Heat doesn't blow!

[timstone]

I've had my truck for a little more than a month now and it was working great when I first had it. Then a week or so after I purchased it, the heater wouldn't blow out air all the time, but if I would hit a nice size pot hole or railroad tracks it would kick on and blow out at full speed.

Now lately it hasn't been blowing out very good at all, maybe like at the very lowest speed and trying to hit bumps to get it to kick on isn't working anymore.

Anyone have any ideas as to what could be the problem? I thought maybe the blower motor went out but I'm no mechanic and I can't afford to pay one to look at it.

Also...where is the blower motor even located on my truck and how big of a pain would it be to replace?

 

[srteach]

location: engine compartment, passenger side, on the firewall.

The problem sounds like a loose connection on bad wire. The wiring to the blower motor is just below the motor in the engine compartment. It goes into a resistor set which controls the blower speed. Check for a pinched or partially broken wire.

If the motor works on consistently or all speeds but one, check the resistor pack for broken connections.

 

[timstone]

I'll have a look at it right now but I don't even know what the thing looks like.

Would the actual unit inside the truck be able to cause it to not blow as much as it used to? What about a relay or something like that?

 

[drifter98ranger]

resistor / fan switch

go here for the resistor problem
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t218/beetlemiser/Checkyourconnectionsforcorrosion.jpg

and also take out the air panel and look for signs of melting and connection problems.

 

[TwoTrackMind]

My TwoBits

Ive had problems with both the resistor pack and the blower motor.

When the resistor pack was bad, the two higher speeds were ok but the slower speeds didnt work at all. I suppose that, depending on how the resistor pack failed, you could have different speeds inop or none working at all.

When the blower motor went bad, it worked good in the morning, but started going slower and slower throughout the day. My troubleshooting involved connecting 12vdc directly to the blower motor (with the connector undone) in order to eliminate other components.

Not sure exactly where yours are, but on my '98 (should be similar) both are found on the passenger side of the engine compartment near the firewall. The fan will be about 10" around with 4 screws holding it onto the heater box and 2 wires connected. The resistor is about 2"x4" with 2 screws holding it onto the heater box and about 4-5 wires connected.

I would guess also that there may be a chance that the connection to the switch in the dash (or the switch itself) could be bad.

There is a relay in the cluster under the hood that controls the heater motor, but it would not let the motor work at all if it were bad.

ok... thats all you get for $0.02.