Car heater problem

Maintenance/Repairs
, , , ,
1

My '93 Subaru Impreza (2WD, 5-spd man) with no AC, electric locks/windows has no heater fan. There is power at the 3 fuses, 2 of which go to the fan motor through the fan relay, the 3rd through the ignition switch to the control side of the relay. I have no idea where the relay is located to determine where to search next; if the relay is bad, or the wires to it are bad. Any suggestions?

2

I am a little confused by your question.

Are you saying:

  • The AC is not working

  • The electric window are not working

  • It has no electric windows

  • It has no heater fan

  • It has a heater fan but it is not working

  • It has only three fuses

  • Two of the three fuses appear to go to the fan motor through a relay

  • The other fuse only feeds the ignition

    My guess is the heater fan is not working on some or all speeds and it may be due to the speed control resistors being blown and in need of replacement resistors or maybe the motor is bad and it is blowing the resistors.

3

A service manual, such as Haynes, would show the location of the relay and list diagnostic procedures.

Are you sure the fan motor is working? Does the fan run if you supply 12 volts directly to the motor?

4

The car is very simple, with no AC, electric windows or door locks at all, just a heater. The heater fan does not run; there is power at the fuses (2 provide power to the fan through the relay, one goes through the ignition switch to control the relay-ignition on = fan on, etc.), but there is no power at the plug at the fan motor. I have not tried powering the fan motor directly, since there is no power at the plug, leading me to think the relay has failed. My manual does not show the location of the relay, which is why I’m asking for ideas where to look for it, before I simply tear into the dash/center console. I want to find the relay to determine if the relay is bad (most likely), or the wires or the ignition switch are bad (less likely).

5

Look for more relays and fuses under the hood.

6

Already done; the underhood relay/fuse box is for the headlights and engine control only; there are EMPTY spots for the non-existant AC, but nothing for the heater. There is nothing obvious along the firewall, either.

7

Call the dealer’s repair department and ask them. Mine on my old Toyota pickup was under the passenger side kickpanel. Yours could be anywhere.

8

I was thinking the same thing and was trying to avoid the “anywhere” search :). Too bad our local dealer is less than helpful. I asked the parts dept. for a new relay, thinking I could look on the microfiche for the location and had to supply the part no. for them! They couldn’t/wouldn’t look for it on the microfiche.

9

We have a 92 Plymouth Voyager. Heater stopped working. Bought new module. Did not work.
Bought manual , found that there is a connector plug under the Glove compartment.
It seems that as a handicapped person I placed the handle of my Walking stick under the glove compartment and when I pulled it out I got hung up. As I could not figure out what could be there I pulled to I got the stick out. Finally found plug and plugged it together again. Heater now works again, but intermittently. It seems there is a wire not connected.
Any one knows how to find it?