Blower Repair on Truck?

So both of my trucks the fan only runs when set on high. Had someone tell me this was the fan motors going and needed to be replaced. This may be true on my work truck as every now and again it does not work at all until I smack it a few times with a wrench to wake it up. Over heard a couple of guys talking about issues like this the other day and they mentions a relay or some part under the dash that may be the real problem to these blowers.

Anyone have any insight on this? 1st truck is a 98 chevy silverado. 2nd is a 2004 ford E350 van. The van has the blower motor that does not always want to run.

Thanks.

On my 99 silverado and on a 98 expadition it was the blower motor

I’ve had similar issue with both my ’01 Century and ’03 Liberty. First low speed quit, then medium-low, then medium. Fan quit working on lower speeds. Fix was $100+/- (in the shop, I don’t work on my cars anymore) Relay switch.

Both had approx 120k on them.

The most common Fix for this issue is To replace what is called the blower motor resistor Which is actually what controls the speed of the blower fan. Do a little research and you may find its a repair you can do yourself its usually not to hard to replace but it can be a pain to get to.

I re read the post Ok if you need to hit the blower motor to get it to work its usually shot. If it only runs on high and and works all the time its the resistor.

Ajs

Where would I look for that resistor on the silverado? The blower motor doesnt look to hard to change out on the Ford. Do you know is that a pretty straight forward replacement? Wondering if Ill need to replace both the blower and resister on that vehicle.

Thanks.

Had this issue with my 2001 f150, fan relay was behind the glove box. Actually found a video on youtube on how to replace it. Hope this helps.

Mike, I just replaced the resistor pack on my friends 2001 Blazer and it was below the blower fan behind the glove box. Should be in the same place on your truck.

On the Ford check for power & ground at the motor elec. plug when it does not run. If you have both replace motor. On the Chevy it is most likely blower motor resistor. Not expensive or hard to replace. It is located under dash on pass. side. Most parts stores will have both.

Think I found what is needed.

You tube video.

This should solve the issue for the Silverado. Think I tackle that one 1st. The only difference is that my truck has the center counsel to deal with. Hope that is not to big of issue.

If they work on high, it’s definitely the resistor board. Pretty easy to fix. Good luck.

On my GM pickup it was a controller of some (blower motor resistor?) sort that did that. My buddy replaced it from inside the cab. Definitely not the motor.

New blower resister got it fixed up on the chevy. Took longer to find the right wrenchs than change out. Now to look at the ford.

Gotta love IDO. I need to do the resistor repair on my ’05 Silverado and now thanks to Mike’s post and the link above I know how to do it!!!

Quote:

---

New blower resister got it fixed up on the chevy. Took longer to find the right wrenchs than change out. Now to look at the ford.

---

Way to go Mike!

You saved some nice $$$ on that.

Yes very easy fix. I got lucky with mine, found one in a wrecked car at a junk yard. 20$

Hate to mention this Dave but the part for mine cost $25 new.

The only things different on mine from what the video showed was there was no screws in the cover towards the of the vehicle. Glad there was not as the truck has a center counsel and not sure how I would of got to them.

There was also a screw way in the back of the round cover I was not able to get to either. Did not have the extension for it. Think he removed this cover to get at the wire clip. I was able to get at this by undoing the front screw on that cover and pushing the cover down. With a flash light would could see that wire clip in the back. Reached the locking part of that with a screw driver and a quick pull on the wire and it was off.

Was feeling pretty good about getting this repair done so easy yesterday. Most of my vehicle repairs do not go anywhere near this well. Going to try replacing the one on the Ford E350 today.

I have this issue with the rear blower on my trailblazer. It is not very easy to get to per my knowledge…

Finely got the resister changed out on my E350 yesterday. Kinda a pain in the compared to the silverado. Kinda made some typical guy errors on this repair.

Started out with pulling stuff apart under the dash on the passenger side looking for the resister. Then after a few searches on google found that it is located under the hood. Not only is it under the hood but it is below the plate that holds the battery. So out come the battery and that plate.

Once that is out its two screw and the resister come out. Next was trying to get the wire harness off. Just about destroyed it trying to get it separated from the resistor. As stated in in a post I found on line parts of it where melted and deformed. Once that came apart it was a quick mater of putting everything back together to see if it worked. It did. If it hadnt I think I would of just left it and kept running the blower on high.

Two repairs down. Next will most likely be the blower motor on the E350 as it just does not want to run at all every now and again.

Plumber, car mechanic, fishing guide, tournament coordinator, etc. You do it all Mike!