Heater/AC blower motor, problem solving tips! (For motor with auto climate control)
Quite suddenly, my blower motor stopped working. I checked the fuse and it had blown. I replaced the fuse and it blew again. The blower motor was working at all speeds but it had always bothered me that even at full speed, it never really pumped out much air. I thought it must have been in the design.
I checked all threads on the forum and found that others had experienced similar problems, including reference to the blower resistor and even someone looking for a more powerful blower motor.
I pulled the blower motor and like others on the forum, found that it was really hard to rotate it by hand. Made sense to me that the extra power needed to rotate the motor meant a higher load or amperage, hence blown fuse.
Bottom line, apparently over a prolonged period of time, grease in the bottom bearing mixes with water following use of the A/C unit. The grease hardens and dries out. As a result, the bearing progressively binds until eventually it seizes. Normally, rotation of the motor actively ventilates the bottom bearing but the moment the motor stops turning, ventilation ceases. The problem arises when the blower is switched off while the A/C compressor was still operating. Condensation forms in the motor housing, collects and then drains down into the bottom bearing housing. Tip: Turn off your A/C and leave the blower on full for a minute to normalize temperature and dry out the motor housing.
A second cause of water in the bottom bearing may be from a leaky windshield or perhaps from a water leak associated with the dreaded wet carpet syndrome! I shall report on this later and document fixes for both of these as yet unsolved mysteries, even if I have to take out the whole dashboard!
If you are lucky, as I was, the first time you notice anything wrong is a blown blower fuse under the hood. If you are not so lucky, the increased amperage required to turn the motor may burn out one, any or all of the three blower resistors. This is easy to diagnose as the blower will not run on one, any or all of the lower three speed settings but will continue to operate at full speed. There is a solder type sprung resistor fuse which is part of the six sided blower resistor housing and which is designed to protect the three resistors. I have included two wiring diagrams with helpful pointers that should make it easier to diagnose any problems that you may be having. I understand that it can happen but is rare that the heater control switch also fails due to prolonged high temperatures at the contacts.
I went to Canadian Tire and with can of spray grease in hand in their parking lot was about to disassemble and lube the motor. Just then a guy parked beside me, took one look at the VX, got really excited and asked a bunch of questions. Turned out he is a mechanic who had done a lot of work on Isuzu Troopers. He recognized the blower motor immediately and said it was a common problem with the bottom bearing binding and even seizing. He recommended not disassembling it, as re-assembling without the special tools would likely affect alignment, resulting in vibration and noise. He said that a GM truck vented blower motor should fit. I did a quick internet search for GM blower motors but could not find one that would fit.
The solution therefore is to replace the blower motor with a new one or professionally rebuilt one. If you have been experiencing low air volume at the highest speed setting, you might wish to pull the blower motor and check to see if it is binding.
Now for the good news! I have located 20 new Isuzu NPR blower motors sealed in the manufacturer’s original packaging for a whopping price of USD $59.98! Originally, these motors cost around $200 to replace! Shipping is extra.
Available on eBay Canada at: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Genuine-Isuzu...-/160720180568
And on eBay USA at: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Isuz...-/160720180568
This guy is amazing! I live in Vancouver Canada and I made two separate orders for two of these blower motors on Friday May 22. I received both, on Tuesday May 26!
I can confirm that they are brand new and packaged in the original manufacturers packaging. They are a direct replacement for the original VX blower motor with the same harness connector type and position. The motor does spin in the opposite direction but so too do the fan blades so that air flow is in the correct direction.
Since the bottom bearing on my original blower motor was seriously binding, it must have been running slower than normal at full speed. When I installed the new motor, the volume of air at full speed was noticeably greater but surprisingly, the motor fan was much quieter!
If you need a new blower motor, I highly recommend this guy. He has 20 left and has already sold 320!
Sure is good to have cool air again and plenty of it! With the increased resistance and power drain of the original motor, I am hoping to see some better gas mileage with the new one! I can always dream!
Hope you find this helpful! Will update you on gas consumption :laugho:
Helpful photos:
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...uit_part_A.jpg
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...uit_part_B.jpg
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...tor_Access.jpg
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...r_and_Cage.jpg
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...ge_Removed.jpg
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...or_Housing.jpg
New Blower motor fixed another problem/symptom.
Thanks Ron and Tysamigo,
I just discovered another problem that went away after I replaced the Heater/AC blower motor.
My Astral has Auto Climate Control. With the temperature setting on cold, whenever I turned on the blower from off, straight to full speed, the Auto light to the left would come on, the AC compressor would fire up and air flow automatically switched to interior source only. It was as if I had turned the motor speed selector switch to Auto but I hadn't. I dismissed it as being a glitch in the onboard computer, annoying but I could live with it.
Today, I realized that the glitch had gone away and all speed settings and auto control functionality was faultless!
So I am guessing this could be another symptom of a blower motor with tight bearings?
Hope this helps.
