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1997 ford escort wagon heater fan not working


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washington seagal
New User

Dec 29, 2012, 6:49 PM

Post #1 of 10 (6425 views)
1997 ford escort wagon heater fan not working Sign In

I drive a 1997 ford escort wagon. Recently the fan for the heater/ac unit stopped working. I can feel cold air coming out when the AC is on, and warm air coming out when the heat is on, but the fan doesn't run. I looked up some old posts and found that a common problem involved the connection to the fan motor which is located under the passenger side glove box. A friend helped me check the fuses and connection at the heater fan and we didn't find any problems. We even removed the fan/motor assembly and connected it to an automotive battery and the fan assembly worked fine. Does anyone have any additional insight into this problem?

Thanks so much...........Washington "Sea Gal"


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Dec 29, 2012, 7:03 PM

Post #2 of 10 (6415 views)
Re: 1997 ford escort wagon heater fan not working Sign In

You need to test for power and ground arriving at the motor to determine which one is missing. If neither, the motor is bad.



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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.



Sidom
Veteran / Moderator
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Dec 29, 2012, 8:29 PM

Post #3 of 10 (6402 views)
Re: 1997 ford escort wagon heater fan not working Sign In

How did your friend test the fuses & connection? What type of tools is he using?


washington seagal
New User

Dec 29, 2012, 10:37 PM

Post #4 of 10 (6386 views)
Re: 1997 ford escort wagon heater fan not working Sign In

 
The fuses were checked by removing them and visually inspecting them. There is also a 30amp circuit breaker labeled "heater". This was removed and tested for continuity using a voltmeter. The fan motor works.......we removed it from the vehicle and hooked it up to power and ground on a 12 v battery and it spins. Continuity of the connector at at the fan was also checked after removing the fan and was fine.

The next thing we are considering is removing the switch on the dash that operates the fan......is this a good next step or are we overlooking something else?

Thanks for your input.


Sidom
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Sidom profile image

Dec 29, 2012, 10:46 PM

Post #5 of 10 (6385 views)
Re: 1997 ford escort wagon heater fan not working Sign In

No....The next best step would be to get a 12v test light or voltmeter and go down to the connecter that hooks onto the blower motor,unhook the connecter and probe both terminals and see if one of them has power. If one terminal does have power, hook the test light up to a 12v power source and probe the other terminal that didn't have power and see if it will light up the test light....

Let us know what you find out......

You will be doing this with the key on & the fan motor turned to the on position


(This post was edited by Sidom on Dec 29, 2012, 10:48 PM)


washington seagal
New User

Jan 1, 2013, 5:04 PM

Post #6 of 10 (6352 views)
Re: 1997 ford escort wagon heater fan not working Sign In

Checked the fan connections with a volt meter. When the ignition key is in the on position, there is 12v at one of the leads. This is true regardless of the position of the fan switch, i.e., there is always 12v there as long as the ignition key is all the way on. Is this normal? Checked the other connector (ground) and it looks like that is the problem.....i.e., no continuity between ground connector and car battery ground.


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
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Jan 1, 2013, 5:17 PM

Post #7 of 10 (6347 views)
Re: 1997 ford escort wagon heater fan not working Sign In

OK, that helps a lot. All the controls are on the ground side of the circuit. You are looking at either a bad blower resister, blower switch or the wiring in between. If you have a means of testing for ground, you can do this at the resister plug. You will find ground on a different wire for every speed if the switch and wiring are OK. That would leave you with a bad resister.
You have 4 speeds

low bl/y
2 bl
3 bl/r
4 bl/w



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.



Sidom
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Sidom profile image

Jan 1, 2013, 5:31 PM

Post #8 of 10 (6342 views)
Re: 1997 ford escort wagon heater fan not working Sign In

Yes, that would be normal to have 12v at one connecter on that system. The control panel & blower motor resistor work off of the ground side...

What you can do is go to the blower motor resistor and check the connector coming from the control panel. It should have 4 wires in it. You can check for continuity between the pins and ground. Each wire will have continuity for each of the different fan switch positions....If there is continuity, then you have a bad blower motor resistor...

The resistor will be under the dash by the blower motor. The wire that had no power on it will go the resistor as well.....A quick of system power for the blower motor would be to ground the wire that had no powere on it, with the connector hooked up to the fan. If all is ok on the power side, grounding that wire will make the fan come on at full speed......Just make sure you don't ground the wire that had power on it.....or sparks will fly.....


washington seagal
New User

Jan 6, 2013, 12:31 AM

Post #9 of 10 (6312 views)
Re: 1997 ford escort wagon heater fan not working Sign In

I checked for continuity on the connector from dash to resistor and sure enough the switch and wiring seem to be fine, continuity for each pin changes depending on switch setting. I will try installing a new resistor. Thanks a bunch for all advice!


Sidom
Veteran / Moderator
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Jan 6, 2013, 12:38 AM

Post #10 of 10 (6308 views)
Re: 1997 ford escort wagon heater fan not working Sign In

No problem, good luck & let us know how it works out for you....






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