hi all - looking to find out the exact location of the heater fan relay.
after pulling the HVAC controls & resoldering the connections (thanks to the info found here) reinstalled and the fan worked for a short while, but now it doesn't again - suspecting a bad relay.
car is 90 Legacy Sedan, 5spd FWD w/201,000 miles
also open to other possible causes for the fan not working (fuses are fine btw)
Thanks in advance.
heater fan relay location?
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greg donovan
- Fourth Gear
- Posts: 1947
- Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2003 6:22 pm
- Location: Fargo, ND
does the fan work at all?
if the relay is bad it will only blow on high.
there are three resistors in the relay for the 1 2 and 3 speeds and no resistor for 4.
the relay is located behind the glove box.
i think you have to pull the glove box out.
if the relay is bad it will only blow on high.
there are three resistors in the relay for the 1 2 and 3 speeds and no resistor for 4.
the relay is located behind the glove box.
i think you have to pull the glove box out.
96 Impreza L sedan
97 legacy outback limited
00 Impreza RS sedan
97 legacy outback limited
00 Impreza RS sedan
right now we have nothing - no fan at all.
like i said, it did work briefly. couple of days later - nothing. (just an fyi - the car is not registered yet, so hasnt been driven. it was sitting for a couple days between when it worked and when it didnt again...)
i pulled the control panel again and am going to touch up ALL solder joints just to make darn sure.
So these have the "resistor block" like the old ea82's?? we have several EA82's here - trying to upgrade a little.
like i said, it did work briefly. couple of days later - nothing. (just an fyi - the car is not registered yet, so hasnt been driven. it was sitting for a couple days between when it worked and when it didnt again...)
i pulled the control panel again and am going to touch up ALL solder joints just to make darn sure.
So these have the "resistor block" like the old ea82's?? we have several EA82's here - trying to upgrade a little.
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greg donovan
- Fourth Gear
- Posts: 1947
- Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2003 6:22 pm
- Location: Fargo, ND
t has been a while since i replaced mine but yeah i think it is pretty simial looking to that one.heartless wrote:right now we have nothing - no fan at all.
like i said, it did work briefly. couple of days later - nothing. (just an fyi - the car is not registered yet, so hasnt been driven. it was sitting for a couple days between when it worked and when it didnt again...)
i pulled the control panel again and am going to touch up ALL solder joints just to make darn sure.
So these have the "resistor block" like the old ea82's?? we have several EA82's here - trying to upgrade a little.
96 Impreza L sedan
97 legacy outback limited
00 Impreza RS sedan
97 legacy outback limited
00 Impreza RS sedan
all right, i am stumped now.
resoldered everything, reinstall in the car - works fine, shut car off, start putting the dash back together, now it doesnt work - and car runs crappy as well - nearly stalling out, kind of rough at low idle - ok if i give it a little gas.
so what the heck is going on here??? there has to be something....
resoldered everything, reinstall in the car - works fine, shut car off, start putting the dash back together, now it doesnt work - and car runs crappy as well - nearly stalling out, kind of rough at low idle - ok if i give it a little gas.
so what the heck is going on here??? there has to be something....
I had the same symptoms on my heater blower.
You might want to look at a large wire on the bottom right of your fuse box...next to your left foot (three wires on the connector, two large and one smaller one). If you had a dealer put in fog lights or a cruise control when it was new, it was a preferred and common dealer mechanic shortcut to tap into one of the larger wires located there. Movement with your foot near the clutch or left foot-rest over the years with touching the connector bump (the tap in is about 1/2 inch wide and can be touched and moved by your foot) and bending the wires can eventually break some of the smaller wires inside the larger wire. This will create a high amp short that is not very well fused by high load fuses in the main fuse box.
You can check this by disconnect the connector near the fuse box. You may see that it is blackened and shorted wiggling the wires with it plugged in should cause your blower to start working temporarily (but fix it immediately). If so, you can go to a junk yard and get a replacement of the three wire connector and splice it in with good wire connectors from an auto parts store.
