I am stumped. The blower motor does not work regardless of the switch position. I checked for power at the connector, and got no reading. I removed the blower motor jumped it straight to the battery for testing, and it works fine. Re-installed it. I removed the climate control ***'y, and removed the switch itself. I opened the switch and cleaned all the contacts, re-assembled, and tested the switch with a multimeter at each position. The switch works fine. I reinstalled it, re-installed the climate control ***'y, and still nothing. I thought a bad ground might be the problem, so with everything connected, and plugged in as normal, I pushed a wire in the back side of the blower motor connector (ground side - black wire) and held it to a good ground point. The motor turned on full blast and stayed that way, regardless of switch position (including off). I checked the fuse, of course, and that is fine also. I know a lot of cars have a resistor pack for the blower but dont know if the dakota's do, and if so, where the hell is it? I cant trace the wires cause of the infinite amount of bundling and electrical tape installed by the factory. The wires coming out of the switch ***'y are not the same color of the wires going to the motor. What is in between? I have the Haynes manual but it makes no mention of anything that helps and it does not have a wiring diagram for this circuit. Please, any thoughts, ideas, or help would be appreciated. I have the 2.5L engine, if it matters to anyone.

 

There is a resistor block that controls the fan speeds (and is known to fail). On my 1989 Dakota it is located on the passenger side firewall in the engine compartment ( http://gbrannon.bizhat.com/resistorbox.htm ).On other year models it's located under the dash on passenger side mounted vertically in the plenum ( http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/?p=60 and http://www.popularmechanics.com/auto...c/1927487.html ).
Regards,
Greg

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They must have made the resistor block change in 1997 when they made the body style change. On my '96 its mounted on the passenger side firewall (very easy to get to ).

 

Thanks guys! I owe you one. I located the resistor pack on the passenger side firewall. It was corroded badly. The Dodge dealer had one in stock for $10.80. Two minutes to change it out, and I'm good to go now.

 

After going seriously nuts trying to figure my blower motor problem -- and having taken two out of cars at the junk yard, and then having bought a new one at the auto parts store -- your post about the resistor block solved my little problem. And the resistors hadn't failed -- the electrical connectors had become corroded. I pulled the connector in & out a few times, and we're back in business.
One contributing issue: my Haynes manual doesn't have word one about the resistor block, nor an electrical schematic for the heater fan circuit. (Frustrating!)
However, my '90 Dakota is operational once more, thanks to your post.
Thanks again!

 

Flick (and anyone else working on electrical problems) -

You absolutely MUST toss the Haynes and Chiltons, and pick up the Factory Service Manual, if you are to have ANY luck troubleshooting electrical problems.

It's the difference between making a mean from a bad black and white faxed picture of a meal, and reading the cookbook entry for it *grins*

RwP