Finn5033

The blower motor for my climate control does not work at all on any speed. I have done some checking and it seems that the control on the dash is working properly. With the climate control on heat and the fan speed on low I am getting power to the black/yellow wire at the resistor block. With the fan speed on the second notch I am getting power to the black/blue wire at the resistor block. On the third fan speed I am getting power to the green wire at the resistor block. When switching to high speed I can here the relay click and I am getting power to the purple wire from the relay. One thing I found was that the purple wire was not hooked up to anything, where is that suppose to be hooked up too? There is also an all blue wire that runs to the resistor block that has no power on any fan speed. I don't know what the next step is to get this working. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I posted a couple pictures of my resistor block to see what you guys think about the shape it is in. Thanks

MDchanic

Here is a diagram of the wiring, from the Chassis Service Manual:



You should have some voltage at the blue wire at every speed except High.

The purple wire is the wire to the motor - it won't work if that's not hooked up!

One end goes to the high-speed relay and the other end goes to the motor.

Try putting a 12V jumper on the motor terminal from the battery to be sure the motor turns over. If so, then reconnect the purple wire and see if everything works.

- Eric

Finn5033

ok that is good to know. How do I get at the motor? Where does that purple wire go through to get at the motor? Thank you for that diagram

hookem horns

Purple is power to the blower, so has to be connected. Inner fender has to come out to get to the motor.

Finn5033

does anyone know where the purple wire was suppose to run through to the blower motor. I do not see a spot where is was suppose to be

Lady72nRob71

Here is a picture for reference:


Its there - you just cannot see it until the inner fender comes out.

Finn5033

Thank you for that pic, that is a huge help. The guy I bought it from had someone paint the body and engine bay. I assume that when the guy put the car back together he must have forgotten to hook up the blower motor. Then again for all I know there may not even be a motor in there. At lease I know what I need to do know. Thanks to everyone for the help. I will report back when I get it figured out.

Finn5033

I used a test light when checking the power to the wiring. I believe the purple wire only had power when on high fan speed. If the purple wire should always be hot, what would cause it to only have power on high speed? Or is it possible that it is getting power at all speeds but I need to check it with a voltmeter and not just a test light?

MDchanic

You also said you have no power to your blue wire.
If that is the case, then the result will be as you just described.

You need to find out why you've got no power coming out of the resistor block.
It's probably due to corrosion, but it could be a break in the conductor.

Clean all the contacts and connectors and recheck it.

- Eric

Lady72nRob71

You can Ohm out the resistor unit, from the 3 single connections to the common.

My bet is a bad contact between the blue wire terminal and the terminal on the resistor. Remove the terminal from the connector, clean, reform to ensure a tight fit, and install.

Finn5033

Now that I think about it I believe there was power to the purple wire on lower settings until I unhooked and remove the resistor block. That makes sense to me know

Finn5033

I pulled the inner fender and got to the blower motor. I pulled it out and ran a wire directly from the battery to it and grounded it on the frame. The blower motor does work. While I still had it out I hooked the purple wire to the motor and it also worked. When I put the blower motor back in the fan box and hooked it up it doesn't work. I checked the fuses and they are fine. What grounds the motor in the fan box? I tried running a wire from one of the screws holding the motor in to a ground spot and it still didn't work. If the wire I am using for the ground is too small will it not ground? I don't know where to go next with this. Any thoughts?

MDchanic

There should be a ground wire from the motor mounting screw to ground, as the blower box is fiberglass.

If your wire didn't work, you probably attached it to dirty or painted metal.

And be sure to connect the little cooling hose from the blower box to the motor, or it will overheat.

- Eric

Finn5033

Looking at the picture that Lady72 posted on here I see some pieces that are missing on my car. The cooling hose is not there. That small cylinder attached to one of the motor mount screws next to the cooling hose is not there either. Is that grounded right to the frame next to it? There was nothing there to ground the motor. What is that small cylinder? Is that something I can still get from the parts store?

MDchanic

It's an RF suppression condenser to keep your radio from buzzing when the fan is on. I have no idea where you can get that particular one, but any condenser of that value (which I don't know, but could measure when I replace my motor in a few weeks) should work fine.

- Eric

Finn5033

ok, my radio doesn't work and I don't plan on digging in to that so I won't worry about it. Do you know if I can still by that cooling hose piece? Other than that all I need to do is get a good ground to it then?

MDchanic

Fusick might have it. Otherwise it's a junkyard item.

Right. Shiny metal to shiny metal. And the wire needs to be at least as big as the feed wire, which I believe is 12 gauge.

If you use terminal ends (and you should), SOLDER the connections.

- Eric

Finn5033

sounds good, thanks for the help i will update after i get it working.

Lady72nRob71

Get a good ground from bare metal of the motor to bare metal of the body and you're golden. Use a short piece of 12 gauge stranded wire.
The cooling hose will need to be found used. Not installing it can cause the new motor to fail.

Now that the inner fender is gone, what ELSE needs resoration??

Finn5033

@Lady72 The car body is in fantastic shape, I could clean up and paint the frame but I plan on having the motor out again during the winter as I am going to rebuild the original motor. Right now I just want to get it running so I can use it this summer. I am sure there are things I could do though.

Finn5033

I am having a terrible time finding one of those cooling hoses. Would the part be the same for most of the oldsmobile models for a number of years? Is it possible that the part is the same on some chevy, pontiac, and buick cars as well?

frankr442

You're evil. Now the kid's not going to get to drive his car all summer.

Lady72nRob71

Place a part-wanted post - I am sure one of the Olds parts packrats here will have one for you. Someone else got one a month ago or so.

He already declined against it. He must have been one of the guys I sold my Anti-MAW helmets to...

Finn5033

Great news, I got a good piece of 12 guage stranded wire from a buddy of mine that is an electrician. Used a grinder to shine up a spot on the blower motor and found an existing bolt on the frame to take out and shine up, and wouldn't you know the blower motor works now and every speed works as well. I found a salvage yard near by that thinks he has a cooling hose for it, I am swinging in to pick it up on the way home from work. Thanks for the help everyone.

Wills72455

For what it's worth those cooling hoses are the same on most GM products. The blower on an 80 G-body has one as well and I believe it's the same size.