Ford: heating and air, ford taurus, noticable difference

Question
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Followup To
Question -
Hi there,
I know that your profile says 86-95, but I think this may be general enough to not be year specific.2 questions:
#1:I have a 97 Ford taurus with 155,900 miles. Last winter the heater stopped working normally and began to only work after driving the car for 10 minutes, now that it is summer I have tried the heater many times and it doesn't seem to be working at all now...any suggestions? (although I have not left it running for any period of time because its already hot outside)
#2: My air conditioning was working great until I left it sitting for 2 1/2 months while I was out of the country.  I come back and it is barely working and then stops all together.  I get the topside hose replaced after it was declared the problem and recharged with freon.  One week later the air stops being as cool as it should be and has continued to lose coolness over the last week.  I was warned when I picked the car up after spending $395 on this work that often with a car with this many miles and with new hoses and seals that the compressor can go out.  Is this what it could be?  What are the symptoms of a compressor gone bad?  Also, when I still turn the air on, I still lose power to the engine, which is usual when I run the air and I am assuming that this is the compressor working.  HELP ME?????
Thanks!
Monte
Answer -
Does you fan seem to be blowing the air out of the vents?
I am not sure...air comes out of the vents just fine in both air and heating, it appears for the heating that nothing is there to heat the air. For the air conditioning, it has just lost coolness over the week and a half after I picked it up...worked great for a week and then began to feel a noticable difference.  I have taken it back to the shop to have them check it...but wanted to have someone elses opinion before they ask me to replace or spend a whole lot more money.  Any suggestions on either the heat or air would be great.
THANKS!

Answer
There are many items that can cause this sort of problem and no that we have elimnated the fan.  The next logical places to check would be the thermostat, the seals on your air conditioning system.  Or it could be as simple as a broken thermo switch on the dash. I would check all of these.  You can check most on your own.  Check around your air conditioning system for any sign of leaks, Take your thermostat off your engine and drop it in a pan of boiling water if it opens it is good.  (It should be closed when removed).  As for the switch check that you change it that the temp actually adjust on both heating and air conditioning.  If it adjust the level of heat/cool on either it is okay.