Issue with Climate Control System

[cthomasparr]

I have a 2004 vibe and have had problems with the blower motor not working on any speed setting. This happens intermittently and will be fixed sometimes by hitting a bump, or closing the doors... something to shake the car. Also sometimes the passenger can wiggle the wires in the footwell and get it going. If it works when the car starts or hits a bump, it has never stopped working as long as the car was running/key turned. About 50% of the time it will not work at startup.

I had the problem and replaced the blower motor resistor, which was probably not the real problem. Anyone have any success chasing down bad connections or grounds and could suggest anything that can be done.

Thanks for the help

[trb]

My son's 06 had the same problem. Kicking the bottom of the dash would usually start the blower motor back up, but eventually it was dead almost every time we started the car. He resorted to removing the glove box and opening the cabin filter door and reaching in to the squirrel cage and spinning it every time he wanted air, so I ordered a new motor on ebay for about $39 shipped. Three screws and the wire connector later, and it has been working fine for the past 5 months.

[cthomasparr]

trb,
Sounds like a motor would probably solve my issue also. I will follow your advice and pick up one on ebay. Thanks for your help.

[Chiadog]

It is the motor. Mine has been working flawlessly since the WD-40 spray job described below!

I pulled the blower motor out today. The motor has brushes which are located under the black rubber plugs which oppose each other. I removed the two motor case screws and separated the 2 motor halves enough(3/8") to see that the brushes looked OK.
I was afraid to pull the cases totally apart since there appears to be no good way to reassemble it with the goofy rubber brush caps. I sprayed the armature and brush holders with WD40 and said a prayer. I put it all back together and I'll see how long it lasts. Such a shame that today all parts appear to be designed to be expendable.
Chia dog

[cthomasparr]

Chiadog,

I already pulled the trigger otherwise I would give cleaning a try. Another post I read said that the brushed on his looked pretty warn. As much as I hate stuff to go in the trash, I can say that this car is approaching 200K miles and really hasn't asked for much, so I don't hesitate to replace the infrequent failing part.
Just for the record, how long has it been since the cleaning? I couldn't tell by the post.
Thanks

[Chiadog]

Hi Cthomas,
It has been 3 weeks since the cleaning and so far, so good.
I'm guessing the wd-40 spraying "fixed" the problem since my brushes looked like new and I was having to "rap' the motor every time I started the car. It seems one of the brushes was hanging-up! I will let the group know of any future failure.
Please do a post-mortem on your old motor and update this thread with your the brush condition and information on if it is possible to disassemble and reassemble the blower motor without breaking it! I couldn't see how I would have put the brushes back in, had I fully removed the motor end cap.
Thanks,
chiadog

[4tun81]

Sorry to revive this but I had a similar issue with my blower motor recently. I was able to pull the motor apart and the brushes out completely and then reassemble it. It is fairly easy to reassemble and I have nearly zero mechanical ability. I did not go further than pulling the lower housing off and cleaning as much as I could. I did not see a way to pull the fan from the motor so didn't, fwiw.

[Chiadog]

[quote="4tun81 ... I was able to pull the motor apart and the brushes out completely and then reassemble it. [/quote]

What holds the brushes in? Did you re-install the brushes after putting the motor case back together? Or did you find a way to retract the brushes to keep them from hitting the armature on re-assembly?
thanks,

[4tun81]

Hmm, here comes my dilemma as my nomenclature for electric motors is terrible. From what I understand, I was able to pull the brushes out completely along with the power plug for the blower motor. It sits in the bottom portion of the assembly attached via 4-5 solder points. That separates from the lower housing of the blower motor with a slight tug. It's only held on via the rubber grommets. From there I was able to reassemble the brushes into their slots/runners using my hands and then I just slipped them over the fan/rod assembly which was fan down (I learned recently this shouldn't be done, don't know why). Then I put the lower housing on.

The insides of the motor look similar to this:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-ge ... ost3219337" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EDIT: I actually just looked at the forum post attached to that picture and it has a well done example from a Toyota pickup and the pictures are similar to what ours look like. My issue is similar to what these guys talk about (chirping motor) and my "fix" solved 90% but I may have to use some better grease in mine.

[Chiadog]

Thanks 4tun81,
That answers both of my questions!