jeffinnpr

Jivi

Help.
I just tried this (thanks for the great pictures and easy to follow instructions) but that does not seem to be the problem for me - what should I check next?

I checked the fan and condensor fuse under the hood, and both were good.
I took the fan out and hotwired to the battery and it turned.
I bought the exact part from digikey 114c 2a/250 vac, soldered it in.
The ohms on the two posts were 0 before putting in the new resistor, it is now 1.
There is 12v going to the fan when the car key is turned on whether or not the fan speed is turned on or not.

Still the fan does not turn. The cirulated air and A/C lights come on but neither the fan nor the condensor come on. Everything was working fine the day before it stopped working.

It Wasn't Me

Did you check fuse #14 under the dash?

See here: https://honda-tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2465423

jeffinnpr

Thank you for the quick reply.

That almost worked. It is really weird.

I had checked that fuse earlier and it looked good, I checked it again now and it still looked good. Out of courtesy to you and to play it safe, I changed it with the 10A hazard lights (from under the hood) and the hazard lights still worked. I put the hazard fuse into #14 under the dash - and the fan worked - temporarily. I took it for a victory lap around the block and it stopped working before I even got down the street.

I went through to recheck everything again to see what might have blown.

The #14 still looked good, I switched it around again with the hazard fuse and the hazards still worked.

I put a new 10A fuse in #14 - still nothing.

I checked the 20A #1 condenser fan fuse under the hood - switched it out just for fun.

Checked the amperage going to the fan - still 12 with the ignition switch on (whether fan dial was turned or not).

I checked the transistor and the aluminum fins were hot - even though the fan was only working for 1/2 a block and even though I first did all those things I just mentioned.

I pulled the cover off the transistor and checked the ohms on the polls that my new resistor is soldered to and I get the same reading as if I am touching nothing. With the multimeter set to 2000 in the ohms section is just shows 1.

I never did anything with the old resistor. It is still sitting in place. Should I have cut it out? Would that be messing things up? It does not appear from Jivi's pictures and comments that he cut the old resistor out.

Any ideas?

It Wasn't Me

Try this and see what comes up:

You also might try swapping the power transistor with one from a parts car. If it all works again, you found the culprit.


I also recommend that you buy yourself a service manual. Click here. You'll want the 61S5C01. (you can probably find a used one online for less money)

michele

Jivi,

I can't thank you enough!! We have air conditioning and defrost again! We suffered for six months after replacing the part once already, and having it fail. Well, even though I am no mechanic, you instructions were excellent. (You are my hero.)

jeffinnpr

I finally got mine working today. Thank you "it wasn't me" for your help.

I called two local junk yards and they did not have any Honda Civics. I called a third place that is a bit of a drive to get to and they had only one Honda Civic, but were not sure how much of it was left in tact. I guess junk yards don't get many Honda Civics!

I finally had time to make the drive today and got the part for $10. I popped it in and we are driving with A/C and defrost (which we needed the other day during a rain storm during an hour ride home).

I think my mistake with soldering a new resistor on was either one of these two things:
1) I didn't cut the wires from the old resistor
2) I didn't screw the transformer back into its spot, I just tested it hanging by its wires. It seems that it sits in the air vent and the air blowing past it must help keep the fins cool. By not putting it back in place during the test drive I might have over heated the new resistor.

Maybe that will help someone for the future.

Thanks again for this site. It is very helpful.

spacyfoil

Bump **

Called Honda Canada, the guy wanted $135 plus 13% tax. And our dollar is par with US.
Plus Labor, if I had used them.

RadioShack...(The Source in Canada) Thanks. $5.99 later, I have air.
Thanks Jivi. I don't know for how long, but for now, thanks.

Fochis

Car model : Honda Civic Coupe 1.7 VTEC 2001

Hi. At first, sorry for my bad english. I'm from Spain and I use Google Translator to write here

Ok. I have the same problem with the A/C blower. To make the repair, I changed the following parts on the Denso 077800-0682 part:

- Replace the thermo-fuse 114º 2A by a thermo-fuse 100º 10A because I don't find a 114º 2A fuse
- Replace the K2313 transistor with another K2313.

