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blower motor not working

avu3

New CEG'er
Joined
Nov 5, 2002
Messages
12
Location
Green Valley, Cali
The blower motor quit in my 98 se v6 atx last week. It operates in no position. The blend door is working and directing heat.

I think, from reading the forum, there are four possible causes

a) Resistor pack
b) ABS/Blower fuse under the hood
c) Switch itself
d) Wiring going into the relay under the dash.

Have I missed anything? Any particular order I should address these in?

Scott
 
the wiring going into the fuse panel goes bad/melts sometimes too. Also you may need to just pull it out and clean the contacts, or recoat the pins with solder. If you look at your fuse panel with it closed, you want to look for a pair of ~10 gauge wires going into your panel at the corner on the right side towards the front of the car, on my 98 and 99 it is one green and one red wife leading into an L shaped plug. The red wire is burnt up on my 99 and I have seen the same on several others.

What I did to fix it was to recoat the pins with solder since it had melted off some, and I cut out the burnt portion of wire, and I got the connector that goes inside the plug from the parts store. You just crimp that onto the wire and slide it into the plug after removing the old one.
 
take out the blower motor, there is one screw and turn it to counterclockwise and the whole housing with the motor pops out. Once done with that hook 12v directly to the blower motor, if it doesn't work then the motor itself is gone. most common cause is a bad ground in the motor, but its a sealed can motor so its just easier to go get a new one. if it does work just start using a volt meter and just start probing wires. turn the switch on so that it should work and probe the connector to the motor and see if you get a voltage.

it won't be the resistor pack, if the resistor pack went then the motor would work only on high, but it would work.

the fuse is a quick check, there is also one under the dashboard on the driver's side footwell i want to say it is fuse number 30 or 32, check that... its very rare for the switch to go bad unless there is a short or a power surge and it fried the fuses.

there has been some extreme cases where the wiring going into and out of the internal fuse panel has melted but its rare, you can also find a thread where someone took apart the fuse panel and cleaned it and such...

i recommend checking the fuses first then removing the blower motor and hooking it up to 12v first... the most common things to go and the easiest to fix.
 
I guess I failed to mention that I tested the fuse INSIDE the car, I forget the number. I also visually inspected the relay, and it looked ok (no signs of burning).

I'll pull the motor itself and probe for voltage at the panel next, to see if its the wiring.

Thanks guys, appreciate the help. This car has been a pain in the butt all the time I've owned it, but I still love the ergos so its hard to think about letting it go.

I'll report my findings, might be a few days.

Scott
 
yea i have come to realize that the contour is an electrical night mare... i have had problems with the wiring to the headlights (low beams only), it turned out to be the connector in the power distribution block. and the blower motor, and the rear brake lights, its just a mess... i can follow diagrams pretty easily and my dad and i will make a weekend project out of it.

the thing that i love is that something on the engine, drivetrain, suspension, and brakes rarely fails or breaks. i mean it all needs its usual maintenance, but other then that its a very reliable vehicle. i did the rear struts myself and they weren't too bad to do, the rear brakes aren't either, the design makes no sense to me but whatever. they work and they work well... so i love the little beast, its also amazing in the snow for me... better then my girl friend's car and her's is newer, has traction control and heavier.
 
how do you get to the blower motor? Where is it located? I'm having the same issue, only with mine the ac would blow then the airflow would fade out and completely stop. After the air flow stopped for a while it would arbitrarily start again. This lasted a couple days then the air flow stopped completely.
 
i think i'm having the exact same problem. my CSVT for years has had a problem with the whole climat control cutting out. it didnt happen very often but when it did happen all i had to do was open the fuse box and then close it and everything would start working again. that was until last week. for a few weeks i noticed a slight smoldering smell when i was running the AC. the AC wasnt cutting out, just had a slight smell. then last week the climate control cut out on me like it has numerous times and now i cannot get it to come back on. i'm assuming that the smoldering smell i smelt was the wires going into the fuse box melting. how easy is it to repair when you have this problem? can you remove the fuse box to work on it in doors or does it have to be done inside the car?
 
just a few words of wisdom to all those working on your blower motors. if the blower motor quits working on you. first check and see if it only works on the high speed setting. if that is the case then it most commonly is the blower resistor. there was even a time sensitive recall through ford on approx. 97-99 contours. if it doesn't work on any speed then it could be the blower motor or the mentioned wiring/relay/fuse problems. if it works only on one of the lower speed settings then it usually is the switch, again on early 95-97 tours there was a recall on the switch. often the high and low speed settings usually burn out and ruin the switch and melt the connecotr. hope that helps, good luck to all. any specific questions, feel free to pm me.
 
...how easy is it to repair when you have this problem? can you remove the fuse box to work on it in doors ...?

This wires to the passenger compartment fuse box probably melted the connector off. Yes, you can remove the fuse box and work on it indoors. It has been done in the past.

I think the connector at the fuse side is the same as the connector to the blower motor side.
 
The wires to the passenger compartment fuse box probably melted the connector off. Yes, you can remove the fuse box and work on it indoors. It has been done in the past.

I think the connector at the fuse side is the same as the connector to the blower motor side.

can someone describe where this is going to be located and what i will need to remove in order to get to it? where will i be able to get a new connector at?

i'm going to try and fix it this week and want to do it right the first time.
 
The fuse box is left of steering column under the dash. There should be a lever or button to pull or push for the panel to swing down. Then check for the connectors.

You can pick up the connectors from a junk yard or from Ford.

Let them know you need the parts for fixing the Blower Resistor Recall (the $20 package should have a blower resistor, connector and four crimps).
 
Pull out the blower switch itself....mine was the same, and the plug that attaches to the back of the blower switch was melted together. Bypass the switch and see if it works...fix wiring and replace switch.
 
Pull out the blower switch itself....mine was the same, and the plug that attaches to the back of the blower switch was melted together. Bypass the switch and see if it works...fix wiring and replace switch.

where is the switch located? is it attached to the fuse box?
 
The blower switch is your fan speed switch on your dash. It has the low/med/high the one you turn to speed up the blower. Pull over the knobs, dash panel and unscrew it and pull it out. If the plug that goes into the back of the switch is melted you.ll see it right away. If your car was anything like mine...95mystique takes about 5 mins to do. If you find the plug is melted where it plugs into the back of the switch, just cut it off and crimp on single slide over ends and plug them into the new switch and tape it up. I got a new switch and just saved trying to find the right plug end...and you,ll still have to splice it in to the old wiring. The single insulated ends work fine and wrap some elec tape over it. Mines been 6 years no problem since.
 
i dont think that is the problem with my car although i will check it out. my problem would come and go over the past couple of years and i would always just have to tap the fuse box with my foot to get it working again.
 
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