Problem with heater/fan in Impala

My wife’s car is acting very strangely… it is a 2004 chevy impala. It seems that the fan for the heater/ac does not work when she starts and runs her vehicle… but if she goes over a “bump”… it kicks right on. This morning… with the cold weather… her windows would not defrost due to no fan blowing the warm air… she drove down to the grocery store… just to go over the speed bump. As it always does… it kicked right on. The heat works… just no fan blowing the hot air. Anyone have any ideas what this might be? Also, anyone know where we can take it to get fixed? We live just north of the twin cities in St Francis… but I work in Mpls and she works in St Paul… so we are open to any shops that are reasonable… and more importantly, fast (I leave for Seattle on Monday for work… will be gone a week).

Sounds like a connector may be loose behind the fan switch. Might be an easy fix.

sounds like an easy fix just hard to get in there

I had the same thing with my 2000 Grand Prix last year. When I started the car in the morning the fan would not run but if I slammed the passanger door then it would kick on and start running (Or hit a bump like you said). I had to have the blower motor replaced I think they said it had a dead spot in the motor or something I cannot remember. I do not think it was very cheap to fix but I can look tonight if you would like to get an idea on what the dealership charged me.

I had the problem on a 97 Bonneville, I would keep a broomball stick in the trunk and just tap the blower motor, mine was on the firewall, I eventually replaced it, not too hard if you are mechanical at all.

It sounds like a poor connection to me too. Open your hood and find the blower motor near the firewall(usually passenger side)… leave the blower switch on(with ignition on) and start wiggling the connection that goes to the blower motor. If that doesnt work, try tapping the blower motor to see if it takes off. If that doesnt work, tap the switch inside of the car.

Your blower motor might have a dead spot. I have seen windshield wiper motors with external ground straps on them cause issues also when the ground got poor connection. I am not familiar with that particular blower motor, but if it has an exposed ground.. that could be the issue also.

Blower motors more often than not are something stupid causing the problem. If you wiggle a connector under the hood and the motor takes off.. I would disconnect that onnector and clean the contacts, and put a little dielectric grease on it and put it back on.. you shouldnt ever have the problem again.

Thanks all… I am not a gearhead by any standards… but I have been known to do many of my own repairs… Anything that doesn’t require me to spend more than 100.00 on new tools. I will mess around with the wires to see if that is causing the problem. If so, hopefully it is a quick fix. Thanks for the input!