2001 Saturn L200 4 cylinder Blower Not Working

[Varagon]

Hi all,

I've done the required searching of course, so I'm familiar with the basic problems.

I'm having issues with the blower not blowing in any positions. At times, I don't have a problem and the blower works. Other times, it doesn't work at all.

I've checked the fuses, and I'm going to triple check again here in a few minutes.

Blower resistor? Is their a blower control module on this vehicle? Is the switch going bad (I'm going to go tap on it and wiggle it now as well)?

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[fdryer]

Originally Posted by Varagon

I'm having issues with the blower not blowing in any positions. At times, I don't have a problem and the blower works. Other times, it doesn't work at all.

What you're describing may be a loose blower motor connector to the blower. Look for it and examine the connector for looseness, burned, melted connectors, wire insulation, and the male/female terminals. Also check the fan speed switch itself if you can remove the control panel for a closer look at the plug connector. A blower resistor card can cause the same symptoms if the connector is loose but if the card is faulty there's usually one speed left while the others are inoperative. Another but remote possibility is a worn out blower and removal for testing may be your best option. Perhaps someone more familiar with your car can point to where the resistor card is located.

[Varagon]

Thanks for the reply. It seems weird, but when the blower works, it works without a problem. It happens randomly, not at any specific time like when hitting bumps.

So far, it's turned off twice while driving, and has been turning off and on when I start the car. Recently, it's been off now for two or three days.

Where would the blower motor connector be located? Also, resistor is on the underside of the blower, correct (I'm waiting for someone more knowledgeable on this one)?

I'm a teacher, and I'll need to start driving the car again daily starting on Wednesday next week, so AC will be nice to have again.

Thanks!

[fdryer]

Not being familiar with the S-series the squirrel-cage blower motor wiring should be adjacent and on the outside of the motor housing, passenger side footwell area. You should be able to locate the wiring as soon as you locate the fan and housing. Also, when you checked the fuse for this blower did you pull the fuse and notice if it came out easily or not? Removing it easily may suggest a loose fuse holder that may open the circuit removing the power intermittently. The fuse clips should hold onto the fuse with tenacity and make removal difficult as quite a few amps are used for the blower that can heat up the wiring if mechanical connections aren't secure.

[Varagon]

Ok, we pulled the dash and removed the blower speed switch, and ran a wire directly from the battery to the wires.

We can make the fan run in any speed, as well as make the AC button light come on.

The fan is not the problem. We're not getting power down to the switch, or the switch isn't working.

Any more ideas?

Thanks!

[fdryer]

Considering what you've found so far has halved the problem. You eliminated the fan so now all that remains are the wiring to the fan switch, the fused power from the back of the fuse wiring, and the switch. Having a multimeter would help tremendously here to measure where the power loss is occurring. Simple multimeters from Radio Shack are inexpensive and quickly pay for themselves.

[acc]

I ran into the same problem that was originally described on my 2000 Saturn L Series, that being that the blower fan would not work in any position, but intermittently, the fan would work properly.

I did a lot of research on the net and I followed some of the suggestions I found and after a lot of effort I found what the problem was, at least in my case, and it was not the blower motor.

I tested the continuity of the the switch with a volt meter and that appeared to be fine.

As others have done, I removed the fan and tested it and it tested fine.

I then tested the lead to the fan with a volt meter and I found that the ground was open at the connector, but the power lead was fine. This was the problem I suspected all along. Now I was left with tracing the ground lead to determine where the ground failure was.

Behind the radio there is a largish connector with about 10 or 12 leads. One of the leads was the ground wire from the fan motor. I separated the connector and sure enough the ground lead at the connector had been getting hot and the plastic had melted slightly. I think that the heat also caused the metal to fatigue and lose tension and was causing the ground to be intermittent. This caused the blower to occasionally work.

In my case, my solution was to cut the ground lead flush at each side of the connector and splice a short piece of wire in between the two sides in order to have sufficient length to make up for removing that lead from the connector.

It appears to me that the ground spade on this connector is much undersized for the current demands of the blower motor and that is why it failed. All the other connections on this connector do not appear to be stressed.

