Blower Resistor
Gracious good afternoon! I know it has been a while since the last post. I hope this one will keep us rolling in the right direction. Today’s problem was a bit on the fun side. I noticed when I had any of my internal climate controls on, the blower only worked when it was full blast. This was caused by a bad Blower Resistor like the one shown above. It does not look like much, but when you have this problem, it can make trouble. This little guy can make it so your cabin temperature is no longer adjustable, and since it only works on the highest setting, it can be noisy enough to drown out the music.
Replacing the part
By a wonderful coincidence, our mechanic in training just happens to be studying electrical problems in school. I Absolutely love it when things line up like this. So, Step one was to get the plastic cover off. The offending part was under the passenger side dash behind the glove box. The cover just had some of the friction pinch connectors to hold it in. We did take out two small bolts in error before we discovered the snap in connectors. No biggie, we just put them back where we got them. After removing the cover, replacing the resistor was pretty easy. It had two more 7/32 bolts holding it on and a plug with a finger release on it. Luckily the replacement we ordered fit nicely. Before we put everything back together, we tested to make sure everything worked. Since the old part made a rattle noise, we wanted to be sure that the rattle was gone and we did not need to order a blower motor as well before putting the covers back to save work later. Great news, no need to order more parts. It was also a wonderful day to be out working with my favorite mechanic on a beautiful fall afternoon. Have a great week folks!