serversurfer

I recently replaced my blower motor, and that went fairly well. It runs at all speeds, and as far as I can tell, is functioning normally.

When I pulled the old blower, it looked like something had made a nest in the blower wheel. Concerned there may be other detritus in the system, I reached up in to the blower assembly as best I could and groped around, but I didn't find anything else in there. Unfortunately, while my car isn't freezing cold any more, I'm not getting much flow out of the vents; it's certainly not blowing my hair back or anything.

It doesn't seem difficult to pull the glovebox, heater duct, and blower assembly, so I'm probably gonna do that on Sunday when it's a bit warmer out, but is there anything else I should be checking while I'm at it, like intake vents or something? (I'm not even sure where the intake vents are, although I know there should be separate vents for Fresh and Recirculate.) Is there an easy way of cleaning the ductwork between the heater duct and the vents short of taking the dash apart?

Former User

Does the mode control motor work?

serversurfer

The thing that controls whether it blows out the vents/floor/defroster? Yes, as far as I can tell. I just don't get much flow out of the vents and defroster. (I haven't bent down to check the floor vents yet.)

Former User

If your car has A/C, then you need to remove the evaporator to remove the blower assembly.

serversurfer

Nope, no A/C, so I gotta pull the heater duct instead of the evaporator. I do have a copy of the Helm's manual, but obviously, it was written for someone more savvy than me, and it's just a straight scan — no OCR — which makes it a bit difficult to find information unless I already have a fairly good idea what I'm looking for.

Where are the intake vents located? Behind the blower assembly, I'm guessing? I don't notice much difference in flow when switching between Fresh and Recirculate, so I'm assuming the issue is internal, but I figured I should check them while I was at it.

Any tips on clearing the ductwork beyond he heater duct? I'm really hoping to avoid pulling apart the entire dashboard if I can help it.

Former User

Start by removing the heater duct and blower assembly to see where this takes you.

Project Dad

I have a 2000 blower, and the resistor is mounted from the inside of the housing. The screws enter from the out side, but would have to remove the whole blower and split the housing to get it out. I am having low/no flow on speeds 1 and 2. so I know I need to check the resistor.
Just wanted to post since the diagram above and other threads have shown that they are an easy swap

serversurfer

Weird. My car doesn't have A/C, but it did have an evaporator, and sure enough, I found not one, but two mouse carcasses in there, along with a bunch of other ****. (Both literally and figuratively.)

Anyway, since I don't have A/C and the evaporator core was pretty clogged, I just yanked the core, reinstalled its housing, and stuffed a towel in the hole in the firewall. That's not gonna cause any problems in the future, is it? Anyone know where I can get a legit plug for that hole in the firewall? How about an actual heater duct?

I'm happy to report that the vents are now flowing freely and are indeed blowing my hair back. Fortunately, the evaporator core kept the mice from making it any further in to the system.

serversurfer

Dad, I took a look at the 6th-gen manual, and it looks like the blower assembly is identical to the 5th-gen that Ron posted. The resistor does poke down in to the blower assembly, but it's inserted from the top. You should be able to lift it right out without pulling the whole assembly.

Project Dad

mine doesn't. its a 2000 blower so is the one I was going to pull a resistor from. my car is a 96.

it looks all the same but if you take the screws out, the resistor will fall into the blower housing and is too big to fit through the hole.

serversurfer

Oh, gotcha.

Well, you can remove the blower itself from the housing without pulling the housing. Then you should be able to reach up inside and grab the resistor. However, looking at the Helm's manual for the 6th-gen, it looks like in the 99-00 models, the "blower resistor" was changed to a "power transistor," so I'm not sure it'll work in your '96. Looking at AutoZone's site, they list the same resistors for the '93 (mine) and the '96, but different parts for the '00.

Edit: And to be clear, all three use the same blower motor. It's only the resistor that changed in 99-00.

Project Dad

I converted my HVAC to 99-00.

thanks man, will have to look into that

Former User

No, I don't think so:

serversurfer

Yeah, I was wondering if maybe whoever put the resistor in to the 2000 just put it in wrong and attached it to the "back side."

Project Dad

I considered the same thing, but blowers from 2 different 2000's are mounted the same way. guess i need to take a picture so you guys don't think I am crazy

serversurfer

Anyone at all?