I hope this helps someone. Certainly the comments others made helped me to get to the bottom of the issue.

[sreemelin]

I had the same issue and I replaced the Blower motor and the reister board just to have it stop working again two days latter, this time permenitly.
How do you get to the connector that you are talking about, will it requier any special tools to fix it?

[deathcow]

We had this problem with our 2001 LW300. Exactly the symptoms described above.

Saturn suggested replacing the wiring harness $$$$$$.

I popped off the wooden trim faceplate over the radio/fan switch area (grab with fingers, pull), removed the radio with a nutdriver, pulled the fan switch assembly out. Right behind there, easy to grab was a large plastic connector. Open it and look inside. As an earlier posted mentioned, there were some obvious burned connectors.

I jumpered two of the wires around the connection . I had to unwrap some of the electrical tape that the harness is wrapped in to get enough wire to work with. Then it was a simple matter of using two wire-nuts to join around the connection instead.

Problem fixed!

[Steve P]

This worked. I had the pulled out and the blower opened up when I found this tread. Open up the connection and bingo - the heavy black wire was cooked inside the connector, you can't see it from the outside, appears the pins in the connector are weaker than than the wire feeding into it. Not the first time I have seen Saturn electrical pins burn out.

This post is worth its weight in gold and should be checked first because it's so dam easy to do.

[mnementh]

I've seen this issue many times on many GM vehicles over the last 15 years or so; GM is a bunch of CHEAP-@sses, and one of the first things they cut corners on is the switches. I SPECIFICALLY had this problem on my L100, so I know the culprit; your burned up connector is the SYMPTOM, not the disease. And yeah, I know you tested it "with a meter"; believe me, there's a big difference between "good with a meter" which tests to a few microamperes load, and the 5-15 amperes a blower motor will draw.

If you pop the top off your switch (there are 3 or 4 tabs which hold it together) and inspect inside (be very careful - there are spring-loaded brush contacts and a spring-loaded detent ball inside - don't lose them), you'll find that the crappy lithium grease they used inside it has dried out into a varnish causing poor contact, and in some cases, the resistance has caused enough heat to make some of the contacts melt into the switch substrate. If this melting is excessive you may not be able to save the switch; but it doesn't hurt to try anyways.

Using denatured alcohol and an old toothbrush, clean ALL grease residue from inside the switch body, the brush carrier (the part that moves) and the brushes themselves; remove the brushes & inspect the carrier under them. Make sure the springs aren't melted into the plastic of the brush carrier too; you need the brushes to be able to move up & down freely - to "float" across the contact surface once it all goes back together.

Now that you have it ALL apart, get a small STEEL or STAINLESS STEEL wire brush and clean ALL the contact areas until they are shiny copper or brass; do the same thing with the brush contacts. If there are burned areas, scrape them with a knife until no carbon residue remains, then polish the area again with the wire brush. Do the same to the connector lugs if they are burned.

Now clean EVERYTHING again with denatured alcohol and you are ready for the final bit: use Silicone Dielectric Compound (The funky white silicone grease made for spark plug boots) such as Permatex #81150 to lube up the contact areas and the brush contacts (don't put any under the brushes or on the springs), reassemble the detent ball & spring with a little grease to keep it in place. If the spring action of the brushes is not firm, try stretching the springs underneath A LITTLE BIT to firm it up. Now, do one last double-check for everything in its correct place, then reassemble the body.

If you've done everything right, you should now have a switch that actually works again!

If your connector is burned up you'll need to fix it; if you're lucky it's just one or two of the brass inserts and you can just remove them (digging with a small screwdriver or similar tool) and clean up the opening enough for a replacement. If you have access to the correct crimp ends from GM you can try & replace them correctly; otherwise, use generic crimp ends from the auto parts store to repair the wire (you may have to remove the colored plastic sleeve to get the end to fit inside the connector casing), then plug it into the empty slot in the connector using needle-nose pliers AFTER you plug the switch into the connector.

