the fix for my blower
I have solved the blower motor problem with my VX. The blower resistor had gone bad. If your blower motor stops working here are the steps I took to diagnose and correct the problem.
---DIAGNOSIS---
1) Check the fuses, including the main fuse (EB-16) and BLOWER fuse (EB-6) both located in the fuse/relay box under the hood. Between the battery and right fender.
If good move to next step
2) Check grounds, they will be a wire that's bolted to the body. One ground is located in the left rear of the engine compartment, on the inner fender panel. Just behind the windshield washer fluid reservoir. The other ground is located behind the right kick panel. Inside near the passengers floorboard.
If the grounds are tight/ wires are connected go to next step
3) Check blower motor for debris, the blower is located behind the glove box and can be removed by removing 4 phillips head screws from under the dash. The motor also has a two wire connector that needs to be unplugged. Clean the "squirrel cage" of any debris and give it a shot of lubricating spray. The motor can be tested by using jump wires connected directly to the battery. (jump wires are any short lenth of wire that usually has alligator clips on each end)
If the motor is clean and works by direct energizing move to next step.
4) Check blower resistor, located behind the glove box. First , release the glove box door by pulling the side walls of the glove box inward untill the entire glove box assembly can swing down. This exposes 4 10mm bolts 2 on each end of the piano hinge that holds the glove box. Remove these bolts. Directly behind the metal support you just removed is a six sided device with a large connector plugged into it and two phillips head screws holding it in place this is the blower resistor. Remove the screws and remove the resistor. By testing you can detirmine if the resistor Is bad.
With all the connecters (exept the resistor) in place, the blower in place and the VX RUNNING. Begin grounding the spades inside the connector that came from the resistor, ground with a jump wire or test light. The fan control switch applies ground to the blower resistors for the desired blower motor speed. as the blower control switch moves from OFF to position 4, resistors are bypassed. as the resistance to ground is decreased, blower speed increases. when the blower switch is in position 4, all the resistors are bypassed and the blower motor runs at the highest speed. Laymans terms the motor always has power and is turned on by adding ground, the resistor only allows a little ground for low and more ground for the higher fan speeds. Beside the spades on the resistor are letters L= low, ML= med.low, MH= med. high and H=high speeds. As you ground the L (low speed) spade make sure the blower switch (on the dash) is in the low speed position ( one position past off) the blowwer motor should blow at the lowest speed. move through spades ML, MH, and H making sure to move the blower switch according to the speed your testing. If the blower blows at all speeds this means the resistor is bad. The resistor cannot be fixed but can only be replaced. The part # is 8-97234545-0 and costs around $40.
To test the blower control switch (on the dash), I simply turned it on with the A/C button pushed and listned for the A/C compressor to engauge under the hood.
This HOW-TO was done on my 1999 VehiCROSS, but I'm unsure as to whether it will work on the 2000-up models due to the automatic A/C controls. My GUESS is it will but, I'm not sure
Cool again in Tennessee, carlymac
carlymac '99 IRONMAN , #0278, Hendersonville, Tn.