QuestionQUESTION: I have replaced the blower moter resister in my 1999 convertable Sebring on Saturday and by this morning it was not working again, any sugestions?
ANSWER: Hi Tina,
Yes, you could try dropping the blower and motor out of the housing and lubricating the shaft of the motor with some light oil to reduce the friction of the motor shaft/bearing interface. That excessive effort being made by the motor is probably drawing excess electric current through the resistors in the resistor block. If you look on the underside of the HVAC unit you will see some screw around the round bottom of the blower/motor housing. Remove those and the unit will drop out. Then examine it for any place you can lubricate it and see if it them spins more easily. You could remove the blower wheel from the motor and that should give you access to one end of the motor shaft where you call apply oil. Then see if there is another spot at the top of the shaft.
Reassemble, get a new resistor block and see if that solves the problem. The alternative is to but a new motor so that would be a more expensive solution and require the same disassembly.
Please "rate" my answer (see below).
Thanks,
Roland
PS: Another couple of thoughts, Tina. Be sure that none of the resistors in the new resistor block are touching one another when you install it. And of course be sure to put it in the hole in HVAC box shere it is intended to be located at as the air moving past is will cool it so as to prevent premature burn out. Finally, you might measure the operating voltage of the charging system (measure the voltage across the battery with the enginen warmed up and revving to maybe 2,000 rpm). If the voltage was allowed to run higher than spec that could cause too much current through the resistor block/motor and lead to failure of the block. I would be concerned if it was running above 15v.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: COULDN'T FIND HOW TO THANK YOU, SO I'M SENDING IT THIS WAY. I CHECKED THE VOLTAGE AND IT WAS AT 15 ON THE BATTERY. SO I PURCHASED ANOTHER RESISTOR AND BLOWER MOTOR JUST IN CASE BEFORE I TOOK THE OLD ONE OUT. ALL THOUGH IT WS A LITTLE DIFFICULT GETTING THE WIRING DONE, IT DID THE TRICK AND I NOW HAVE HET ON ALL FOUR SETTINGS. THANKS SO MUCH. I AM TELLING EVERYONE ABOUT THIS SITE.
AnswerHi Tina,
Thanks for the follow-up report and kind remarks, and rating/nomination.
The control of the voltgae is done by the powertrain control module (engine computer) and the range of control values is supposed to be 13.4 to 14.8V so 15V would likely still be not too much as to put a strain on the resistor block. The accuracy of the meter is probably such as to also not rule out that it actually is around 14.8V at the highest. So we will think positive now about this being no longer a problem for you!
