I have a 2001 Jeep Wrangler with a standard heater -- four speed blower motor. Several months ago, position 3 for fan speed stopped working. If I played with the switch, I could get it to come on, but that only worked for awhile. Oh well, positions 1, 2, and 4 worked...so I dealt with either too much air blowing or not enough. No biggie. The bigger problem -- yesterday I had the fan on position 4 and the fan motor suddenly stopped. I tried the other fan speed positions and none of them worked either. I checked the fuse and it was fine...but I tried replacing it anyway just to check...and no dice.
Thus, I am guessing the switch (vs. the blower motor) went bad. Does this scenario seem reasonable? I can replace it with this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/AC-Heater-Climate-Control-Jeep-Wrangler-TJ-99-04-New-/140365177365
...but that's a lot to spend if it is something else.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.
Yes I would go with the switch, BUT, does it have a resistor bank? That is, how does it reduce the speed? Many systems use resistors to lower the speed. Burnt or bad connections can cause this as well.
You can test the blower motor by connecting direct power from a source like the cigarette lighter if you are handy.
Most of the time the lower speeds konk out but the high speed continues to work this is the resistor bank that goes out.
You should check the blower resistor pack and replace it if necessary. Here is an example that may help you to understand its role.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krbIlqbXQbo
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After some research, I have learned the following:
- Wranglers have a resistor (or perhaps a bank) for the lower motor.
- The resistor is only used to lower fan the speed for settings 1 to 3. Position 4 is direct wire.
- If positions 1 to 3 do not work and position 4 *does* work, the resistor is most likely bad
- If all positions do not work, then either the switch or the blower is bad...but probably the switch (they burn out fairly often)...and you can get a switch for $20 on eBay
- If the switch burns out again fairly soon, then the blower motor is probably getting old and drawing too much current...and needs to be replaced...which is (apparently) fairly easy to do...and costs about $200 from online sources
I ordered a $20 switch and am hoping that does the trick. Thanks for the advice!
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