96 Park Avenue

The A/C blower would not cut off until I disconnected the negative ground on battery and now it will not run at all with battery reconnected. I did a search on the forum and it appears the fan module might be the issue but not sure where it is on this year model or if that is the real problem. The car has the temperature controlled A/C module type. Please respond. Thanks.

Okay I found the blower module and with key on and fan on high I have 12 volts on red wire and with the red wire hooked up I have 12 volts at the male connection for the purple wire with the female socket disconnected. Where do I go from here? Doesn't this indicate the module is good? If so why would the blower not cut off until the battery was disconnected and now not run at all with the battery reconnected. Is there a fuse located somewhere for the blower? Help Please.

What do you have with the key off? They were a common problem for GM.

Okay I checked the voltage the same way I described before with the key off and it reads the same 12 volts. However I cannot get the purple wire to read any voltage plugged into the socket. Out of the female socket the male prong for purple wire will read 12 volts but not when the socket is plugged in. I put a small nick in the purple wire insulation and the 12 volts does not go through the socket so I jumpered between the purple wire male prong and it reads 12 volts not hooked up to the purple wire, but as soon as I hook the jumper up to the purple wire the voltage goes to zero. Does this mean the fan module is bad? Thanks.

I jumpered between the battery and the purple wire coming out of the resistor module and the fan runs so it's got to be the resistor module since the fan did not run when I jumpered between the module male prong for the purple wire and the purple wire nick on other side of socket. Evidently the module can produce 12 volts with no load but cant with a load. I hate electronic boxes. Fine when they work but hard to trouble shoot and expensive to replace. Thanks.

Often, when the module fails, you will still have 12v output with no load carrying capability.

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Thanks you are most helpful as always and saved me a lot of money in repair bills.

Okay back again and this time the temperature outside is even hotter about 98 and the new resistor module I recently replaced went bad today. I'm not going to spend another 100 bucks just to get a couple more weeks of service. The blower works fine so I would like to know if anyone knows a safe way to jumper out the resistor module and control the fan manually. The car is 15 years old and it's not worth throwing money away on electronic modules that might last but probably not. It looks like to me you could run the red wire at the resistor module to a variable switch resistor inside the car and run it to the purple wire coming out of the resister module that goes to the blower. If I did this wouldn't the existing relays and fuses still be working on this circuit? What size motor and variable resister would I need? Any help would be appreciated because it is really hot for the unforseen future.

If the new module failed this soon, you may have a blower motor pulling too many amps. The motor should not pull more than 18-20 amps while on the high speed setting. The module you bought should have a warranty, so check that out. I would discourage you from trying to bypass the existing system.

Motor was replaced several years ago and has been working fine since then. I don't have a means to measure motor amperage and what would I do if it was too high? Isn't that why they have components like this fused to prevent excessive amperage draw? I am attempting to see if I can return the module for a replacement but most of the time electronic parts are not returnable. Anybody know how to safely bypass this module?

I didn't mean to sound unappreciative but if the motor is drawing more than 20 amps then is replacement the only viable option? Do they make a cost effective amp meter? I am in communications with the seller of the module that failed prematurely but have not confirmed yet whether they will furnish another one. Is it uncommon for these components to fail prematurely as this?

You cannot skirt the issue of determining whether the blower is overloading the module when attemepting to diagnose your problem. Most electricians, not automotive, just a regular electrician have a clamp on meter that can test the amps , maybe you know someone inthe field.

Thanks and I am sure I can locate an ampmeter but what if motor is drawing say 24 amps on high speed? What is the fix, a new motor?

Yes or there is debris in the fan and it is loading the motor down.

Okay I'm really frustrated and disappointed at this stage. I got a replacement module for the one that failed after two weeks of being in service. I borrowed a DC ampmeter and installed the second replacement module and ran fan on slowest setting and it was drawing two amps, next setting 4 amps, next setting 6 amps, next setting 9 amps and the next setting was 13 amps for about 5 seconds and then the amps went to 0 and the fan stopped and will not restart. I didn't get to the highest setting but it appeared to be tracking like it would not exceed 20 amps if I had ever gotten there. I am too upset at the moment to verify that I probably smoked another new resister module. Why can't I run a fused wire that is off when the ignition is off to the blower motor and have an on and off switch inside the vehicle to turn off the fan when the temperature is acceptable. This is really getting rediculous. Any ideas left out there?

Why can't I run a fused wire that is off when the ignition is off to the blower motor and have an on and off switch inside the vehicle to turn off the fan when the temperature is acceptable. This is really getting rediculous. Any ideas left out there?You obviously have a wiring/ground problem somewhere in the fan circuit. Anyway, you could use a remote switch to activate the fan, (using an ignition ON source) only if you use a relay. Click Here (http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/relays.html) or Here (http://www.r1200gs.info/howto/relay.html) for more details.

Okay I'm mentally stable again and cut the purple wire about 6 inches from the fan plug and wired straight to battery to check fan amps on high. With car running the amps were 18.5 and with the car not running they were 15 amps. I also checked the voltage going to fan plug not hooked to fan before I did the above and it was 3 volts on lowest fan setting and 4 volts on highest fan setting. Shouldnt it be higher on highest fan setting? Maybe this means the module has smoked again. How do you trouble shoot a fan circuit ground problem? The fan plug black wire was a solid ground when I checked the voltage at the plug so does that mean the ground is in the fan unit and maybe if I pulled the fan I could find a loose ground and tighten?

I agree......

It's rare but it does happen......bad blower motor takes out the blower control module......the spike can hapen so fast, it doesn't register on the meter.....a good spike will take out the module.....

Replaced many modules and never had a problem....then I ran into a bad blower motor that would spike....unfortunately it took me 3 modules to figure it out......

So you are saying it could only be a bad fan motor that does not indicate bad using an ampmeter. If that is accurate I don't know why I wasted my time checking the fan motor for high amps. If a bad fan motor is the only thing that it could be when a new module blows then it sounds like the routine fix should be to replace both at the same time. I think I will go with the relayed switch and continue to run my bad fan motor until it dies since the amps are reading good and apparently the only thing it hurts is a piece of crap electronic resistor module that can fail at the drop of a hat. Thanks for the link on how to install a relay.

You want to fuse protect it....but if it spikes, it will take out the fuse.....I believe this fan is in the engine compartment behind the engine(just have to remove an engine lift hook to take the motor out).....this is a piece of cake, compared to the the newer ones that are under the I/P on the passenger side......

I put the relay and switch in and it works like a champ. I will run it this way until the motor fails and then replace the motor and resistor module at the same time. I checked the fan for running amps after the relay was installed and it's running 20.5 amps so I guess it will slowly degrade until it fails. I got a 30 amp fuse installed so if it blows that then it's time to replace. Thanks for the help.