blower motor fuse question & the only pictures on the internet of the resistor pack

[PhilipJCaputo]

second time I'm having to type this so it'll be short..


problems with blower settings 1-3.... they would come on strong, then pretty much shut off.. the come back on.. and shut off... however blower setting 4 was working fine.... I also did notice a burning smell, but when I pulled the resistor pack out a slightly burnt piece of paper came out too!


So I'm running the blower on 4 with the AC after being out of the car for 40-60 mins... car was sitting in the sun.... I'm driving in stop & go in a parking lot trying to get out, and all of a sudden I've got no blower speeds... turns out the 30A blower motor fuse went.... now 30A that is some serious ampage...

any clue why that fuse could have been tripped??

I'm going to check on the dealer price tomorrow for a new resistor pack, but for 12 bucks at BMA they'd better be below 20 bucks.



some pix of the resistor pack... the thing is basically 3 coils, each with more loops than the next.... I'm guessing that more loops means more resistance.. and a lower blower speed.... seems kind of a stupid way to do it... but I guess it works.... so here are the only pictures on the internet of the resistor pack (I couldn't find any others).

http://www.nickwalton.com/photos/rpack1.jpg
http://www.nickwalton.com/photos/rpack2.jpghttp://www.nickwalton.com/photos/rpack3.jpg

[632 Regal]

"resistor pack" is that the sword?? I think our newer cars have small resistors and not the coil design.

[PhilipJCaputo]

This isn't the famous sword.... and I guess I don't really know, but I'm assuming this is the "resistor pack" becuase with it out, my blower only works on 4... and a mess of small leaves came out of the hole where this thing goes when I put the fan on 4.

from what I've been reading, some cars even upto 94 have the sword.... but mine was manufactured in 5/95 so I feel pretty confident that don't have a sword.



I did sand up a connection which looked it had some build up on it.. (pix to follow)..

I'm going to put this thing in and spend a few mins trying it out....

[ryan roopnarine]

i had the blower fuse go every season or so, ie cold, warm, cold......right now, however the blower is sittin unbolted inside the climate control bulkhead...you can see that blower resistor, the heater core, and some other crap inside the bulkhead. your motor is probably just aging, and might kick it in a year, six months.....or in a very very long time....the motor inside there is a big mofo, the brushes that i replaced with gale's guidance are large...not surprised it needs a 30a fan.

[ryan roopnarine]

...was not trying to bring you down phillip.....just that when my blower was dying i could restart it temporarily by driving over a speed bump. all the time it was dying it never once blew the fuse, despite the fact that the brushes were short as hell....doesn't make sense to me that the change of the seasons would blow mine and not the dying brush situation.

[PhilipJCaputo]

Ryan: I didn't really follow where you were going till your second post! ;-)

hopefully my blower motor isn't going out.... but I did sand down this little connection in the resistor pack (photo below), and I let the thing run for a good 7 mins on 4 (no blown fuse), and sever mins on 3 with no blower cut-out... looks like tomorrow I'll put it through the paces during the morning drive.

Here is what I sanded

http://www.nickwalton.com/photos/rpack5.jpg


Here is where the resistor pack goes:

http://www.nickwalton.com/photos/rpack6.jpg



and a little zoom in (actually another picture) of the resistor pack hole where all the leaves and slightly burnt paper came out of:

http://www.nickwalton.com/photos/rpack7.jpg


and last but not least.... a picture of my blown fuse.... to me it looks like it got pretty hot! but it is a 30 amp'r

http://www.nickwalton.com/photos/blowerfuse.jpg

[ryan roopnarine]

wow...that looks serious. the tis says that the thing can operate between 9 and 15 volts, but that the normal amperage is only 12 amps. i might be concerned if i see a fuse do that.

[winfred]

i see those motors draw 25 amps on a regular basis, what usually does in one of those fuses like that is the way it's made, the fuse material is crimped to the contacts and can be loose and or corrode (it's in the tis) this makes resistance and that makes heat

[PhilipJCaputo]

I'm pretty sure the fuse is an original.... so 10 year ain't bad... I dropped in a spare that was in the fuse box, so I'll see how long that'll last.

[winfred]

generally when i pull a dead blower motor the comm is eaten up badly and i wouldn't expect new brushes to do **** for the effort

[PhilipJCaputo]

generally when i pull a dead blower motor the comm is eaten up badly and i wouldn't expect new brushes to do **** for the effort
the comm ??

[winfred]

the segmented copper part of the armature of the motor that the brushes ride on, i could unsuccessfully try to spell the whole name but most people call it the comm


the comm ??

[PhilipJCaputo]

I know what your talk'n about....

[Javier]

high currents or fuse deffect as described by Winfred. Quick short circuits do not allow enough calories to make that mess.

Would not surprise me that the deffective fuse was what was causing the blower sympthoms.

Javier

[PhilipJCaputo]

Would not surprise me that the deffective fuse was what was causing the blower sympthoms.

Javier

I wish that were the case, but I still had blower problems after replacing the fuse.... I'm hoping that when I test it today everything will be fine!

[Beemr750]

When I bought my car only the high speed functioned.I replaced the sword sw and everything worked ok.For some reason I looked afterwards into the fuse box and found the blower 30 amp one completely melted and made a bridge instead of an opening.After replacement I tried running the blower at full speed it blow the fuse again.But since it's the original one and runs still smooth,I decided to wire in a 40 amp circuit breaker.It's been 4 years now and still works OK. Needless to say I only use the #4 position sparingly because thats where it draws the most.

[PhilipJCaputo]

circuit breaker!!! why don't cars just include those??

[winfred]

because instead of melting the fuse it melts the wiring harness, as it takes more ass to pop the breaker, been there fixed that


circuit breaker!!! why don't cars just include those??

[PhilipJCaputo]

I had the fan on 3 for the entire 20 min drive to work today, and no cutouts... I'll throw the blower on 4 while I'm getting lunch, and while I'm driving home....

keeeping my fingers crossed