No blower or rear defrost.

RedGeminiPA · Sat Nov 11, 2017 2:38 pm

My '11 started having an issue the other day with no blower motor function, and it seems the rear defroster isn't working, either. Any ideas? We really need to get this fixed ASAP. We're hitting a very cold spell (currently 15º F), and we really need to get this fixed.

When it first did it, after hitting a bump, it started working. That wasn't the case last night.

WESHOOT2 · Sat Nov 11, 2017 6:25 pm

I had to replace both the blower and its thyristor controller.

RedGeminiPA · Sun Nov 12, 2017 5:56 pm

Any how-tos or videos showing where and how to get to these things?

Mon Nov 13, 2017 2:21 am

Not sure what commonality exists between the blower motor itself and the rear defroster. The two things reported not to be functioning at the same time. Before you get too carried away with blower motor replacement, I'd start by checking fuses (with an ohm meter).

Hard bumps and electrical magic happening indicates a loose connector somewhere, which, could easily be another point of commonality. Loose connections can cause fuses to blow in loaded circuits as well.

RedGeminiPA · Mon Nov 13, 2017 2:26 pm

That's what I'm leaning towards. It has been working fine the past couple days. It's only doing it when it's really cold.

LPSISRL · Mon Nov 13, 2017 5:37 pm

RedGeminiPA wrote:That's what I'm leaning towards. It has been working fine the past couple days. It's only doing it when it's really cold.

I agree that it's a bad connection somewhere. Cold=Contraction. Contraction=Bad Connection.

Good luck!

RedGeminiPA · Sun Nov 19, 2017 2:18 pm

It did it again yesterday, with temps in the low 40s. I tried getting in under the dash to check those fuses, but I'm not entirely sure which one it could be. I pushed in on all of them, to make sure they were tight, and nothing happened. Rear defrost was working, though. I checked under the hood. It looks like one of the block fuses is for the blower. I couldn't see any issues, but I did keep tapping and pushing on it with no change. After I allowed the hood to drop closed from about 18", the blower started working a few seconds later. I'm not sure if that's a coincidence or not.

Sun Nov 19, 2017 6:42 pm

Something's electrically not connecting properly in the mechanical sense as evidenced by the jolts, from whatever source, inducing both function and intermittent problems. Relays can mechanically fail inside w/o anything visually abnormal on the outside. Try replacing the relay for starters. It still could be something internal to the blower itself as well. Again, connectors may need to be unplugged and reseated to 'wipe' the contacts.

Also just wondering if the car was ever wrecked?

Woodie · Mon Nov 20, 2017 11:42 am

Very often there are multiple relays that are the same part #. If so, you can swap them around and see if the intermittent problem moves to another component.

RedGeminiPA · Wed Nov 22, 2017 3:11 pm

Another quick update: We left it parked at hubby's work the other night. When we picked it up the next morning, it was a nice, frosty 32º outside. When he started it, it worked... The more I thought about it, it was parked with the sun hitting the hood all morning, meaning it was slightly warmer under the hood. I'm definitely leaning towards at least the fuse under the hood as being slightly cracked. A friend of mine had a spare 60A laying around that I'll swap in the next time it acts up.

At home, there's a hill behind the house, meaning we don't get any real sun shining until late morning, so little to no time for anything to start warming up.