AC Blower

[prophetnite]

So today of all days my AC quite when I have a 5 Hour drive tomorrow.
All Fuses underhood check out. All relays check out, Swapped Power Window for Blower relay to check. You can hear the compressor kick on and air things change when you press the button for air flow position. But no blower action. Any easy checks/something to try?

[plee3]

You might need another blower You stated that ALL fuses are good right??? I would go to the blower with a test light and see if there is 12v there. If there is 12v there, you need a blower.

[foamypirate]

This is going to sound weird, but kick the blower housing. If it starts working, your brushes (in the blower motor) are on their way out and the motor needs to be replaced.

[prophetnite]

No funny sounds, how abouts do i get to the blower?

[osl]

No funny sounds, how abouts do i get to the blower?

The blower is located behind the glove box. It's held in by 3 screws. Before removing it, get a test light or DMM and see if you have power at the connector. If you do, you most likely ned a new blower. If you don't, you might need a new blower motor resistor, which is much easier to replace imo.

[prophetnite]

I cannot for the life of me get that thing out! Anything need to be unbolted that is often missed?

92 Accord LX

[batever]

This problem is most likely that the blower motor has stopped on a dead spot on the armature where the motor brushes are not in contact with the armature due to wear or possibly just a corroded contact. If the blower motor resistor were bad, then the blower would operate at full speed setting only, and not at lower speed settings.

Do Not start by pulling things apart!!! There is an easier way to diagnose/ temporarily fix/work around this problem.

(which I learned only by pulling the whole blower motor assembly and ductwork out of my car, where I could see the geometry of it. I hope I can save you the several hours of my life that cost me!)

If the blower motor is stopped on an electrical dead spot in the armature, then it just won't start at all at any speed--UNLESS you get the blower motor wheel to change position first, putting the brushes in the motor back into a position where they have good electrical contact.

All you need to do is to spin the blower motor by hand to get it past a dead spot so it will start. You can do this without disassembly. Heck, Foamypirate's "kick the blower motor assembly" could work. But here's a less aggressive, and more targeted approach that is also more reliable:


with car off:

1) look down at the bottom of the blower motor housing area. Use a flashlight. crouch down there from the passenger door side. You will see a small, like 4x4 or so, grille that faces forward towards you on the bottom of the assembly. Pop it off by hand. (or, there may be two screws facing the floor, i can't remember from my computer keyboard) The fan itself is inside that hole like 3 inches deeper in and one and a half inches up-- you have to reach in a bit, then an inch and a half up, then in a bit more, then slightly downto feel it, kind of like following the arrows in this diagram:

.......>>> blower wheel
...... ^
>>>>


don't put your hand in yet!!!!



2) make sure the fan switch is set all the way to OFF.

2.5) turn the car key so the accessory circuits have power. Or start the car.

3) Crouch down again with your flashlight and look at the bottom of the blower motor assembly area. Now press the recirculation button on the console to set the airflow to recirculate only existing cabin air, not take fresh air in. You will hear a motor go for like 3 seconds. And you will see a door open up. That's how long it takes for the air duct flap right underneath the blower motor to open up. This is the primary air intake point for recirculating cabin air and the blower wheel is only like 3 and a half inches away inside of that opening.

3.5) fan switch is OFF, right?? Or, for ultimate safety, turn the car off completely. okay, now reach in that opened blower motor door where the air flap opened up and feel for the fan. YOu reach IN, slightly UP, then IN again and down and you'll feel the blades of the blower wheel with your fingers. It's shaped like a ferris wheel/water wheel that you would be "looking at" from the side as it spins. Your fingers can touch the inside surface of the bottom of the "water wheel" and turn it a little bit. Just rotate the wheel a little bit in whatever direction suits your fancy. Note that the normal direction of rotation viewed from the passenger cabin is clockwise, but it doesn't matter which direction you turn it to get it past a dead spot. You only need to nudge it like half a centimeter or a centimeter to get it to a working starting position.


4. Remove your hand. Provide power to the accessory circuits by either turning the key to the "on" position or by starting the car. Turn the fan switch on. The blower motor will probably now start.

5) a new blower motor costs $130 at least. If you want, do what I have done and leave the grille off the bottom of the blower motor assembly and just spin the motor every once in a while when it gets on a dead spot and won't start, this will save you $130 and about 3 hours of your life saved in rep[lacing the motor and reinstalling the ductwork. I can spin the motor with my hand from the driver's seat of my car if I pull my seatbelt off. Typically, I do this at a red light after I realize the fan is not starting and when the car is in Park/Neutral and not moving forward.

danger: you WILL occasionally forget to turn the fan switch to OFF before doing this, in which case the fan will start when your fingers are touching it. OUCH! It will cost you a small amount of blood too, becuase it will bang the back of your hand against the housing. so take my advice with a grain of salt, always turn the fan to the "off" position first, and, ideally, make a "device" or stick that can reach in there and do it instead of using your fingers, for extra safety.

Eventually if the fan really starts to go I'll replace it, but I'll cross that bridge if I come to it and save the $130 (Autozone) replacement cost.


I have pictures that would help make it clearer, but I can't find my digital camera. So I hope the description is sufficient for you. I'm pretty sure you can do everything I described even with the glove box still in front of the assembly, but if not, removing the glove box and glove box frame is pretty quick. It's just in with, I believe, 3 screws.

[batever]

I cannot for the life of me get that thing out! Anything need to be unbolted that is often missed?

92 Accord LX

Like I said, I recommend not pulling the thing out at all and using my above "manual adjustment" procedure, but what you probably missed are a couple of the air duct bracket mounting screws against the firewall area. You actually have to pull the ducts out to get the blower motor assembly free. And to get the ducts out you have to remove those metal brackets that go all around the duct connections right next to the blower motor assembly.

BTW, putting all those ducts back together so they fit together right is a b@tch, and if you don't get them in there correctly then you will lose a lot of air at the loose duct junctions and won't get as lot of air out of your vents as a result. Especially if you didn't take pictures of all the brackets and such while you were disassembling (which I failed to do) Another reason I recommend trying the "manual adjustment" method first.

Again, I have photos (of the fully disassembled blower motor area) , but they are in the missing camera. Sorry.

[kronikally420]

awesome post

did you get it fixed?



i have this same problem

i have to say, im gonna kick it :P I laughed so hard when I read that, but then again i have another one i can swap out of my 90LX into my 93EX if i kick it too hard (surely it fits...)

[batever]

To kick it you have to be in the passenger seat. But once you learn to rotate it by hand it's more convenient, as you can do it from the driver's seat as long as you aren't belted in.

Well this thread popped back up. I thought I'd chime back in.

I spent like 30 minutes tonight removing my driver's seat to fix the adjusting tracks (it stopped adjusting in its tracks for some reason--it's ok though I got it working again even though I still don't know what exactly i did to cause it to work again!) and was in the mood for more with all my tools out so I finally put the ductwork back in correctly by the blower motor area, then (finally) put the glovebox back in my car and verified that I can reach the blower motor with it on. (as described in my post about 3 posts up)

So anyone who has a dead blower motor, you can delay ripping the ducts and blower motor out and replacing it.

Just remove the protective plastic grille off the bottom area of the blower motor housing, then you'll be able to turn the fan switch to off, then press the recirculation air button, then reach in and spin the blower wheel by hand to get it past the dead spot (of course, with the fan switch set to "OFF!").

I may do a writeup on the removal and reinstallation of the ducts. When I get time.