'97 Grand Prix GT Blower Motor Resistor

[olopezm]

Hello everyone, my A/C system has been working for a year only if I set it to the highest speed (5) and any other speed will result in the motor not working and the A/C orange light on the dashboard will stay dimmed; as far as I know this happens when the motor resistor is blown, but today I arrived home and I was turning the Speed Knob to the OFF position, as I changed between every single speed the motor was still working and decreasing the speed, everything was working fine until some minutes later when I checked again, the lower speeds wheren't working again. What do you guys think?, I checked the resistor's connector and is fine.

Best Regards...

[GTP Dad]

The resistor is going out and needs to be replaced. It is possible that it is somewhat intermittent and that it why it started up again but it is on its last legs.

[olopezm]

Originally Posted by GTP Dad

The resistor is going out and needs to be replaced. It is possible that it is somewhat intermittent and that it why it started up again but it is on its last legs.

Thanks for you reply GTP Dad, I will change the resistor as soon as I can. Thanks again for your help.

Best regards...

[SNKPWR]

are you having any other issues? it could be the ignition harness (contacts fouled)...

[doctorhrdware]

One thing when you do the blower motor resistor, take the front passenger seat out. It will make it so much easier to take the resistor out and to put the new one in.

[olopezm]

Thanks for your time guys, sorry that I hadn't posted anything, I've been fixing some more important problems with my GP.

Originally Posted by SNKPWR

are you having any other issues? it could be the ignition harness (contacts fouled)...

What kind of issues could be possibly related?. It happened to me twice that I turned the key to start the engine but the engine wouldn't turn until a second later, I think this might had been due to a rusted battery terminal, I checked and cleaned everything and the problem seems to be gone.

Originally Posted by doctorhrdware

One thing when you do the blower motor resistor, take the front passenger seat out. It will make it so much easier to take the resistor out and to put the new one in.

I'll do that, thanks for you advice. I tried to do it once, but I was all twisted under the dashboard LOL, that's why I chose to doit some other day.

Thanks for your help guys...

[SNKPWR]

Originally Posted by olopezm

What kind of issues could be possibly related?. It happened to me twice that I turned the key to start the engine but the engine wouldn't turn until a second later, I think this might had been due to a rusted battery terminal, I checked and cleaned everything and the problem seems to be gone.

Mine auto headlights and fan would just cut off randomly, then come back on...the contacts in my ignition harness had gotten carboned up and had intermittent contact, making several electrical functions cut out randomly, not just the blower...a common symptom is the electrical gremlins intermittently at the same time as the blower only working on setting 5....

[olopezm]

Originally Posted by SNKPWR

Mine auto headlights and fan would just cut off randomly, then come back on...the contacts in my ignition harness had gotten carboned up and had intermittent contact, making several electrical functions cut out randomly, not just the blower...a common symptom is the electrical gremlins intermittently at the same time as the blower only working on setting 5....

I see... well I don't have any electrical gremlins wich is a good sign, the blower has been like that for a year maybe more and no other problems have shown up. I'll just go with the bad resistor option; in case anything else related to the electrical system would come up I'll take into account your solution. Thank you very much for your help.

Best regards...

[richtazz]

another couple of tips.

1. take the blower motor out to make access to the resistor easier. It's only 3 screws and trust me, it's worth it.

2. the back two retaining screws are very hard to get at. The 2 back holes in the resistor are slotted, so only the front screw has to be removed to get the resistor out. The back 2 only need to be loosened slightly, then slide the resistor forward to pop it out.

[olopezm]

Originally Posted by richtazz

another couple of tips.

1. take the blower motor out to make access to the resistor easier. It's only 3 screws and trust me, it's worth it.

2. the back two retaining screws are very hard to get at. The 2 back holes in the resistor are slotted, so only the front screw has to be removed to get the resistor out. The back 2 only need to be loosened slightly, then slide the resistor forward to pop it out.

Thanks richtazz, I did follow your tips and it helped a lot, now it's working fine but... (I hate when I have to say "but") the A/C compressor now has a humming noise, I had it replaced some time ago with a Delphi heavy duty compressor, everything works fine, only the humming sound is the problem, it starts as soon as I turn the A/C on and increases along with the RPM's, is this a bearing gone bad? Is it a DIY job to replace it?.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[doctorhrdware]

I have one question on the compressor bearing, is it internal or external. So it does sound like the bearing is starting to fail on the compressor.

[olopezm]

Hello I have no idea about the internal or external ring. I have noticed that the car will sometimes blow very cold air and not so cold air when the humming sound is more noticeable. Could you please give any more details about the internal or external bearing?, also could this be a clutch problem?.

Thanks for our help.