A/C Blower Problem

BigRed2007 · Jul 5, 2011

I did a quick forum search and found nothing relating to this before, but wanted to share my experience.

Yesterday I ran an errand with my father-in-law, about 80 miles round trip, 85 degrees and humid so we had the A/C blasting the whole time. No problems. Later, we all piled in the truck to go to a BBQ. My in-laws sat in back and my wife road shotgun. When I started the truck, the A/C was still set to A/C MAX, but there was no air coming from the vents. The leds were lit for A/C and vent closed. I turned it on & off a couple of times but nothing happened. All of a sudden the fan started to make this hideous noise and the dash started to shake. I discovered the problem and fixed it right away. My wife had a large canvas tote bag with our bathing suits and towels on the floor jammed up under the dash, compressing the plastic housing for the blower. After I pulled it out from where it was stuffed, all was well, but for a moment there I admit I felt a little ill.

jamesperiera · Jul 16, 2011

I had the same problem with my Tundra. I don't know anything technical about A/C and my aim is to find some New York auto repair shops. If you know where in New York can I find a good repair shop, I would appreciate it very much. I didn't make my own thread because we have the both problem. If there are no air coming from your A/C, what could be the cause?

haroldbrock · Jul 19, 2011

jamesperiera said:
I had the same problem with my Tundra. I don't know anything technical about A/C and my aim is to find some New York auto repair shops. If you know where in New York can I find a good repair shop, I would appreciate it very much. I didn't make my own thread because we have the both problem. If there are no air coming from your A/C, what could be the cause?

Your fuses may have gone bad my friend, check them first before you suspect on the A/C parts. If there is power from these fuses, you can check on the compressors and blower.

There are some good auto repair in New York that you can search on the internet. I don't know where in New york are you and since it is so big the only thing that I can give you is an advice. I know a site where you can find a auto repair shop the only thing you would do is find the nearest one in your area. I've provided a link in this post to help you locate the site easily.

daddylonglegs2 · Jul 16, 2011

If the blower is not working then you should replace it. But aside from that check if there are other parts affected by this incident in your A/C.

James I think you should check the compressors if you can't find the problem on the blower.

Toxarch · Jul 16, 2011

First check your fuses.

Powertechn2 · Jul 16, 2011

yes, if nothing is blowing, start at fuses, then work your way to the fan... things can block the fan.

and i have noticed that mine if i leave it in one spot takes a lil bit till its up to speed, especially in winter. mine is that way, so was the other one i tested, so is my chrysler, i just assumed its soft start.

BigRed2007 · Sep 27, 2011

UPDATE: Problem Re-occurred...Now Solved!!

Saturday was the CT Fallen Firefighters Memorial ceremony, which I attended with one of my guys. We rode in my truck, and since it was warm and humid we had the A/C cranked because we were in full dress uniform. No problems on the way over, and we parked the truck for a few hours while at the academy. When we went to leave, the fan was now mysteriously vibrating at all speeds. I pulled over into a parking lot to check it out, but couldn't do much more than rap on the blower motor so I wouldn't ruin my uniform. We rode home with the windows open and the blower off so as not to permanently damage it. I felt that something had fallen into the centrifugal fan, throwing it out of balance. After I got home and changed clothes, I dropped the blower motor to see what was wrong. Sure enough, the source of this and my previous problem was a wayward acorn. I couldn't imagine how an acorn got there past the cabin air filter, so I pulled it out to check. Apparently, the dealer never replaced it when I bought the truck, because on top of the filter was a vacant mouse nest (and a pile of pine needles, etc.), and the mouse had chewed through the filter allowing the acorn to fall through. My truck was a lease turn in that was bought at an auction, and then sat unsold on the dealers lot for four months until I bought it. More than enough time to have critters move in. I am getting a new cabin air filter on the way home from work today. The persistent odor of musty woods that I would smell upon opening my truck door after sitting a day or two is now gone as well.

stonevilleicetea · Mar 17, 2012

I think I'm having a similar issue except my blower isn't blowing air at all.

BigRed2007 · Mar 18, 2012

Is it spinning and not blowing, or not running at all? If it's not running then check for a blown fuse, and if the fuse is OK drop the blower motor to se if the centrifugal fan is jammed. If the fan is running and no air is coming out, then the air control flaps inside the ductwork could be jammed, or another type of blockage in the duct.

stonevilleicetea · Mar 18, 2012

Nah, It doesn't cut on at all. What fuse controls that cause I checked both AC fuses and they were fine. Another thing is that a few weeks ago, I installed a new stereo so I'm wondering if i pinched a wire or something.

