# Car heater doesn't blow air unless on highest setting

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-heater-doesnt-blow-air-unless-on-highest-setting/60736>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** nissan, frontier\
**Created:** [February 1, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-heater-doesnt-blow-air-unless-on-highest-setting/60736 "2011-02-01T00:31:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sjarosz2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@sjarosz2](https://community.cartalk.com/u/sjarosz2)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-heater-doesnt-blow-air-unless-on-highest-setting/60736/1 "2011-02-01T00:31:37Z")

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I own a 2000 Nissan Frontier. Just recently while I was driving (in 15 degree icy conditions!) my heater, which was blowing on setting 2, stopping blowing air. I tried messing around with it, and found out that it won’t blow any air on settings 1,2,or 3. It does, however, blow air on setting 4, but that is accompanied by a slight strange noise/vibrating of the dash. The coolant level looks fine and I haven’t spotted any leaks anywhere that might indicate that it’s the heating core. I thought it might be the resistor. Any ideas?

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**Author:** ![waterboy](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/waterboy/32/764_2.png) [@waterboy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/waterboy)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-heater-doesnt-blow-air-unless-on-highest-setting/60736/2 "2011-02-01T00:39:20Z")

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The variable resistor sounds like a great part to replace.

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**Author:** ![mcparadise](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mcparadise/32/32_2.png) [@mcparadise](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mcparadise)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-heater-doesnt-blow-air-unless-on-highest-setting/60736/3 "2011-02-01T00:39:56Z")

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Yes, it sounds like the resistor pack. Replace it and all fan speeds should work again.

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**Author:** ![mark9207](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@mark9207](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mark9207)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-heater-doesnt-blow-air-unless-on-highest-setting/60736/4 "2011-02-01T02:21:50Z")

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Definitely sounds like the resistor pack. Replace it, and if the new one dies in fairly short order (same symptoms return), the blower motor is likely dragging and needs to be replaced.

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**Author:** ![sjarosz2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@sjarosz2](https://community.cartalk.com/u/sjarosz2)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-heater-doesnt-blow-air-unless-on-highest-setting/60736/5 "2011-02-01T14:29:18Z")

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Thanks for the responses. Any idea on how much a resistor pack might cost and if it is easy to replace myself?