Heater Switch Problems

Jacqson · January 31, 2009

I have this problem on my 02 Malibu. The fan switch only blows air on settings 4+5. If I put the fan switch on settings 1-3 the fan doesn't work at all. Everything else like the rear defog, A/C and temp settings work fine. I thought it might be a fuse but if that was the case wouldn't the whole fan console not work at all. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

REV353 · January 31, 2009

I have this problem on my 02 Malibu. The fan switch only blows air on settings 4+5. If I put the fan switch on settings 1-3 the fan doesn't work at all. Also, the 2 buttons below the fan switch which allow you to change from outside air to inside air don't work either. Everything else like the rear defog, A/C and temp settings work fine. I thought it might be a fuse but if that was the case wouldn't the whole fan console not work at all. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

I got caught on this a week ago. There is a resistor plugged in next to your fan motor. Mine was held in by 2 screws and was about 2" wide by 4" tall and cost about $16

Supertech64 · January 31, 2009

Until you said that the recirculate button did not work I was sure it was going to be your blower motor resistor.

Could be your HVAC control assembly or your Blower motor resistor...or a combination of both.

Easyest thing to do is remove the right side instrument panel kick panel and dissconnect and remove the resistor and see it the connector looks melted(on both the car side and resistor side) or the resistor itself looks damaged/burnt on the board side in the hole. It is close to the blower motor bottom and has two 5.5mm head screws holding it in(I think its a 5 wire connector on that one).

You can also wiggle or move the switches back and forth quickly to see if you can get it to work that way to show a bad control module.

Those would be my first checks before I broke out the test light and voltmeter.

As far as a fuse goes, most likely not your problem... Lower speeds(1, 2, 3, 4) run off one and the high speed(5) runs off a seperate one, but you said 4 and 5 work.

Jacqson · January 31, 2009

Until you said that the recirculate button did not work I was sure it was going to be your blower motor resistor.
Could be your HVAC control assembly or your Blower motor resistor...or a combination of both.

Easyest thing to do is remove the right side instrument panel kick panel and dissconnect and remove the resistor and see it the connector looks melted(on both the car side and resistor side) or the resistor itself looks damaged/burnt on the board side in the hole. It is close to the blower motor bottom and has two 5.5mm head screws holding it in(I think its a 5 wire connector on that one).

You can also wiggle or move the switches back and forth quickly to see if you can get it to work that way to show a bad control module.

Those would be my first checks before I broke out the test light and voltmeter.

As far as a fuse goes, most likely not your problem... Lower speeds(1, 2, 3, 4) run off one and the high speed(5) runs off a seperate one, but you said 4 and 5 work.

I goofed on the explanation. The recirculate buttons only work when the selector is either on A/C or the mode dial is on the dash vent or dash vent and floor settings. I thought about that after I posted, so I checked them out and that is the case. It's only the switch that doesn't seem to work on the 1-3 settings. Sorry for the confusion. Is changing out the Blower motor resistor a tough job?

txab · January 31, 2009

Until you said that the recirculate button did not work I was sure it was going to be your blower motor resistor.
Could be your HVAC control assembly or your Blower motor resistor...or a combination of both.

Easyest thing to do is remove the right side instrument panel kick panel and dissconnect and remove the resistor and see it the connector looks melted(on both the car side and resistor side) or the resistor itself looks damaged/burnt on the board side in the hole. It is close to the blower motor bottom and has two 5.5mm head screws holding it in(I think its a 5 wire connector on that one).

You can also wiggle or move the switches back and forth quickly to see if you can get it to work that way to show a bad control module.

Those would be my first checks before I broke out the test light and voltmeter.

As far as a fuse goes, most likely not your problem... Lower speeds(1, 2, 3, 4) run off one and the high speed(5) runs off a seperate one, but you said 4 and 5 work.

I goofed on the explanation. The recirculate buttons only work when the selector is either on A/C or the mode dial is on the dash vent or dash vent and floor settings. I thought about that after I posted, so I checked them out and that is the case. It's only the switch that doesn't seem to work on the 1-3 settings. Sorry for the confusion. Is changing out the Blower motor resistor a tough job?

No. Supertech covered it pretty well. You should have no problem swapping it out. Also do a search on here, you'll find other posts covering this. Some have good pics. of the procedure

Supertech64 · February 2, 2009

Not hard at all to replace/check. I think on your car there are two plastic retainers and one 7mm(9/32) head screw holding on the kick panel. Then its the connector on the resistor and those two 5.5mm screws holding it in.

Jacqson · February 2, 2009

Not hard at all to replace/check. I think on your car there are two plastic retainers and one 7mm(9/32) head screw holding on the kick panel. Then its the connector on the resistor and those two 5.5mm screws holding it in.

Thanks, I appreciate your time on this.

Supertech64 · February 3, 2009

No problem, just let us know how it works for you... Will help others when searching the forum.

Fortune50 · February 18, 2009

Here is what you're looking for:

Here is a pic of where it's located near the blower motor:

Hope this helps.

Jacqson · February 18, 2009

Here is what you're looking for:

Here is a pic of where it's located near the blower motor:

Hope this helps.

Thanks Fortune, I had the car in for service so I just had the dealer do it while it was in there. They only charged me $30.00 for the Re & Re plus $20.00 for the resistor. Thanks again to everyone who answered this post. It really helped me out.