM (generic electronic module) that controls some of those functions and when it acts up some weird things take place.

 

Thanks for your reply sir!

 

I have a used older Taurus ('96), and when I first got it, my fan would stay on in vent mode when the switch on the panel was @ "off"...My mechanic replaced the fan switch, and I think it's elsewhere in the car, and not incorporated in the panel controls...