Inspect the wire strands when you strip back the insulation to put on the new terminal; if they shows signs of corrosion or are heat discolored, clean them up with some 120 grit sandpaper to make them shiny for a good connection. You can also work some of that silicone grease into the strands to help make that connection; if you crimp correctly, you won't have to worry about the end coming off; if you don't crimp correctly, it's going to come off grease or no.

But WAIT! Before you put the connector back together, squeeze a little of that silicone grease into each of the sockets on the connector; it really helps make better connection, plus it acts as a moisture barrier to reduce oxidation which STARTED this whole mess.

I have fixed dozens of cars this way that had fan switches of this type; they are very often ABSURDLY expensive (Like GM didn't KNOW they were going to fail) or even "back-ordered indefinitely".

Of course before you go through all this trouble you should do a reality check; I've found some models' switch IN-STOCK for $23; and my time's worth more than that.

mnem
ZZZZZT!

[faithrisen2]

Originally Posted by Varagon

Hi all,

I've done the required searching of course, so I'm familiar with the basic problems.

I'm having issues with the blower not blowing in any positions. At times, I don't have a problem and the blower works. Other times, it doesn't work at all.



I've checked the fuses, and I'm going to triple check again here in a few minutes.

Blower resistor? Is their a blower control module on this vehicle? Is the switch going bad (I'm going to go tap on it and wiggle it now as well)?

Any thoughts?


Thanks!

Greetings from one frustrated fellow. I have followed all the suggestions and tracked my problem down to loosing power at the left instrument panel fuse block behind the left kick pad. If I turn the key on and off i get power to the blower and to the heated seats. If I start the car I loose power. THe fuse that looses power is labeled igniton 3. I have no clue at this point. When the car is running I dont have any power to the blower motor swith nor to the heated seats. This happend after a bad storm and my girl drove through some high water.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[nightfishes]

Grateful Thanks to acc and mnementh for this information!! I was able to locate the wiring connector quickly and sure enough there's the burned out connection for the ground! A quick bypass and we're back in business! Also, I have ordered a new replacement blower switch to deal with the "one layer deeper" source of the problem.

Really great advice and help. I'm sure it saved me $$$ and lots of trouble-shooting time!!!

[xstit_cher]

What color wire is the ground? I have pulled out the blower motor and tested the wiring harness it says 11.6 volts. It doesn't looked burnt or anything. Trying to trace ground wire to find out if it is the problem.

[xstit_cher]

I am having the same problem with my L200. From the resiter to the fan motor I am getting 11.62 volts. Is that enough loss in voltage to make it so my fan won't work? Also how can you tell if the resister could be bad? I have checked all the fuses and they are tight have pulled out the blower motor and it works. When it was connected sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't. It it wasn't working you could just touch the fan and it would start to work again. It almost seems like it just isn't strong enough to get it started.

[fdryer]

Is this car in a hot area year 'round where the a/c is used a lot? There are members with a/c issues in Texas where year 'round use also wears out the cooling fan(s) and mistakenly causes what seems to be an a/c problem when a prematurely worn out fan is the cause. Once its determined to be a fan issue and not an a/c one, replacing the cooling fan solves two problems at once.

Perhaps the blower motor is worn out? Wiring it directly to 12v can help.

[xstit_cher]

I live where we only use the AC maybe 4 months. The fan works once in awhile intermittently. Sometimes it will work for awhile and then quit when I go over a bump. We have checked all the wires running to and from it and have not been able to find a burnt or loose one.
Thank You in advance your your help.

[born again]

The other common cause of the intermittent fan problem is worn out brushes in the fan motor. If it stops running, open the hood, remove the cabin air filter under the door in the cowl, reach in and turn the blower wheel with your hand (carefully, watch your fingers). It may jump into running. This is a sign that the blower is almost done.

[perryp]

My blower stopped working some times like they talked about here. I checked out everything. The fan worked when wired to the battery. all was hot.

It turned out to be a worn out fan motor.

[Rocket]

Just had the same problem with my 2000 l100. The fan sometimes cut out and wiggling the switch would get it working again. This time I got caught in a snow storm driving super slow and I smelt burning and it shut off. I just ripped apart radio and dials and didn't see anything abnormal and fuses are fine, everything works except fan. I'll look into the ground leads, thanks for the info