It went out Thursday when i was driving down road and I pulled over and kind of jiggled some cables and it came back on however, it went off again Friday and I've yet to get it back on. I had no idea until I joined these forums that there was even an air filter behind my dash but i checked it and although very dirty, it had no holes inside where something could pass through.

stonevilleicetea · Mar 18, 2012

pulled out blower

So I dropped blower and connected power and it does nothing once i cut fan on low or high. Here is pic of it as it doesn't look like nothing is obstructing it. Still not sure where the fuse is for this though.

stonevilleicetea · Mar 20, 2012

I guess this is my last reply on this issue before I have to just suck it up and take it to the dealership and pay Godly amount of money. So here is what I've done in the past day:

1. bought a new blower motor- Still no spinning so I'm also out of the 150.00 I had to pay the dealership for the part since they won't let me return it.

2. I put a light test on the harness that plugs directly into the blower and I got light from the blue cable going in, no light from white/black (ground?) and no light from the one in the middle that is a smaller wire. I have attached a photo of the harness. Should I have a light on more than just the blue? I never could find any fuses to check other than the A/C fuses in the foot panel which looked normal.

Mr. Creosote · Mar 21, 2012

The two larger wires get switched 12V. They are hot whenever the ignition is on, regardless of whether the fan is switched on or not. The smaller wire is the "trigger". The electronics in the dash will apply ~5V to this smaller wire to turn on the fan.

stonevilleicetea · Mar 21, 2012

Should all 3 light up when doing a test?

stonevilleicetea · Mar 21, 2012

What fuses control the heater blower? All I see is in the kick panel where their is a 7.5 fuse. That visually looks ok. I cant locate another fuse.

Mr. Creosote · Mar 21, 2012

The fat wire is fused with a honkin big fuse in the box under the hood, driver's side.

Mr. Creosote · Mar 21, 2012

One of the fat wires is ground, the other fat wire is switched 12V. If you have your test light grounded, the wire with switched 12V will light up. The other fat wire will not because it is ground. The third skinny wire has a lower voltage on it, which will vary depending on how high you have the fan turned on. Your light may or may not pick this up. It would be better to use an oscilloscope, or at least a voltmeter, to measure this.

stonevilleicetea · Mar 21, 2012

So i tested again today with my electrician here at work and when he plugs his tester into the wiring harness, he gets 12V however once he plugs the blower into that harness and tests, it draws 2V only.

I thought it may be a resister but called the dealership and they said that this doesn't have a resister. I am still unable to find a fuse or a relay to troubleshoot.

stonevilleicetea · Mar 21, 2012

I called the toyota dealership to ask if I could buy a "resister" and they said that it didn't have a resister in it. Instead he wanted to sell me the A/C Amplifier which cost around 300 bucks.

Mr. Creosote · Mar 22, 2012

Which wire did your electrician probe? Fat ones or skinny one?

stonevilleicetea · Mar 22, 2012

Fat ones!

Mr. Creosote · Mar 22, 2012

In that case you should indeed see 12V at all points in the harness corresponding to those same fat wires. There is a break in the wire somewhere.

stonevilleicetea · Mar 22, 2012

Well, I took the blower motor i bought back to dealer today in an attempt to at least get something back for it since he said the other day he couldn't give me my money back. At any rate, I called his bluff and said well I just want to swap it for same item since it didnt' work. He took it to back and had them test it, came back out and said yeh it's definitely broken and then gave me my money back. So, I got to buy another one tomorrow and try so it still could be the blower motor i guess. to be continued...

Mr. Creosote · Mar 23, 2012

Seems odd it will pull down the voltage that much without blowing the fuse. :dunno:

stonevilleicetea · Mar 23, 2012

I agree however I've yet to locate a fuse for heater.

Mr. Creosote · Mar 23, 2012

Under the hood in a black plastic box near the battery.

stonevilleicetea · Mar 23, 2012

Fuse box

Well, I have been looking for a fuse for a week now. Here is the picture of where my owners manuel and fuse box diagram says it's at but all i see is this glass casing in the place of where the HTR fuse should be.

stonevilleicetea · Mar 23, 2012

Got another blower motor today and it worked when i bench tested so I tried my original again and it worked too so It's definitely not the blower motor. The only thing i can really think of now is that a) I accidently pinched or unplugged a wire while installing my car stereo a couple months ago or b)Air Amplifier may have gone bad. I guess I'll remove my dash this weekend and look around and then take it to the dealership worst case.

stonevilleicetea · Mar 23, 2012

focusing on the small wire. If that wire was pinched or cut. Would the fan turn?

A/C Blower Problem

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