The blower motor in my '97 Crown Vic had stopped working on all but the high position a couple of months ago. I thought it was the switch because when I disconnected and reconnected the plug to the switch, it started working again. I also thought it was still working in the low position which also made me think it was the switch.
It did the same thing again today so I bought a new switch. I also rewired the switch the correct way because someone had apparently pulled the wires out of the connector shell and didn't put them back in the right order. That seemed to fix it but it again stopped working a few hours later so I decided to check the blower motor resistor.
I couldn't get the plug to come off the resistor so I removed the whole resistor, plug still attached, so I could work on it a little easier.
That plug did NOT want to come out of the resistor. I finally got it out (after busting the locking tang) and all of the terminals were rusted and one of them had obviously been overheating by the way the plug was melted. The one that overheated is the one that, if it fails, stops the fan from working on anything but high.
Had whomever last worked on this thing put silicone dielectric grease on the terminals, the terminals wouldn't have rusted and they wouldn't have overheated.
That's why you should use silicone dielectric grease on any underhood connection. (This blower motor resistor is an underhood connection).
Any questions?
BTW, I got the blower motor resistor and a pigtail for it from Rockauto for $31 shipped. Autozone wants $29 just for the resistor!
It did the same thing again today so I bought a new switch. I also rewired the switch the correct way because someone had apparently pulled the wires out of the connector shell and didn't put them back in the right order. That seemed to fix it but it again stopped working a few hours later so I decided to check the blower motor resistor.
I couldn't get the plug to come off the resistor so I removed the whole resistor, plug still attached, so I could work on it a little easier.
That plug did NOT want to come out of the resistor. I finally got it out (after busting the locking tang) and all of the terminals were rusted and one of them had obviously been overheating by the way the plug was melted. The one that overheated is the one that, if it fails, stops the fan from working on anything but high.
Had whomever last worked on this thing put silicone dielectric grease on the terminals, the terminals wouldn't have rusted and they wouldn't have overheated.
That's why you should use silicone dielectric grease on any underhood connection. (This blower motor resistor is an underhood connection).
Any questions?
BTW, I got the blower motor resistor and a pigtail for it from Rockauto for $31 shipped. Autozone wants $29 just for the resistor!
