76 450 SEL -- A/C power; Radio Aerial Power
 

I have restored this car to almost "new" condition, but still have problems with electrical power to the A/C and the Radio aerial.

The A/C worked fine on Hi/Lo for awhile and then mysteriously stopped working on the normal Climate control Hi/Lo cooling basis. However, it does come on High with fine cooling in the Defrost mode only! I have tried to check all the power connections in the dash module and on the outside CC control module, but to no avail. All fuses appear to be OK.

The aerial will not move up at all; when I attached it to an outside 12V power source (the battery) it gave off some clicking sounds, but would not move out of it's shell !!

Any ideas for diagnosing these problems?? Thanks, Ben Carter

Ben:

Check the vacuum supply to the amplifier module behind the glove box. No or very low vac (probably a cracked line in the engine compartment, the green plastic ones) will cause a no blower condition on that car.

you should also examine the heat control servo -- if the plastic body is cracked and shows signs of leakage, you need a rebuilt one (the one with the aluminum body is best) AND a new amplifier -- the short in the bad servo usually fries the amplifier, too.

The clicking in the antenna motor is a stripped mast "tail" or a broken gear. The mast will just pull out if it's stripped after you remove the bezel at the fender. Try "helping" it will a pair of pliers when someone turns the radio on with the ignition on, it may come at least part way up then.

If it's locked up tight, I'd look around for a used motor, the new mast is fairly cheap ($35 or less) and there are plenty of motors out there. A new one is only $150 or so last time I looked (probably more now, though....)

Peter