All speeds ahead

Back in November I noticed that the second speed on the blower motor in my 2010 Dodge Ram 1500 didn't work anymore.

All the other positions worked but not the second one. Interestingly this very same thing happened in my '96 Dodge Dakota back in the day. You might also remember a similar problem with Angie's 2006 VW Golf. Holy Toledo that was all the way back in 2016. For the price of the thermal switch (about $1) that was a really good fix! I notice I was a little nervous about it but its stood the test.

I lived with the problem in the truck for awhile. I had planned on buying a new truck in the fall but with the world doing what its doing I've switched into money save mode for the foreseeable future.

So I searched around a little and discovered the problem was probably the blower motor resistor. Rock Auto had one for about $25 delivered so I ordered it up and in less time than I expected (good job Rock Auto) the part had arrived.

 Here we are up above the passenger's feet, its just two phillips head screws to remove the old resistor pack.

 Well theres your problem lady! Theres definitely supposed to be more resistor pack in that resistor pack! The resistor pack sits in the airflow from the fan to keep it cool. Over the last year or so the 3rd brake light was leaking water into the cabin of the truck. The 3rd brake light on this truck is high on the back of the cab. I goobered it with sealant and it doesn't leak anymore. It took me a long time to find the leak because it would either leak down the rear window and under the back seat or down the A pillars at the front of the truck and onto the front floorboards. I spent a bunch of time sealing the windows before I figured it out. So I think the high humidity is what caused the issue, probably combined with some of that water going down the vents.

This is the replacement part, its actually the second one I ordered. The first was supposed to come from Amazon but what arrived was a "Speed Sensor" of some sort. The seller refunded my money and removed the listing, I suspect they were selling a part they didn't actually have...

Anyway with the new part installed the blower works correctly on all settings. The replacement took me maybe 2 minutes. I love the quick fixes!

Car fixin

You never really think about your ability to set the fan in the car at different speeds until all of a sudden you can't...

Angie has been driving our 2005 VW Golf and thus it wasn't for some time that I noticed the fan only worked on the high position. She doesn't complain much and since she had a work around she took it. Winter is an especially annoying time to have the fan not work at low speed since a warm car will tend to fog the windshield so I knew this had to be fixed.

The problem turns out to be a common one caused by a failed thermal switch:

 That's the little blue headed pointy thing in the picture. The big green part is the resistor pack that actually runs the fan at lower speed. The thermal switch is there to keep the resistor pack from burning up if too much power is requested.

So I could just replace the thermal switch but that doesn't address the root cause of the problem which is a sticky fan. The 4th generation Golf and Jetta have a tendency to get some water in the fan which gums up the motor, the gummy motor draws more power and pops the thermal switch. So I popped out the fan, cleaned its bearings (well, bushings actually) good with carb cleaner and dripped a variety of lubricating substances in. I saw a YouTube video where the guy used WD40 but WD is "water displacing" its not really a lubricant. I started with Marvel Mystery oil lubricating formula and moved on to PB Blaster in an effort to find something that would make its way into the bushing. Then I reinstalled the fan and replaced the thermal switch.

I was a little nervous about soldering the new switch in, it is a thermal switch after all but I limited myself to just quick touches with the soldering iron and I'd bought a 5 pack of the switches from Amazon so I knew if my soldering didn't work out I could always resort to crimping on another one.

Fortunately I seem to have done a good enough job, the fan has been working correctly for a couple weeks now.

Of course I could have replaced the whole resistor pack, IDParts has them for $35 but for $1 and a couple minutes with a soldering iron I'm well pleased with this fix. If this happens again I'll probably replace the fan, its difficult to get oil in to the bushings on the old fan, although maybe if I used a needle oiler...