2001 Toyota Camry, Blower Motor Only Blows High

by Rudy Luck
(Hancock, MI, USA)

Hi, my wife's 2001 Toyota Camry Blower only runs on high. I changed the blower motor resistor and it worked on all 4 speeds for one day but after two outings it is back to working on only the high speed. I noticed that when I removed the old resistor a wire had disconnected due to the solder melting. I have not taken out the new resistor to see what happened to it but it is likely that the wire is separated again. Is there anything you know of that would cause the resistor to go bad such as problems with the blower itself or the switch or was it just a bad "new resistor"?

Thanks,
Rudy



Steve Says,

Thanks for using my website.

You are on the right track. You either have a bad new blower motor resistor, a bad control head or a bad blower motor.

Usually when two blower motor resistors have gone bad in a short amount of time you need to start thinking about what is causing them to go out. There is most likely a source of high resistance in the blower motor circuit. The most likely cause of the high resistance is the blower motor itself. If it is starting to get worn and go bad then it could be drawing too much current and causing the resistor to go bad.

It could be that the blower motor has gotten debris in it and that is causing it to work harder than normal and causing the blower motor resistor to go out sooner than normal.

Since you said that one of the connections was loose you need to inspect all of the connections very carefully. If one or more of them are not making good connection it could create an area of high resistance.

I think the first steps I would take would be to remove the blower motor and clean it. If it has never been done it wouldn't hurt it anyway. When you get it out you can then check to see if there is a lot of play in the motor shaft. If there is then you might just want to replace it.

If it looks good and is clean then that is probably not the problem. The nest thing you should do is remove the control head and inspect it. See how the connections are and if they are in good condition. If they are not then you might need to replace it if you can't clean them.

I hope this helps get you on the right track.