So Cold... Heater help

[SubaLegacy]

Well, I'm in Minnesota and it's starting to get cold, and of course my heater blower decides it's time to pass on to the big junkyard in the sky. So I replaced it. It's still not working. I've read through the threads and if it was the blower motor resistor I would at least be getting "high", right? So it must not be that, even though I pulled it out of my evaporator box, and it looks pretty bad, rusty with chunks of like calcium deposits rattling around or something. So I'm guessing I might need a new one of those too. Anyhow I think I found the relays and I tested them by hooking them up to a battery and they tested good using my 12 volt tester. Both of the relays I tested were little black plastic things that said 12 volt on them. I called the nearest Suby place, which is about 2 hours away, and they said that the main relay is probably what is wrong, but isn't that what I tested? I tested one relay that was above all of my fuses on the driver's side and it was in the same plastic box as the rest of the fuses, just way up there, above the little removable light bulb. the other I tested was way on the passenger side screwed to the side of dashboard behind the glove box. The Suby guy said the main relay is silver, so is this right? And where is it? Or what other problem might I have? There is no 12 volt power testing on the wire that plugs into the resistor and no 12 volt power on the other wire that goes to the blower, but there is power at my fuse box where the 2 15 amps fuses are for the heater and the other for the main fan fuse. Oh yeah and the fuse is good in the box under the hood, it wasn't, but now it is. So it has to be somewhere between the fuse box and the resistor. Can anyone give me more info on what that relay looks like and where I can find it, maybe I tested the wrong one? Or any other possibilities. Please help.

[SubaLegacy]

By the way, I took the switch out that adjusts the speed and it was gunked up a bit but looked like it was making proper contact on all settings. I don't know if that matters or not.

[vrg3]

Please, please, try to organize your writing into paragraphs. It'll help those whom you are asking for help.

The silver relay is indeed the main blower relay. It should be in the interior fuse box. I'm not familiar with the little removable light bulb, so I'm not sure whether you were looking in the right place or not.

Sometimes when it's really cold my blower quits and I have to use my clutch foot to give that area a blunt kick to get it to start again.

[SubaLegacy]

Yeah sorry about the long windedness, I've just read a lot of threads and tried a lot of things and I wanted to provide as much info as possible so I wouldn't get a "try this thread" answer or "did you try...".

I went out and looked again and is it possible that my relay is just black and not silver, because I'm 90 percent sure I'm looking in the right place. Above where I am looking is basically the bolt to take off the fuse panel. There are three total black plastic relays in a row. There is only one possible fuse panel inside the car, right? On the driver's side.

I used this pic for reference.

http://www.surrealmirage.com/subaru/fil ... tion03.jpg

[vrg3]

Lots of information is fine -- it's good, in fact, for the reasons you state -- but it helps to space it out so it's easier to read.

Oh, hmm, I think I was mistaken... The relays on the fuse box itself are not the right ones. "Main fan" refers to the radiator fan, I believe.

The blower relay is in that vicinity but is separate from the fuse box. You see in the upper left portion of that page where it says "Blower relay (Neutral)" ? That's the one. It has an unpainted metal cylindrical body.

[SubaLegacy]

Okay, I see what you are talking about in the pic, but I can't see it in my car. I have the trim off from around the gauges and the mirror adjuster is off, got any suggestions on how to get to it?

[vrg3]

I don't think you need to remove that trim... I haven't actually replaced my blower relay yet though, so I could be wrong.

You've removed the little panel that kind of sits above the driver's knees? Cuz I think that and a flashlight should be all you really need.

You may have to sit on the ground just outside the driver's seat with your back to the car, and reach with your right hand.

Or you might try sitting upside-down in the driver's seat.

The relay may be obscured by wiring harnesses or other stuff, so poke around a bit.

[93forestpearl]

I've gone through three of them. The heater fan relay is silver and cylindrical in shape, and it says Denso on it, somethimes. It is in the dash, on your left when sitting in the driver's seat. It's waaaay up there, almost to where the vent ducting is, but slightly back. The Haynes manual has a good pic of where it is. The relay has a white plug on it, and it is held in place by a palstic strap that locks around it.

Mine have all gone without warning. Dealer price is about $45 so I suggest going to the JY and paying $5. Last time I was there, I grabbed three.

By the way, I suggest putting some duct tape on the corner of the ECU because it will slice your hand open, don't ask how I know.





My cell doesn't take the best pics, but I hope this helps.

[MPtyza]

Yeah, I've got the same problem with my blower motor. Since I've owned the car, it's never worked. I've tried replacing the blower motor relay a couple times, the blower motor itself, and I've also tried a couple resistors with no luck.

I also have to replace the whole heater control panel, but that's my own damn fault

[SubaLegacy]

All right, everything's good and just in time for the first bit of snow here. If it will help anyone else to know what I did to get to that blower relay, here it goes. It wasn' that bad actually.

Unbolting the Fuse panel is by far the most important step. Except for maybe having the trim under the steering column off of course.

Then I unbolted a little plastic holder for a couple of wiring harness connectors, I moved around some wires, put my arm up behind the unbolted fuse panel and voila there it was.

I unsnapped the relay from its perch, pulled the relay itself, figured out which part of the relay was the switch, I think it is the two copper pins.

I used a piece of 10 or 12 guage wire, flattened out the ends and put it in the empty harness to jump the space where the copper pins were and I had power to my blower motor.

I went to NAPA and got a new relay, on a Sunday even, stuck it in, put my dash pieces back together and bam, no more chills.

Thanks to everyone who posted help here on this thread and anywhere in the forum about it in the past.

Now that I've done it I could do it in like 10 minutes probably, but it was a good educational experience.

[SubaLegacy]

Oh yeah vrg3, I had all the trim off to test some other things, including the speed selector switch itself, but you're right I don't think it helped in getting to the relay, it might have given my a better view of where it was, but now that it's all back together I don't remeber for sure. It sucks getting the trim off with the hazard lights and the cruise and rear defrost switches so if anyone needs to change the blower relay take the trim off as a last resort if having trouble finding it.