H3 Blower motor cut off

[Ghostbuster]

I had the AC on, fan setting 3. For about 8-10 minutes then all of the sudden it cut off while driving into my neighborhood. The fan cut off, no more air coming out of the vents.

I got mad, then 10-15 seconds later it magically came back on without me touching the fan settings or anything.

This has happened once before about a month ago. It came back on after I turned the H3 off and started it back up and I also messed with the knobs.

I had the recall fix performed by one of my local gm dealers a couple months ago.

What do y'all think it is?

Thanks.

 

[GreatDaneHummer]

I have the same thing, I just run the nob back and forth from 0-4 a few times while yelling at it and it suddenly kicks back on. Happened 3 times in the last 6 months. Light was off on the switch too until I abused it... I hear Hummers like being abused...

 

[Ghostbuster]

Doesn't work at all now.

Water in passenger floorboard.

 

[rascole]

Did you have the recall for the wire harness fixed? The water looks like your drain line from the condenser through the firewall is plugged.

 

[Ghostbuster]

Did you have the recall for the wire harness fixed? The water looks like your drain line from the condenser through the firewall is plugged.

Yes. I just got done shooting air and shoving a wire in the drain tube to try to unclog it. A little water came out.

My Dad thinks that the blower motor is bad because water dripped on it. No fuses are blown. Even replaced the fuse.. Still no go.

I want to make sure water won't continue to drip, when I install a new blower motor.

 

[SedonaBound]

Search the forum for posts on fan resistor overheating, which is what the recall corrects, so you know what to look for. With an active recall on it, it just makes sense not to ignore the obvious. It's a fire hazard too.

 

[Ghostbuster]

Search the forum for posts on fan resistor overheating, which is what the recall corrects, so you know what to look for. With an active recall on it, it just makes sense not to ignore the obvious. It's a fire hazard too.

I have had the recall fix.

 

[Ghostbuster]

That wasn't easy.

Now I need to test it.

 

[Ghostbuster]

Bad/good news. The blower motor is good.

 

[rascole]

Lose connection from the harness repair?

 

[650Hawk]

Check for power at the blower resistor (the new parts from the recall fix). I would have done that prior to removing the entire blower motor, whew! If no power there, then check at the backside of the controls (Pontiac Solstice controls are the exact match, yet much cheaper; available on eBay).

 

[Ghostbuster]

So I was looking over the harness and resistor. No typical burn marks on the resistor plug, but I did find this...

It looks like we have some melting action going on there...

ETA: That new harness they installed seems to have lasted 3 months exactly.:gaah:

 

[rsc]

Not good. I think that they didn't fix anything. Since the recall is closed on your vehicle it will be a PITA to get GM to do anything about it except start the recall complaint process all over again.

 

[650Hawk]

Is that the other end of the new harness (opposite the resistor)? Wow, that's the first I've seen with heat damage there instead of at the resistor. Yeah, definitely go back to the dealer that did the recall fix and raise bloody h3ll. What does the other plug (that the melted one plugs into) look like?

 

[Ghostbuster]

That seems to be the blower motor power plug that is melted.

I took the resistor off and checked for the burn marks that people would get before the recall. You know the white connector, It looked perfectly fine.

Power plug on blower.

 

[JPaul]

It's possible they simply moved the problem...

Or there is something wrong with your blower motor wiring.

 

[650Hawk]

Definitely some overheating going on there...I wonder if the "recall fix" is fully addressing the entire problem, or if there are others out there with the same heat damage that you have at the other end of the harness? In any case, IF they replaced your harness, then that damage is new. Did the "fix" simply shift the problem to the next weakest link? I believe that I remember someone saying that their fan seemed to blow harder after the recall fix. Hmmmm....

 

[Ghostbuster]

Well the service advisor just told me the blower motor is bad and drawing to many amps because it's dusty inside the motor and it takes more amps to turn it... That's why the connector melted.

Is this bull? Or what?

They are gonna put a new harness on it for free but want $218 for a new blower motor.

I'm guess I'm gonna get a blower motor for $93 and put it in myself.

 

[rascole]

For me, I would ask for the blower motor back and run my own load test. It is possible that the motor is bad because the sealed bearings are bad causing the motor to work too hard THEN blow the fuse. The fuse is there to protect the motor from overload. Burnt wire connections like yours are due to poor connections/contact. The resistance between the contacts will result in overheating and not cause the fuse to blow.

 

[Ghostbuster]

For me, I would ask for the blower motor back and run my own load test. It is possible that the motor is bad because the sealed bearings are bad causing the motor to work too hard THEN blow the fuse. The fuse is there to protect the motor from overload. Burnt wire connections like yours are due to poor connections/contact. The resistance between the contacts will result in overheating and not cause the fuse to blow.

Yep never had a blown fuse.

 

[JPaul]

Well, it's already been established that they couldn't figure out how to design the resistor pack and connectors to not overheat the plug. I can easily see them doing the same thing on the other end. You could potentially overheat the connector without drawing enough amps to blow the fuse. They are slow blow fuses, and you can over amp them for a while before they will blow. It's not exactly 20 amps or whatever the rating is that the fuse will blow, it's actually going to be a little bit higher than that. And if the wiring in the blower sucks, it could easily overheat at normal amperage, or even just slightly too high of amperage.

Look at it like this, I saved my in-laws house from burning down due to a faulty electrical outlet. I went to unplug something from it and noticed it was quite hot. Not warm, but actually hot to the touch. When I pulled it out, the screws on the side that held the wires were glowing red hot. In theory the circuit breaker or fuse should have tripped/blown, but it didn't. Someone had over-tightened the screw that holds on the face-plate and it broke the inside of the outlet just enough to cause a very small short. There was just enough resistance to present a load to keep it from being a full on short circuit, but it also allowed enough power to flow to heat up the metal to about 1500 degrees.

For the fuse to work the current draw has to be enough to blow the fuse. It's not impossible though for you to overheat wiring without blowing the fuse.

 

[Ghostbuster]

Well I put this new blower motor in. Hopefully the harness won't start melting or catch on fire.

 

[OmarOHelmy]

Can you please explain the process of getting the blower motor out and the new one in. I want to do the same, as my blower motor is dying...

Thanks

 

[USMC_315]

This is a long shot considering how old this post is, but was the problem indeed the blower motor? Mine stopped working two days ago, haven't taken it apart to see if I'm getting similar "burning/melting". Also, was it an easy job? Not sure where to get to this thing