Where is the cooling system (vent/bleeder) on a 1996 ford explorer?

a blown head gasket

suspect a blown hose, heater hose probably behind the engine. now when you fill it back up you have to bleed the air out of the system and the bleeder valve is usually a brass screw close to the area of the thermostat... find the leak first and foremost or catastrophic engine damage can and will occur

you have a vacuum leak in the selector switch for front heat explorers had similar problems

CHECK FOR LOW COOLANT,NOT ENOUGH COOLANT IN THE SYSTEM.IF COOLANT LEVEL OKAY.THERMOSTAT NEED CHANGING STUCK OPEN.IF THERMOSTAT BEEN REPLACED.CHECK BOTH BOTH RADIATOR HOSES AND HEATER CORES HOSES THEY ALL SHOULD BE VERY HOT.IF ALL HOSES HOT AND BOTH HEATER CORES HOSES GOING INTO FIREWALL IS HOT.HEATER DOOR NOT OPEN ALL THE WAY OR STUCK.IF ONE OF THE HEATER HOSES GOING INTO FIREWALL HOT AND OTHER HEATER HOSE COMING OUT OF FIREWALL NOT HOT.MORE LIKELY HEATER CORE PLUGGED NEED TO FLUSH OUT COOLING SYSTEM.FLUSH OUT COOLING SYSTEM IF NOT BEEN DONE IN A LONG WHILE.

im not sure if you mean the blower is'nt working or if you mean the blower is working but the air is cold so I'll try to answer both, if the blower is'nt working it is possibly a bad fuse, the fuse panel may list it as the heater or it may say blower, now if its blowing but the air is cold it is most likely a bad thermostat, sometimes the heater core goes out but if you havnt noticed the window fogging on the front windshield on the passenger side or smelled coolant in the cab of the vehicle the heater core is probably fine , the thermostat is a common culprit and they are fairly easy to change, one other thing before you go changing anything, check to make sure the radiator is full, with the car cool take the radiator cap off and run the car until it starts to get warm and see if you can add some coolant

Thermostat.? if you haven't? Do it first then try it. While the car is running for a while touch the heater hoses that lead to the firewall. if one is cold and one is hot? You have a blocked Heater core. Follow the hoses back to the engine. Unconnect them both. By using a garden hose flush out the heater core do one side and then reverse by doing the other hose Lots of junk will come out so be care ful. Mistake people make is "Flushing the system" That doesn't mean your flushing the heater core.
Seeing that you have done everything else it could be the thermostat which you didn't list or the heater core being clogged. When you finished installing the thermostat and flushing the heater core out. Replenish the coolant system . If you have a bleeder on the thermostat housing? use it . loosen it and top off the fluid until you see fluid comeout of the bleeder. The system being air bound would cause no heat..

try changing the thermostat for starters.

Check the coolant level, and flow to the heater core. You can check the flow by seeing how hot the heater hoses are. If they are getting flow and coolant level is ok, then you may have an air pocket in the cooling system, these have a bleeder on the t-stat housing to allow you to bleed the air out of the cooling system. If this is ok, then you may have a faulty temp blend door, blend door actuator, or cable.

ok, i had the same issue, your thermostat is stuck open, or you need to check cooling system and the color of coolant, maybe try a flush, go to parts store and get some acid cleaner for flushing your cooling system.....good luck!

The system just needs to get all the air pockets out if you switched everything like you said look around where the radiator hose meets where you put the thermostat in, there should be something on the lines of a little nipple with a 8 mm bolt on it i will have to pull up the exact setup of your Taurus but its the same general concept your car is fine you just have a big air pocket , what else you can do is while its cold right now and the car isnt running is to go take the radiator cap off the radiator and see if the antifreeze is low now that the car has cold down since you last ran it. If so feel it up top it off in the radiator and it might hurp it self and remove the air pocket all on its own... If you need any more help feel free im always on here id be glad to help more in detail once you try that and look under the hood for the bleeder ( the thing with the nipple on it) Also if you could please rate me i would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Steve