Result: The blower always runs at full speed and I can not adjust the speed although the switch is off.

I meassure the ressistance between the #3 and #4 terminals in power resistor and the value is correct: 1.48

Does anyone have any idea?

Thank you very much and, another time, sorry for my poor english.

Josh Maassen

Thanks so much for the DIY guide!!! It worked perfectly. The freezing temps are here and I needed the heat.

Thanks again!

gangulyarchan

Thanks for DIY Jivi...I soldered a 10ohm 1/4 watt resistor from Radioshack since they do not have a 1ohm 1/4 watt resistor. Works perfectly!!

hng

Thanks so much for the fix in pictures.

I drive a 2005 7th gen civic in left hand drive.

The AC transistor component is hidden behind the glove box and the brace for the glove box.

THis post saved me hundreds of dollars. I am very very grateful.

momule

This is an outstanding post and saved me approximately $300.00 in repair costs. Grateful doesn't even come close to how I feel and I thank everyone who posts with this kind of information. I experience the same quality and willingness to help on my Suzuki Burgman motorcycle site as well.

pgodoy

I've tried today and this fix on my 2003 CR-V, works perfect! it saves me like a $100 in parts (too expensive in my country) and another $100 in labor, thank you so much for this awesome post!

dustinthehawk

It's been awhile since i've been on this forum. I even had to reset my password. Just checked in to to say thanks, Jivi!

I also fixed the power transistor in my 2004 Civic Si with this tutorial. A 1ohm 1/4 watt resistor from Ebay and a soldering kit from Radioshack..cost me under $15. And, it worked! Like Pistol said, remove the metal box secured by 3 bolts. It's hiding behind it.

I can't imagine what a mechanic would've charged me to fix this. Gotta love honda-tech.com forums! Woot woot!

yoyo7th

I had no AC turn on or blower fan. I bought that power transistor on EBAY for $28.49 and just installed it. WORKS! I probably blew the old one with real dirty cabin air filters.
Thanks for the advice and pictures!

William Howell

https://honda-tech.com/forums/showth...582&styleid=18

Awesome!!!!

20min fix and very cheap and it worked on my honda oddessy 2007.

Thanks, so much.

Evpro

Hi, just wanted to give feedback on this a/c fix.

Jivi, you are a major lifesaver. You made me shed manly tears when I flipped the switch and my blower came on. Saved me shitload of money - major kudos!

Here's some feedback on my fix. Jaycar didn't have 0.5W 1R resistors, but only had 0.25W 1R ones. Worked like a charm, just in time for my trip down south.

I'll still bring along my soldering iron and spare resistors along the way though, just in case :D

Cheers,
Ev

jimmcwibb

My blower unit was working intermittently and the diagnostic code flashed 12 times for "fault in the blower motor circuit".

I tracked the error down to the power transistor, took the unit out and had a look.

I'm working on a "KE" model civic which I believe is the ones we have here in the uk. First of all the power transistor is in a really horrible place to access, you have to unbolt the engine management computer and drop it out the way. Then you need baby hands to do anything with the power transistor. Anyway I got it out in the end. I measured 1.4k ohms across pins 3 and 4, so it seems the transistor itself is fine. That leaves the thermal fuse.

Taking the unit apart, it looks very different to the picture on this thread. About 3 resistors, a capacitor, plus a gap in the PCB so that you can see the thermal fuse. I measured very high resistance or no connection across the fuse, it didn't seem to want to make up its mind which I guess is why the blower worked intermittently. I guess the fuse failed to fail properly!

Anyway, I soldered a 1 ohm resistor across the fuse and replaced the unit. It works! I'll replace the thermal fuse ASAP.

By the way, here in the UK this thing costs 90 quid, plus 40 quid for the pollen filters!!

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

If you have an EP-based chassis (hatchback), I'm not surprised you have a different style HVAC system.

jimmcwibb

Yeah it seems like most of the diagnostic info out there is relevant though. It's just a pain to find things sometimes. I thought I was going crazy until I used a mirror to check behind the computer for the power transistor - bingo.

