TooFast4Radar

Everything was working normally when I turned the car off, but when I started the car the climate control display functions normally but the interior blower fan is not working and the compressor/compressor fans are not turning on. Changing the fan speed from low to high has no impact. If I change the temperature from the lowest to the highest setting I can hear a motor in the dash opening up the heater core and feel a slight amount of warm air through the vent (engine was barely warm) so that seems to be working. There's no error message.

I tried turning on and off the dual mode as well as auto with no change. I looked at the fuses and don't see anything out of place. I swapped some of the relays around by the battery and still nothing. Would an issue with the blower fan cause this? I did search but could not find an answer. If anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate it!

thoiboi

How did you look at the fuses? Did you pull each one and test continuity?

TooFast4Radar

The fuses didn't appear to be broken when looking through the top of them. When I get home I can check my volt meter, but typically a fuse when blown is quite noticeable.

TooFast4Radar

After doing some more searching I came upon people reporting that the Blower Fan Resistor going out on their Hondas with similar circumstances. I've had a lot of cars over the years and never had this issue before, but this seems like a plausible explanation. My only question is if the blower fan resistor is bad will that cause the AC Compressor to not turn on as well?

nfnsquared

Check fuse #30 (7.5A) in the under dash fuse box. In fact, rather than checking it, go ahead a just replace it. I've seen plenty of cases where guys thought the fuse was good upon visual inspection when, in fact, it was bad.

TooFast4Radar

It's certainly not the fuse. After driving for about a few minutes with the fans set to the highest level they turned on, but the A/C Compressor did not turn on. I hit the Off button on the climate control then turned it back on and the fans work at all speeds and the A/C Compressor kicked on. It did the same thing twice today so I ordered the blow fan transistor and will report back my findings once I swap it out.

nfnsquared

FYI, there's only 1 fan (blower).

TooFast4Radar

Yeah I'm not sure why I said that. The blower motor was easily accessible by removing the panel in the passenger side foot well.

kygenbagels

Please update if you've found a solution! I have the exact same issue. I check my fuses and they are working as well.

TooFast4Radar

Will do! I bought the "Beck/Arnley 204-0021 Blower Motor Resistor" from Amazon and it was $28.78 shipped with a 1-Year warranty. There's a cheaper one but I wouldn't count on any warranty. From my experience electronics that fail typically do so shortly after you begin using them otherwise if they make it over a year they will make it a long longer than that. I doubt an OEM Honda/Acura part would have a warranty over a year so that's good enough for me.

I'll install it tomorrow and try to take a couple quick photos with my phone, but it's quite simple to remove. The panel under the dash just came up by pulling it downwards and it's 2 screws that you remove with a phillips screwdriver to remove the resistor. After that it just unplugs. I did pop the plastic end piece to inspect it and while the PCB looked decent you could tell some of the solder on the surface has been exposed to some heat over the years. I'll try to get some photos of that as well after I swap the new part.

BreezyTL

iTrader: (8)

I have a resistor from my 05 part out. let me know if anyone needs its.

Interested to hear if this fixes your issue! Also have a blower too!

kygenbagels

Thank you so much, if all goes well, I think ill give it a shot as well.

TooFast4Radar

As of now it's inconclusive. I initially swapped out the part and the blower motor did not turn on.

I turned the ignition off and unplugged the resistor then used my multimeter meter on that connector to make sure that the resistor was getting power and it was. I next removed the fan (3 Phillips screws) and tested the fan by connecting power directly to the battery. The fan spun up immediately. I then re-installed the fan then tested the connector with the multimeter. Again it was getting power to the connector. With the key still in the on position and the fan speed set to maximum on the climate control I plugged the motor in and it kicked on and spun up. I turned the car off and back on and the fan worked every time. I let the car sit for over an hour and checked it and it worked again.

That was last night. I'm going to let the car sit in the garage untouched and check it tomorrow night to see what happens. The first time this issue occurred the car was parked for only 15 minutes. The next time it happened was the same day after stopping for fuel. It occurred the following day for short stops like going into the post office and getting my hair cut.

My hunch is that it could just be the motor. My guess is that even if the fan speed was last set to maximum when the car was turned off that it will "step up" the motor speed from low to high when the car turns back on instead of just immediately going to full power and this should the motor be wearing out could cause the problem. If the motor is going bad then getting a direct full voltage/amperage from the battery would give it the kick it needs to spin up, however if the brushes in the motor are going south it may not have the necessary initial kick to get the fan started when it ramps up.

If it does it again I'll look into getting a new fan as I suspect that would be the next logical place to go. If you have a multimeter I would suggest trying the steps as I did and seeing where it gets you. I did leave the new resistor in place and I'm keeping the old one as it may still be good (but not counting on it) I'll update everyone with any new information or changes. If anyone else has any thoughts or input I would welcome that as well.

TooFast4Radar

Just to update, the fan has been turning on normally when the car goes to the on position. If it changes I'll post back, but for now I'm going to call it fixed.

TooFast4Radar

Another update: I turned the car to the on position and again the fan was not working. I gave the bottom of the blower motor a little smack and it turned on so I'm guessing that there's an issue inside the motor itself, possibly a solder joint that's weak. I'm going to disassemble the fan and see what I can find!

TooFast4Radar

I just finished disassembling the blower motor assembly and took the motor apart. It's not difficult to do, but you must be careful that the two springs don't get lost. I noticed there was a lot of dust from the two magnets on the motor housing that made the inside of the motor dirty. I'm not sure if this impacted the contacts, but it's possible. This is where electronics parts cleaner comes in handy. The two brushes looked okay with minor wear. I used a brush to lightly clean up the commutators which were dirty as well. I can't say that this is the cause of the problems, but if it was the motor this would seem to be the most likely thing I could fine. I used my multimeter and checked the commutators and they all measured the same at ~.8 ohms so I think that's probably normal. There was no noticeable play in the motor and it spun freely.

The blower fan itself was also pitch black from the dust from the motor. I cleaned that with Dawn dish soap and it turned mostly white again. At the very least if you're in there I would suggest taking a 10mm socket and removing the fan to clean it. It was disgusting so I'm glad the air I breathe isn't going through that dirty thing anymore.

After I reassembled everything and plugged it in the motor turned right on so I'll cross my fingers that it was just a filthy motor.

nfnsquared

Good job on cleaning. FYI, the air is filtered before it reaches you...

TooFast4Radar

I understand but like most filtered systems it's possible for air to get around the filter. I've seen the inside of some vents in cars that are filthy so it just made sense to clean it out. While I had everything apart it just made sense. I'll let everyone know if I continue to have the problem after cleaning the motor.

kygenbagels

By any chance, do you have the resistor and the blower still? How much would you let those items go?