Dead fan / blower?

[rowhard]

Well, the manual is avaliable here for download. It is in a pdf format. Starts on page 97. Did you check the fuse?

[Yefim]

Thank! I did not realise that the manual is available here. Getting it now.

Yea, the fuse is the first thing I checked.

One thing I noticed - I had a passenger side leak for a while... and now when I have my whole dash taken appart, I started tracking it down. I put a hose on the passenger side and immediately noticed that the water is sipping in and right into the blower. So it has been getting in there for a while. I suspect that even though it seems to be spinning... something is still wrong there.

I will see if I can figure something out using the manual.

Thanks again.

[rowhard]

for sure water and electricity don't like each other much

[Ldub]

Thank! I did not realise that the manual is available here. Getting it now.

Yea, the fuse is the first thing I checked.

One thing I noticed - I had a passenger side leak for a while... and now when I have my whole dash taken appart, I started tracking it down. I put a hose on the passenger side and immediately noticed that the water is sipping in and right into the blower. So it has been getting in there for a while. I suspect that even though it seems to be spinning... something is still wrong there.

I will see if I can figure something out using the manual.

Thanks again.

Use a circuit tester where you unplugged the fan, to see if power is getting to that point.

[Triathlete]

Take the blower apart and clean it. That may solve your problem. If not there is a relay on the side of the blower assembly. Several have had that go out. The assembly is on the passenger side under the dash. You need to remove the glove box door (3 screws IIRC) and then the blower assemlbly has 3 or 4 screws.

[Yefim]

Blower resistor died. I bypassed it and the fan came alive. Autozone put an order for a new one - $65, what a ripp-off! Should be here on Wednesday.

Btw, I opened up that resistor (4 clips) and what happened is there is a "solder" type fuse there - basically when it gets too hot, the stuff mets and two contacts spring away and break connection. The casing states 'Do not repair" (no kidding, since they charge 65 bucks for that piece of crap) but I am wondering if I can just solder it back on :-) Well, I placed an order anyways, so maybe as a temporary use...

UPDATE: So just to check, I soldered the resistor back - I just heated it up with an gun and held the contacts together. Put it back, worked like a charm... initially... then I noticed that the blower is slowing down and finally stopped again. So I was thinking, the resistor got hot again and de-fused. Opened it up, nope, still holding up. So I am thinking the blower motor actually was dying (that's why it probably was getting hot in the first place) which makes sense since I had water getting in there apparently. So I guess what I really need to get is a new blower motor, not the resistor. I canceled my order, since the same would happen with a new resistor - glad I checked.

Triathlete By blower relay, do you mean the resistor that sits on the left from the blower motor? Or is there something else?

[rowhard]

any chance of oiling the bearing area? Also, if you know the ampere of that fuse, you can buy replacements at an good electrical shop. I sometimes melt mine in my coffee roaster and do this rather then send it back to the manufacturer

[Yefim]

It doesn't look like I can actually get into the motor, I srayed it a bit with a lubricant and I removed a screw and spraied some inside as well. Didn't help much though - it is working but makes annoying noise and definitely feels like it is struggling. Seems like water did some permanent damage there so I am pretty sure I will continue to burn fuses until I replace the motor. I read here that the new blower motor is $160... anyone knows if it is specific to VX or will the part from Rodeo/Trooper (year?) fit? Not sure where to get a used one.

[rowhard]

I don't know for sure, but bet it uses the same one as the trooper which would make sense and save you money if you don't mind salvage yard parts. You made it sound like it is pretty easy to remove.