Jim Grant's Tech Tips
‘01 Pontiac Grand Am, Air Conditioning Fan
Q:
The air conditioning does not work on fan setting 1 and 2 but does work on 3 and 4 on my ‘01 Pontiac Grand Am. Can you tell me what fuses I need to change?
Bob
A:
A fuse is not the problem with the fan/blower for your A/C and heat. There is one 20 amp fuse that supplies power to the fan/blower control switch. The fan/blower control switch is used to direct electricity down different paths. Each path has a resistor of different value and all of them go to the fan/blower motor. These resistors are grouped into what is called a blower motor resistor assembly or resistor block. The first speed has the most resistance, as it allows the least amount of electricity to pass through to the fan/blower motor. As the fan/blower control switch is positioned to the higher speeds a greater amount of electricity is allowed to pass through to the fan/blower motor allowing the fan/blower motor to spin faster, thus more air flow. It is likely that you have one of 2 problems. A bad or failing fan/blower control switch or blower motor resistor assembly. Testing for which component is the cause for your problem is not too difficult and replacement of either is not a big deal. Diagnosis and repair combined may be an hours labor or so. You just may be wondering why you didn’t get it fixed sooner?
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