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Hello,
I live on the US East coast and with winter, I need to use the A/C heat.
But about 2-3 weeks ago, my A/C fan suddenly stopped working: it's not blowing air in the car anymore, regardless of where I turn the fan knob (from position 1 to the max).
When I drive and turn the temperature wheel to the "hot" position, I can feel some hot air coming through the vent, but that air comes from the driving, not from the fan.
If the car does not move, no air comes in.
Could someone tell me what's causing this? And perhaps if it's a fix I can do myself?
My DIY skills is basic: I did repairs such as changing the coils/candles and the ignition coils once.
I've never done electric or fuse fixes.
Note:
I did briefly look at the main fuse box located in front, all fuses are solidly in place. But my check was limited because I don't have tools to check the fuse state,
and I'm not sure which fuse number(s) to seek because I don't know what's the technical name of the part at fault.
get yourself a cheap tester $10.00, you can at least test the fuses, and get an assortment of fuses 5,10,15, in case you need to change one of two. always good to have some extra, invest under $20. then search your problem, you will surely find some answers, and get an better idea what is potentially causing your problem
After several hours of search, I suspect now the problem is likely with either the blower motor or the blower motor regulator.
It's a hunch based on the fact that when I opened the panel under the passenger gloves box, the foam attached to it was wet.
Based again on my research, seems like the root cause are the water drain holes that are probably not very clean and may have debris that clog them a bit.
But for now, I'd like to replace the regulator first to see if that fixes the problem.
So I removed the blower motor part alongside with a metal piece that has bunch of "pins" on one side. That part is attached to the blower motor by by red/blue wires (see photos).
I've cleaned all the parts, and the motor fan is spinning fine.
Q1: Is that metal chunk on the left side of the pics what people refer to as blower motor regulator or resistor?
Q2: Do the wires looks good / bad ?
Q3: I'm going to make a guess that it is the metal piece (or it's wires) that's not working fine, and simply buy a new replacement part.
How do I disconnect the wires or separate that piece out from the blower motor so I can install the new part?
Doesn't seem like I can disconnect the two parts solely by hands...
Update (it's been a while, with the cold here things got slow...): A mechanic tested my blower motor 2 weeks ago and told me he was able to make it work. He said my resistor was blown (that can be seen in the blue discoloration on the previous photos).
So I bought a new resistor from Mahle and reinstalled everything back. The resistor came with 2 new red/blue wires, but I used the old ones because they looked Ok and one of them was hard to remove anyway from the blower motor and I didn't want to break it.
Result: unfortunately, the fan is still not working, it's still not blowing air. One new difference though: each timeI turn it on, I do hear a "light bump" sound from where the blower motor is located.
Not sure what else could be broken but I'm thinking this: Could it be that the connector of the wire coming from the car, that connects to the 3 pins of the burned resistor (see below photo), might be damaged as well?
If so, what's the official name of that wire/connector part so I may buy it online and search how to replace it?
Just an update as things have been slow, and took care of other more important mechanical issues and survived without the fan.
So I installed a brand new resistor and I got heat back now when driving fast enough, but the fan is still not working.
My mechanics looked at it and said it's likely a short-circuited wire issue behind the dashboard. Unfortunately, the wires have been messed up and he's been busy fixing more important stuff on my car, so we decided to revisit the issue during the summer.
I will update when the time comes.
12-27-2020, 03:04 PM
