Blower Resistors

[Lawrence Coppari]

My blower quit working except for speed 4 this morning. Figured it was the resistor bank. I removed them and attached an ohm meter across each resistor. There are 4 of them. None was open. Looking more closely I noticed there are two little thermostats on the fixture. I put the ohm meter across prongs 1 and 2 and noticed the circuit was open. I nudged the thermostat with a dental pick, and the ohm meter began reading. The thermostat had a dirty contact in it. They are stamped 110 C so I imagine that is their setpoint. The airflow in the blower keeps them cool - a good reason not to let leaves clog up your blower inlet especially on the driver's side where the resistors are located. Speeds 0 - 3 are now working. Hopefully for a long time. I first sprayed with Gumout, then an airhose, then a contact cleaner which smells like some kind of alcohol.

I don't know what a resistor bank costs but it is probably more than a few dollars.

[Scott R]

My used part guy wanted $50! For one. I fixed mine in the end but all I had was bad contact. I wonder if you can get those thermisters from Radio Shack.

[ch944]

Thanks for a cure for a boring Sunday. I to had no 1-3. Thanks again.

ch944

[Lawrence Coppari]

I'm wondering why mine was so dirty. As I think back, I have had an oil leak for over a year - from the oil pan. It gets on the crossover pipe to turbo, dripping there overnight. When the car stops at a certain light in the morning (before all oil burns off crossover pipe) on the way to work, the smoking oil comes up through the engine compartment and gets picked up by the blower - terrible smell early in the morning. Some of the oil vapor condensed on the thermostat in the resistor bank. That is how it got so nasty/oily.

Surprising how one thing leads to another.