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Ok, for the weirdness of the week.. when I first purchased my '82 the 'off - low -med' positions on the blower switch worked, but 'high' never did. That didn't bother me too much so I didn't worry about it. So, one day while driving my knee bumped the console (fairly hard.. I was having fun), and the blower stopped working, or so I thought. I clicked through all the levels and high came on. Huh.... nothing else though.
So today I got into the console thinking there was a loose wire or something simple, pulled the plug from the switch and tried jumping the terminals to see that if another level kicked on, it's probably the switch. All I was able to get to run was 'high' - nothing else. Checked all the fuses and they checked out. I'm out of logical ideas here.. something doesn't make sense, but I'm not sure which way to go at the moment. Summer is here, I need to service the a/c system (it was all rebuilt over the winter but still isn't working correctly) and it would be nice to have the various levels of fan if the windows are up.
I guess the first question is, do you have power at all 3 switch positions? The high is a straight thru current, (no resistor in line) the lower settings go thru a coil of wire. Different thicknesses for difference resistance. That how the blower speed is lowered. So you need to start chasing wires to see what has power. These coils are located within the vents for cooling as the wire gets hot from the resistance and sometimes burns up. Some should chime in or ask the question, where is the blower motor's resistor coils located?
Well.. if I pinned out the switch plug correctly, no. I only have high when I jumpered the plug connectors. If the resistor coil has cooked, that would explain quite a bit.
Ok, small update. I pulled the resistor to check it's wires and terminal connections:
On top of blower housing, under wire loom/
Looks good to me!
For those looking for the resistor, look on top of the blower housing. A football shaped insert with a connector is the resistor. When that's out, it's a great time to check the coils and inside for any debris (mine was clean and clear). So, just because I cleaned the terminals, put some terminal grease on them and put everything back together.. and still no med/low speeds, only high.
My next step was to pull the plug off the switch again, and re-jumper the terminals to see if the speeds would come on, using the pin-outs in the video above. When I pinned it out before, I hadn't jumpered the correct terminals. Anyway, using the correct terminals, all the terminals worked, but all at high speed. Very strange.. so I'm looking for my next step. Could it be a sticking relay?
Edit: bench tested relay and got no joy, so new relay is on order.
Last edited by letterman7; May 17, 2015 at 06:03 PM.
New relay came in today - inserted, turned the key and flipped the switch... and nothing. On any speed. Hmmm... time to pull the plug off the switch and jumper the plug again. If there's power there, and all fan speeds, then logically it's the switch. I ordered one, just in case...
Thanks! I figured out the pin-outs on the socket from watching your video. Will be testing sometime over the holiday weekend... I'll figure this thing out yet.
Solved! Easiest fix, of course - the relay. After I installed that, I did not have power to any speed...which had me scratching my head a little. Checked the plug.. or so I thought - and found as another forum member did that the plug wasn't seated all the way on the one side (actually, the spade terminal had been bent over a bit), so a quick tweak and some electrical paste later, and all's good - four speeds at the switch (even though I have one on order.. just in case, ya know!).
The dumbest things will have you shaking your head on how you missed something so easy.
Yet another blower switch question - '82
Good deal, glad you figured it out.