BlaineBug

https://fordtransitconnectforum.com/topic/8303-what-is-this-bag-of-absorbent/?_fromLogin=1 These are the foam filled blag bags!

THESE BAGS are filled with miscellaneous colored foam pieces, which if the bags get a hole in them, WILL FIND THEIR WAY INTO YOUR BLOWER MOTOR! Ask me how I know! https://fordtransitconnectforum.com/topic/8863-solution-blower-fan-noise-dash-vibration-and-mice/?tab=comments#comment-42444

I gotcha. The opening for that glove box door almost looks reminiscent of the 2013 Transit Connect, I could be wrong as it has been awhile since I've seen them.

Your cabin filter appears to install in a totally different orientation than my Father's 2014 which installs in a vertical installation (or perhaps your TC is a pre-2014 model?) I did find the source of this FOAM though, there are 2 black bags which are stuffed with miscellaneous pieces of foam of different sizes and colors in each of the front fenders, closer to the doors, in-between the door hinges and the wheel wells. I ripped them out and removed them from his van and noticed the black bag on the driver's side did have a hole in it allowing foam to escape. I'm not sure how the foam is making its way into the air intake ducting from the fenders though? These black bags filled with foam must be there for some sort of sound insulating purpose and are slightly adhered to the inside of the fenders, so you will likely tear the black bags if you so choose to remove them. For the last year or so his HVAC blower motor blades have been catching a few pieces of foam causing a vibration when set to the highest fan speed. I have changed the cabin filter at least 2 times thus far since reading this thread and have pulled out foam each and every time. Maybe this problem will stop now, unless there are residual left over foam pieces still inside of the ductwork somewhere! Also it appears that the cabin filter is in-between the blower fan and the evaporator, so any exterior debris can still get caught in the fan blades before they reach the cabin filter. It would be nice to filter before the fan blades but I suppose they couldn't find the room in the vehicle to do that and had to put the cabin filter where it is. Luckily the vehicle's HVAC system can be set to recirculate, turned off, and the recirculation door will remain open so that the debris can be pulled out easily enough with an extendable reach grabbing tool with the glovebox removed from the dashboard.

I thought of this foam too but it's too small. These chunks in the blower fan wheel were larger, and also different colors too. And I found some under the hood too, just a very tiny amount but it looked to be the same stuff. Broken up chunks of similar size.

SOLD - please delete.

My Father's 2014 Transit Connect developed the vibration when the blower motor fan is on speed 3 or 4. Yesterday I finally had a chance to rectify the issue. I removed the glove box and turned the blower fan on with recirculation on which opens the recirculation door and allows easy access to the blower fan blades without removing the blower motor itself. If you turn the car OFF the blower fan will turn off and the recirculation door will remain open until the next key start. I didn't use a vacuum cleaner but used a flexible grabber for grabbing dropped bolts and such and pulled out a variety of small pieces of foam. I also found a small mount of these under the hood. I am not sure if it was from birds or mice. This is NOT the insulation from the front wheel well liners, so I am not sure what it is from. My question is, how does this get by the cabin filter? I just replaced his cabin filter a few months ago in September and replace it annually. Wouldn't any foreign debris introduced from the outside get stuck on the cabin filter before reaching the blower fan wheel?

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I'll check the voltage soon, possibly this coming weekend. I know strange things happen but I would imagine that the relay would be stuck 24/7 and not only when turning on the defroster via the switch. As in, the contacts would be welded closed. However if the window isn't heating then I can't imagine that's the case. It's also possible that the shattered window is a coincidence. Oh, and did I mention, he had a 2013 Transit Connect with barn doors and had one of the 2 rear windows in that one shatter as well. In the 2013 it shattered very early in the morning when the rear defroster was on. In the 2014 it shattered once while driving with the rear defroster on, and once while the van was parked in the middle of the night with the ignition off. He's had more windows spontaneously shatter between the 2 Transit Connects than I've ever heard of. He also doesn't haul anything for work that bangs into the glass. The 2 vans he's had have simply been daily drivers, not used in the trades.

Thank you. I'll check this out next for him. I do know that the rear defroster light on the dash does go off after some amount of time. Would there be a possibility that the glass element is still heating even when the light is off? Someone at Safe Lite told my Father that they heard about these vans having the rear defroster stuck on causing the shattering, like you have suggested. However I searched for quite some time and only found results pertaining to the F150's rear window shattering, not the Transit Connect. My guess is there are more non-window panel Transit Connect vans than there are Transit Connect vans with rear windows. Or, this is a fluke, and the guy at Safe Lite was misinformed.

While doing some service on his van yesterday including the front brakes, I finally tracked down the source of this rear end clunk. Just as I suspected, it was tailgate related! This would be hard to see otherwise. In a desperate attempt, I removed the two torx fasteners that hold the body side latch to the floor in the tailgate area. Low and behold, one of the two rubber "bumpers" that wedge the tailgate latch had slipped off and was sitting beside the body side latch, under the plastic trim. It's somewhat difficult to describe, but these two rubber bumpers keep the tailgate latch wedged tight and unable to wiggle. Since one of them had fallen off, the tailgate was wobbling around and the noise we heard was the play created between the body side and tailgate mounted latches. He believes the noise began ever since he had the rear window replaced the FIRST time. It's my thought that Safe Lite was probably vacuuming up glass and may have bumped into these bumpers, one of which slid off. As I said, my Father had to have the tailgate glass replaced twice. He doesn't use the rear defroster anymore and the glass hasn't shattered. Would there be any reason why the rear window defroster would cause the rear glass to spontaneously shatter on two separate occasions in less than 3 years of vehicle ownership? Anyway, the tailgate is finally clunk free. What a relief.

