Blower motor?

[demarpaint]

Less than a year ago the blower motor died in my 88 E-150. I was driving the other day and the blower cut out, then came back on again, then died. No fan at any speeds. The fuse is good the switch is good, I have power going to the blower. I ran a jumper from the orange wire on the blower to the battery and the blower did nothing! Is it safe to assume the blower motor installed less than 3,000 miles ago and less than a year old is dead?

Is the quality of these replacement parts that bad?

 

[Trav]

It sounds like a bad one, it should be under warranty. Four Seasons or Dorman brand?

 

[gomes512]

Yes!

Replaced the one in the Corolla as the bearings were making a horrid sound. Died a couple months later... Same deal as yours, just dead. Very big difference when comparing the oem to the aftermarket one I purchased online. Not surprisingly everything just seemed machined much better on the original one.

On my second one (some China made unit) and its been 5 mos. Can hear the bearings squeak once in a while. Wonder how much it would cost to rebuild the original.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Does it run if you jump power and ground to the blower? If it does then do you have a blower motor resistor inline? That could be the problem. If your Ford is like my Dodge the fan speed works and is changed by varying the ground going to the motor which is done by the resistor. Resistor failure is common on Dodges. I also had to put a new one in my wife's Honda too.

 

[supton]

I popped the thermal fuse on my Jetta; luckily I had kept the fuse from an old coffee maker and it was the same part (no joke!). I installed that. I do have to oil the bearings about once/year otherwise the motor gets kinda squeeky. Which is probably what killed the fuse in the first place.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Trav
It sounds like a bad one, it should be under warranty. Four Seasons or Dorman brand?


I'm not sure, IIRC I got it at PB and I can't find the stinking invoice! I'm usually pretty good with that stuff too, I have every invoice but that one!

Well it looks like I have something to do this afternoon.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Does it run if you jump power and ground to the blower? If it does then do you have a blower motor resistor inline? That could be the problem. If your Ford is like my Dodge the fan speed works and is changed by varying the ground going to the motor which is done by the resistor. Resistor failure is common on Dodges. I also had to put a new one in my wife's Honda too.


The blower is still in the van. I unplugged the hot wire and have power from the switch. Then I took the hot wire from the blower then ran a jumper directly to the battery. The blower is already grounded since I haven't touched it yet. Nothing happened.

IIRC if the resistor is bad the blower would work but only at its highest speed.

 

[supton]

On mine, when the thermal fuse went, the blower worked only on high.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: supton
On mine, when the thermal fuse went, the blower worked only on high.


That's how they fail. If that was the case with mine I would have left it alone for now. I just hate taking the stinking battery out again, and then have to go through the relearning of the idle strategy again.

 

[Gokhan]

Make sure it is not the wire-wound resistor that controls the fan speed. I had to change it (control resistor, not the fan motor) on my 85 Corolla. My fan motor has always been as good as brand-new.

It looks like this:

 

[zzyzzx]

A replacement blower motor is something you should be getting from a U-pull-it junkyard.

 

[Trav]

Frank you checked the power wire, did you check the ground with a ohm meter?

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Frank you checked the power wire, did you check the ground with a ohm meter?


As it turns out it was a bad ground wire. If I ground the blower to the battery it works, if I use the ground the blower was connected to it doesn't work. You got to love these old vehicles. LOL The good news is I saved a few $$ and didn't have to buy a blower motor. Electric is not one of my strong points.