Another problem is that small wires that go into the back of your A/C heat controller indirectly feed off that main wire and do not like the high amps caused by a short in this 15 amp circuit (or high amps from a bad resistor cluster located in behind your glove box). These wires are very delicate and even twisting them when removing and installing the unit can cause a short in the small wires, especially if they are weakened by high amps. If so, you may need to take away about 1 foot of the wires leading to the 17 wire connector and replace them with a spliced in one from a junk yard. (Unfortunately, you may need to remove the dash to do this.)
As I said, I had the exact same symptoms. The short by the foot at the fuse box had created enough heat in the wires that it half burnt the contacts in the 17 wire connector and they broke inside the insulation. (This happened after I located the main short and replaced the main wire near the fuse-box.) I then had to replace the 17 wire connector section as a second project (pain).
Watch out when you are under the dash, you don't want to pull on the speedometer cable that is located near the wire bundle for the 17 wire connector...or you will need to remove the instrument cluster to replace it.
By the way, Stevens Creek Subaru in San Jose did not find the original problem after two hours of an "expert" working on my car. But, they were happy to charge me $250 for the pleasure of their incompetence. After they wanted a $1000 for 5 more hours of work, I said "No Way" picked up my car and found the short within 15 minutes of looking at the fuse box and it's connectors. (Should have worked on it myself...but assumed their expertise.) Later, I had to make the other repairs caused by the original short.
Hope this helps.
Good luck,
J.
You might want to look at a large wire on the bottom right of your fuse box...next to your left foot (three wires on the connector, two large and one smaller one). If you had a dealer put in fog lights or a cruise control when it was new, it was a preferred and common dealer mechanic shortcut to tap into one of the larger wires located there. Movement with your foot near the clutch or left foot-rest over the years with touching the connector bump (the tap in is about 1/2 inch wide and can be touched and moved by your foot) and bending the wires can eventually break some of the smaller wires inside the larger wire. This will create a high amp short that is not very well fused by high load fuses in the main fuse box.
You can check this by disconnect the connector near the fuse box. You may see that it is blackened and shorted wiggling the wires with it plugged in should cause your blower to start working temporarily (but fix it immediately). If so, you can go to a junk yard and get a replacement of the three wire connector and splice it in with good wire connectors from an auto parts store.
Another problem is that small wires that go into the back of your A/C heat controller indirectly feed off that main wire and do not like the high amps caused by a short in this 15 amp circuit (or high amps from a bad resistor cluster located in behind your glove box). These wires are very delicate and even twisting them when removing and installing the unit can cause a short in the small wires, especially if they are weakened by high amps. If so, you may need to take away about 1 foot of the wires leading to the 17 wire connector and replace them with a spliced in one from a junk yard. (Unfortunately, you may need to remove the dash to do this.)
As I said, I had the exact same symptoms. The short by the foot at the fuse box had created enough heat in the wires that it half burnt the contacts in the 17 wire connector and they broke inside the insulation. (This happened after I located the main short and replaced the main wire near the fuse-box.) I then had to replace the 17 wire connector section as a second project (pain).
Watch out when you are under the dash, you don't want to pull on the speedometer cable that is located near the wire bundle for the 17 wire connector...or you will need to remove the instrument cluster to replace it.
By the way, Stevens Creek Subaru in San Jose did not find the original problem after two hours of an "expert" working on my car. But, they were happy to charge me $250 for the pleasure of their incompetence. After they wanted a $1000 for 5 more hours of work, I said "No Way" picked up my car and found the short within 15 minutes of looking at the fuse box and it's connectors. (Should have worked on it myself...but assumed their expertise.) Later, I had to make the other repairs caused by the original short.
Hope this helps.
Good luck,
J.
Wow, thank you very much for the info, it is something that will be checked into. This car is "new" to us, only had it a couple of weeks now - does have cruise, even tho it is an "L" series, FWD...makes me wonder if it was not factory, but added on at some point maybe.
anyway, will be checking into what you have described - thanks for sharing the info so that others may learn from it.
anyway, will be checking into what you have described - thanks for sharing the info so that others may learn from it.