Ford Repair: Climate control fan speed, crown vic, climate control

Question
On an 05 Crown Vic LX, the climate control, when in automatic mode, the fan will most of the time run in high speed even though the fan control wheel is at its lowest setting. Sometimes (seldom) it will run normal and ramp up when first running and then go to low after temp is reached. What part needs to be replaced? Ran the CD most of the time instead of radio and face of climate control panel next to fan wheel got very hot to touch. Did this damage something?

Answer
When in auto mode, the system will control fan speed according to the sensor and system inputs. You can override this by adjusting the fan speed manually. I cannot tell you what you are experiencing is a problem, sounds like it is working in auto as designed. You can also control the fan speed by changing the temp setting of the auto control.

The control panel will get hot to touch, this is normal due to the illumination and electronics of this unit.

Auto climate control on your vehicle is generally diagnosed with a scan tool that can retrieve codes and data. There is a manual test, but it is too involved for me to post it here. And you would need a list of the codes and procedures, or the code is worthless.