Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Yet another Heater Blower gone Bad

My resistor pack is different it has/had coiled resistor that are not inclosed. also the plug/connector looked ok.
The only thing bad was the thermal fuse.


I dropped the car of a the Ford Dealer this morning. the replaced the resistor pack, but claim that the switch is not bad. they claim there is a short in the fuse box.

I really don't believe them.

Has anybody heard of this (bad fuse box) before?

They want to charge $128 for parts & $45 for labor.
I'm just wandering if they're just trying to make some money becuase the orginal work is al recall stuff.

Also
Which switch goes bad?

Is it the blower speed switch
or the ac/heat/vent/defrost select switch?

Let me tell you what it is and I am almost 100% this is what it is ...I had the dame problem. A ceg'r gave me the helpful insight on what it was and I hate that I cant remember his name to give hin credit for this. Check on the driver side right underneath where the fuse box is located. Dont drop the fuse box but if you notice there will be 3 harnesses...unplug the one closet to the clucth, I think it is a red wire and one green with white stripe, but dont take me for that because I do not remember. Pull it out and look at it. I can almost bet my svt on it that it will be brittle and it is not making contact. I searched for months with all the help from her to swithing relays and resistor packs..if this is it cust the harness get some insulated female connectors and your done. Let me know the outcome

Well, you're not the only one with a short in the fuse box. My heater quit and that's what I need, over a hundred for a new fuse box, plus over a hundred for labor (which they said would be three hours). I'm glad I'm not the only one!! I already had them order the part, so I'm obviously going to get it fixed, I don't like that risk of fire.

When I got to the dealership all the mechanics were gone.
I asked the guy at the desk what was shorted in the fuse box. He couldn't be specific, "there's a short that's all I was told". He then told me that they did replace the switch & the harness for the switch and the resistor pack.
All for free under the recalls.

When I got in the car I tried the fan & it worked. So if there is a "short" in the fuse box it is intermittent. But I'm still going to check on those wires that S9V8T mentioned.

should the blower motor run if i put 12v straight to the plug on bottom of the motor? I put 12v to the blower and nothing happened. called ford about the recall on 98s but they said it wasn't applicable to my 98 contour. motor quit all of the sudden on all speeds but worked again ,shortly ,after hitting a bump in the road. but its dead again now. any help appreciated. thanks