I'm going to replace the thermal fuse with this part 110C Thermal Fuse | Maplin

110C and 10 amps. Should work fine. 89p instead of £130 ain't bad!

JTD

I just fixed my 2001 Honda Odyssey EXL with your instructions! I really appreciate you taking the time to put that together.

The symptoms were the front fan would not operate at all, and the rear fan ran, but warm air came out. I had to buy a soldering iron, solder and the resistor, and now it works.

Thank you, thank you.

JTD

...and by the way, I had to read some of the posts closely.

Apparently the LX will operate the front fan at the highest setting when this is the problem, but in the EXL the front fan did not operate at any setting including full high.

Ottobon

I have a issue where the A/C compressor clutch rarely engages, when it does it works great, but it will only work every 60-90 minutes (and usually on start-up after sitting)

Fans/AC/Heat etc work

I'm asking if this is related because in the original post of this thread its hard to tell what the intended fix was for. Similarly can anybody comment on my potential issues. I may just need to recharge A/C system, but the issue isn't that i can't get cold air (its very cold when it works), its more that it the Compressor Clutch rarely ever engages.

honda.lioness

After a failed TCO replacement, I edited the following a lot.

My blower quit recently. The cause was a crudded-up cabin air filter, resulting in insufficient air passing over the blower resistor unit to cool it, and so blowing the Thermal Cutoff (TCO) fuse inside the blower resistor unit.

Several models of Hondas use this fuse and resistor unit. Right now, an aftermarket version is available on eBay for under $10.

My attempt to replace the TCO failed. I tried a TCO, bought locally for $1.60, with a max rated operating temperature of 128 C. Two other folks on the internet posted that they used Radio Shack TCO stock number 270-1322 (129 C) and 270-1320 (140 C). Aftermarket TCOs are too long and their diameter is larger. You will not get a good fit. The diameter is larger and the length, longer. Also because of the bad fit, the TCO won't be properly immersed in the conductive adhesive(?). The terminals of a TCO are supposed to be bent only so much, according to the packaging. Lastly there may be only one orientation allowed for installation. You have a 50% chance of getting this wrong. The aftermarket TCO I installed had to be crammed into the resistor unit's housing. The resistor unit's cover did not snap into place snugly.

A few days after the "repair," I took a long drive and ran the blower and A/C. The blower suddenly became erratic. I would turn the blower control dial to a lower speed, and instead, the blower sped up. I would turn the dial to off, and the blower would stay on. I was worried about what this was doing to the blower motor and so pulled over and unplugged the resistor unit. When I got home, I tested the blower resistor. All seemed fine. But I think the heat the resistor unit sees caused electrical disconnections to occur. I de-soldered the aftermarket TCO and soldered in place a wire to short the two terminals of the TCO. The blower works fine now, but it has no thermal protection. I went ahead and ordered an aftermarket blower resistor unit from eBay.

If you do get the correct size of TCO, then when soldering, hold metal needle nose pliers on the terminal ends of the TCO, to draw away heat. If you do not, then the fuse might melt, due to heat propagation while soldering.

Jivi said the TCO should not have zero resistance. I think this is a post-o. The TCO has failed if it has infinite resistance, dislpaying "open loop" or similar on your multimeter when you test i the TCO. A new TCO will, by design, show no resistance on a modern multi-meter. It's just like testing a fuse: The fuse is good if it passes a continuity test. To me, this argues for using any bit of good conducting wire laying around for a temporary fix.


I like this site best for testing the resistor unit: Part 1 -How to Test the Blower Motor Power Transistor (2001-2007 Honda Civic)

I think the purpose of the TCO is to prevent temperatures so high that parts start melting and fire is a risk.

Thank you for the great Do-It-Yourself on this, Jivi.

fcm

Kind of jumped ahead because I have never heard of an A/C resistor, it is the blower resistor.

And a short piece of fusible link will return the resistor to near stock, a resister or nail would not blow and could lead to a fire. 94