Did the blower motor fry?

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irowiki
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Did the blower motor fry?

Post by irowiki »

Was driving up north this weekend to see the family (over Red Mountain Pass), and suddenly there was this horrible smell. At the time we were behind someone so I thought it was brake smell from him toasting his brakes (8% downgrade).

A few minutes later I noticed it was getting cooler inside the wagon, so I cranked the fan up, and noticed no noise at all from the fan. Turned it on and off again, and the only noise it was making was like radio static. No activity on any fan speed including maximum.

We opened the glove box, I put the air intake to recirc so we could see the fan, I turned the fan on, and on any speed it turned very slowly. Not enough to move any air, and wasn't causing any voltage drop.

Maybe that horrible smell was the blower motor going?

I don't think it is the resistor because high doesn't work, isn't the fuse because the motor does turn. Could it be the relay? I would think if the relay went the motor wouldn't turn either.

So if I'm looking at a new blower, is there a specific brand I should aim for? Rockauto has many different ones!
Last edited by irowiki on Mon Jan 06, 2014 9:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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dlb
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Re: Did the blower motor fry?

Post by dlb »

check the switch to turn the fan on and off first. i had mine go in my corolla and it had similar symptoms to yours, and it's much easier to replace. just remove the dash center console trim to inspect it and look for burnt connections at the plug. if it all looks fine, i'd agree it's the blower motor. there's a pic of what i mean here on the all trac forum.

http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-135 ... all/#num24
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irowiki
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Re: Did the blower motor fry?

Post by irowiki »

Interesting, so the switch would be bad, or the connector, or both? Are the wires to the resistor usually okay?

I'm guessing a switch would have to come from a parts car as I can't find it online!
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keith
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Re: Did the blower motor fry?

Post by keith »

If its a 4 brush motor, one brush could have lifted and this is the result. That motor cannot be taken apart with normal hand tools. It is also possible that something has gotten under the closed end of the squirrel cage and is dragging.
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dlb
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Re: Did the blower motor fry?

Post by dlb »

irowiki wrote:Interesting, so the switch would be bad, or the connector, or both? Are the wires to the resistor usually okay?

I'm guessing a switch would have to come from a parts car as I can't find it online!
yeah it could be the switch or the plug. just take a look and it will be obvious if something is amiss with either. i haven't found any problems with the wiring to the resistors, and i actually have never had any problems with the fan switch in tercels. i've only had problems with the fan switches in the late 80's/early 90's toyotas corollas and pickups but best to check easiest thing first anyway to rule it out.
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Re: Did the blower motor fry?

Post by Mr. Mad Ox »

I would think it's the motor, if a connector was fried like in that pic wouldn't there still be some change in blower speed?
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dlb
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Re: Did the blower motor fry?

Post by dlb »

not necessarily. the last time i had an issue with a fan switch, the fan would only barely come on no matter what speed i had it set to. another time, there was barely any output on '3'. so it depends on which wire is fried, and how badly.
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Re: Did the blower motor fry?

Post by Petros »

I would guess you sucked some trash or paper into the blower box, it got on the resistor and burned, perhaps damaging the resistor.

Usually if a motor goes it just stop working at once. the motors are pretty reliable, most last the life of the car, though they do occautionaly go out, it is the last thing I would replace. IOW, make sure it is actully the motor that failed before you replace it.

Any Japanese made replacement motor would be good.
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irowiki
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Re: Did the blower motor fry?

Post by irowiki »

I don't think anything got sucked in there unless it got sucked in from outside. The air control is always on Fresh.

Not been feeling well so will get to troubleshooting this soon.
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Re: Did the blower motor fry?

Post by larry mcgrath »

It's quite common for a pen or pencil to fall in to the defroster duct and jam up the squirl cage,had this happen 2-3 times Larry.
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marlinh
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Re: Did the blower motor fry?

Post by marlinh »

If you do pull out the motor you can check it by connecting it directly to a battery. The bearings could be bad on it. I have seen that before. Check the pins on the connector at the motor.

Or, with the recirc door open, and the key out of the car, you can use a pen or something to spin the squirrel cage to test if it is free to turn. Make sure you do not have the key in and don't use your fingers, for obvious safety reasons.
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Re: Did the blower motor fry?

Post by Vienna »

When we noticed the heater seemed dead, I stuck my phone down to where the fan was. I didn't realize the fan was right there in the glove box area at first, but we could see when we turned the fan on it would only spin slowly on all speed settings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuNmXd8F7jE
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Re: Did the blower motor fry?

Post by Gottolovem »

The fan definitely sounds sick.
It's not to difficult to pull the entire fan assembly then jump it directly to the battery to see if it will run full speed.
Let me know if you want me to get a junk yard fan for ya. (Entire assem)
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Re: Did the blower motor fry?

Post by Petros »

the whole blower box/air inlet is easy to remove. You remove the glove box and the speaker cover to the left of it and remove 4 or 5 10mm nuts and bolts holding it in place, unplug the wire and the heater control cable, and you can wiggle it out. from there you can remove the motor easy, bench test it, and inspect the resistor coils, clean out leaves, mouse nests, dead mice, etc. from the ducts ( I always disinfect the ducts when I have them out).

New blower motors you can get from Rockauto, or even Autozone or Napa (I think these motors were common to a lot of Japanese cars, I know our Honda CRX used an identical one with a slightly different mount). They are usually pretty reliable so wrecking yard blower motors are also a good bet.
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irowiki
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Re: Did the blower motor fry?

Post by irowiki »

Is Four Seasons any good? Seems to be a random maker of car parts but I can't tell where from.
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97 4runner, 275k
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