1986 crown Victoria blower motor issues?

[DrHax]

Hello. I recently had my blower motor just seem to stop working. Heat leak out of the vents and sliding the slider on the HVAC makes the usual opening and closing noises yet there's no fan noise. There's no air being blown out.

What is the first thing I check here? This is my daily and having the Windows fog up to the point where I can't see isn't safe!

[VicCrownVic]

Check the blower motor resistor. From what I have gathered the blower motor will usually work on high only when the blower motor resistor fails but you may want to check it and the connector since they do commonly fail. I have not experienced this myself so can't give much insight.

Some discussion on that topic here: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...ks-on-high-!!!

[DrHax]

I'm checking my 1986 shop manuals. It says the thermal limiting resistor interrupts the blower operation except on high. I have no blower. I'm digging through the manual to see what is what.

I could live with it only working on high.

[VicCrownVic]

Ok, that makes sense then. So the resistor is not likely your issue then. That leaves the switch at the control head or the blower motor.

Turn the heat on, read voltage at the connector at the blower motor and if that looks good it could be a bad blower motor. Hopefully your manual indicates which pin(s) to check voltage at that connector, I don't have access to any of my manuals at the moment.

[gadget73]

See if the connector at the blower is flaky. Mine has died a couple times on me, always from that plug being loose or dirty.

Check the fuse too. Should be the only 30 amp in the fuse box.

[sly]

Also, there's a thermal fuse on the resistor that will blow if the blower is pulling too much current. I jumpered mine not too long ago on the beater. It's there to prevent a fire... but meh. Don't care on that car.

[DrHax]

Thanks guys. It's currently snowing and luckily I don't start work next Monday. The manual shows a circuit. I'll dig through the entire section on the manual AC-HVAC system to get a sense of where things are.

Before the blizzard ( in the rain) I took a peak at the conector for the blower motor. It looks like it has never been separated in its life. Seems very brittle.

This weekend is when I'll have to take a look at it. Glad I was able to replace my exhaust yesterday. Car was straight piped due to the accident with the deer breaking the muffler off. Now I have a 25 inch thrush glass pack on there that's quiet.

I swear you fix one thing it's always another lol!

[sly]

Thanks guys. It's currently snowing and luckily I don't start work next Monday. The manual shows a circuit. I'll dig through the entire section on the manual AC-HVAC system to get a sense of where things are.

Before the blizzard ( in the rain) I took a peak at the conector for the blower motor. It looks like it has never been separated in its life. Seems very brittle.

This weekend is when I'll have to take a look at it. Glad I was able to replace my exhaust yesterday. Car was straight piped due to the accident with the deer breaking the muffler off. Now I have a 25 inch thrush glass pack on there that's quiet.

I swear you fix one thing it's always another lol!

There's at least 3 things wrong with both of my cars. But they're non-functional typically or small leaks that don't bother me.

[gadget73]

I chased things around for years on the Lincoln until the gremlin settled in the rear doors. One has a window motor that randomly won't go up and needs to be be powered while slamming the door to go, the other side has a sticky lock motor that sometimes needs to be operated a couple times to make it release. I can deal with (ignore) those problems.

[DrHax]

The HVAC system is the only thing that worries me about the car. It's been acting weird. I may need to check out the vacuum lines as well since I noticed it seemed to stop changing unless I shut the vents. Ugh at least I have the shop manual for this crap.

[gadget73]

usually when it sort of bleeds air from everywhere, the hinge on the door in the air plenum that does the air direction has broken. Its a simple enough fix, the bastard part is getting the plenum out to actually do it. Once thats out, you drill out a bunch of pop rivets, then replace the broken plastic parts with some small metal hinges so it never gives you trouble again.

[DrHax]

Okay quick update. I removed (broke) the plug free and connected the battery to it. I got nothing.

So I, begrudgedly, got my fiancée's help with messing with the high low lever as I attached a multi meter to it. I saw changes that were consistent with the setting I had it on with the movement of the lever. So we have established it is getting voltage , and The switch seems to change it.

So now what? I am debating on wether I should strip the plug off of the blower motor and see if attaching the bare wires to the battery cause it to get life.

It seems to be the blower motor.

[sly]

If it's getting voltage and not turning... it's probably the blower, but a couple of wires to the connector and touching should let you know. Also if you put a meter on the motor, it should be less than 3 ohm (typically ~0.6 ohm IIRC). If it's more than 100 ohm, it's probably burnt up or open.

[gadget73]

If its getting voltage but not turning, I'd expect the fuse to blow if the motor had seized up. The voltage won't really change with just a multmeter on it, since the voltage drop relies on current draw by the motor to make it work.

[Tiggie]

With your blower switch on high, the blower motor connector should get 12 volts. If it does and you still don't have a functioning blower motor, it's either got a dead spot or locked up.

I just replaced the locked up blower on my 90 a few weeks ago. It didn't blow the fuse - I guess there may have been corrosion between the brushes and armature. Now that it's got a different blower motor, it works but the resistor is junk because it only works on high. Glad I bought a new resistor a while back.