You know that could be it too, I suppose that would offer a noise similar to an anti-sway bar that was loose. I recall taking a look at the rear control arm bushings and not seeing anything obvious but I never checked the bolts to check their torque. I will be sure to do that. Like I said this van has NO rear anti-sway bar.

Thanks. I'll let you know when we investigate further this spring.

This spring we will be looking in to it more again. I can't imagine that cable against the steel wheel of the spare to make such a racket. It sounds like the tailgate to me but I can't imagine exactly what is causing the problem. Hinges or latch would probably produce the majority of the noise that would be similar to the sound of a loose anti-sway bar joint. But everything was tight......maybe I need to loosen all of the attachment points and then re-torque again.

It's a 5 passenger van. 60/40 rear bench with two front buckets. It is definitely not the seats. Folded forward or secured in normal fashion there's no difference. Also I highly doubt it's the safety cable for the spare tire. The sound is far too loud to be the cable slapping against the rubber tire.

Well, now email notifications are working. Nonetheless, I've lowered the spare tire all of the way down, unhooked it, checked everything. Removed the jack and all of its accessories in the driver's rear quarter panel. Nothing is loose in there. It definitely does "sound" as though it is tailgate related, but last summer when we were all together with two rear passengers, the passenger on the driver's side second row said they felt as though it was coming from beneath them or in that general area. Not only does the clunk sound reminiscent of a loose or worn anti-sway bar joint, it also sounds like a loose door latch. However, the tailgate's wiper motor and latching mechanism are all secure. The tailgate hinges are tight. And we have been through the tailgate multiple times for one reason or another. Two rear window replacements by Safelite, the tailgate handle/fascia that holds the rear view camera broke off as well, and then removing the interior plastic panel on at least two or three other occasions to have a renewed peek inside. The only thing I haven't done yet are to remove the tailgate's gas struts and try it like that for a test drive. Since it's not my vehicle I don't often have access to it.

Hi everyone and I apologize for my 2+ month delay to response. This forum's email notification system apparently does not work so I had no idea that there were not any responses. This clunk does sound somewhat reminiscent of what an anti-sway bar that is worn out or loose would sound like and was one of the first things I attempted to check - but I found that this van does not have a rear anti-sway bar. We have also taken the tailgate apart three times to look inside. The first time was to replace the tailgate handle/decorative fascia piece when it snapped off. We removed the interior plastic panel on two other occasions attempting to track down anything loose within and can't find anything. I DID find that the interior and exterior sheet metal are glued together from the factory and were separating. I thought that this might be causing the noise so I added some torn up rags to act as an isolation buffer between the two halves where the glue had come loose, which did not change anything audibly. I've also jiggled the tailgate when it is both open AND closed and nothing that I have heard sounds anything like the noise inside when you are driving. We have not driven it with the tailgate open, though. Is it possible one of the rear shocks would be making this sound internally? All of the rear shock bushings are in good shape, though, so the sound would have to be internal to the shock. Which I have not experienced before. As far as the rear window shattering twice, one of the men at Safelite glass said that he heard something about some Fords including the F150 trucks having an issue where the rear defroster never turns off once you turn it on, even though the light on the dashboard will turn off. My Father says that the two times the window has shattered, he had used the rear window defroster recently. Since the last glass breakage he now refuses to use the rear glass defroster, and it hasn't shattered again. Don't forget, he also had another 2013 Transit Connect that had one of the rear glass windows shatter while he was driving down the road. The 2013 model had the dual swing out rear doors so it had two smaller pieces of glass, versus his 2014 that has one big piece of glass instead. Both of his vans, the 2013 and 2014, were the passenger vans with seating for 5 and windows all around. The 2013 was totaled when it was rear-ended in November of 2017.

My Father has a 2014 Transit Connect that has the most annoying, non-stop clunking coming from the rear end. What has been done? The tailgate glass has been replaced twice from spontaneously shattering while parked in his driveway on two separate occasions now. What have I inspected? I have checked the jack's mounting location. I have lowered the spare tire and checked to make sure that it is secure. I have disassembled the tail gate twice now to check for a loose lock actuator or windshield wiper motor. I have inspected the rear end, bushings, springs, shocks, brakes, etc. I can't find the source of the clunking but yet the clunking continues! Has ANYONE experienced anything similar? I've searched quite a bit and come up with nothing in regards to this issue. In my opinion it does sound like something is clunking within the body, although it is hard to say for sure. There is nothing suspect and the van does have less than 60,000 miles presently. This clunk has been ongoing for probably over a year now as well. Just decided to post about it because I can't find the source and am at my wit's ends.