Starting a new thread on this, I know it is a pretty active topic. Here is the scenario.


Blower motor works but I have to jiggle the wires to get them going. Here is what I have figured out so far after visual inspection I have not gotten to the voltage checks yet but here goes.

1. Blower motor resistor burned on the Blue/Yellow wire. According to the Haynes manual that is the wire that leads from the resistor to the motor. No other damage, but burn goes through connector and wire appears to be grounded out and loose insulation. All other wires appear to have insulation intact and fan runs when I take the resistor out the fan works as normal.

2. Pulled the fan motor to check for damage, no apparent damage, a few foreign objects in the blower fan but nothing too crazy, a few tree branches. I removed them, I do not think that these would bind the fan motor, but you can't be to careful these days.

I have a local dealer that has both the resistor and wiring harness in stock and on hold. My question is, do you thin replacing the resistor and wiring harness will solve the problem. I was thinking of splicing the new wiring harness and connector into the existing wire,
set the new resistor and bada-boom,bada-bing done.

Anyone have any input, is my thinking wrong with this plan? I have not checked fuses, because the fan motor does work. I haveno problem with the $17 resistor but I want to make sure that this is a pretty good fix before I drop $64 for the wiring harness.

Any suggestions from the forum???

 

A loose or bad connector can cause a problem like the one your describing. Even if the plastic part of the connector snaps tight, the pin and receptical for it inside can be loose causing arcing and heat. The fuse does not protect against heat, only over current. Your going to have to repair the wire so I would take the dive and replace the harness, I would be concerned with the motor too, if the wire on the outside got hot then it got hot on the inside too.

 

Jeff, Thanks, now with that in mind, how far back does the harness go.? Can I splice the new connector into the existing wire or will I have to replace the whole harness.? How far of a teardown will I have to go into?, So far I have the resistor and motor removed, and I am trying to get an idea of how long i will be out of service.

 

Go to the dealer and look at the harness he's going to sell you. I have no idea what the harness looks like but if you could see the new one then that should give an idea of how much wire your going to replace. I would avoid splicing if possible.

 

Well, I found out some info on the wiring, more by accident though. I was in their recently and had noticed a couple of Grand Cherokees, that looked a bit out of place with leather seats. Well in discussion with the salesman and sales manager, I found out that the leather was a aftermarket installed by a local vendor. I got the number and I will be researching more with him on getting my seats re-upholstered and seat heaters installed, so a start on that project.

O.K.here is what I found out about the harness. It will involve much splicing. The harness is just wire, connnector, and terminal lugs. Everything has to be assembled, and then still spliced into the existing wire. They make the harness kind of universal to fit many applications, so I guess you could say we as consumers got what we asked for, when we always asked for wiring that fits more models/applications. Long story short, I might be back to the salvage yard on this one. I did find a good piece of news however, the resistor is $4 dollars cheaper at this dealer.

Steve

 

NO GO!!!

Replaced wiring harness and resistor today still no go. Here is what was done today and what is happening for a starting point.

WHAT WAS DONE

1. Remove/replace wiring harness and resistor. I will admit I used the salvage yard harness and resistor as a starting point.After no power, I used the dealership resistor.


What SYMPTOMS ARE.

1. No power to Front FAN. Power and ice cold air to rear fan.

2. A/C amber indicator light illuminates.


I am just spitballing but what about trying the following.....

1. Switch connectors on the main A/C control panel between frt and rear for troubleshooting.

2. Same idea but with resistors.

I checked fuses and connections, it is getting late but I willl check relays tomorrow.

Any ideas?

 

TEST

 

On my 2000 the dash had to come out to get to the fan. Not good! The resister is under the wipers. You 2003 guys have it easy.

As for what your problem is... sounds like you checked/changed what I would have. Double check your connections AND if you did it all with the battery connected, go back and double check the fuses.

Hijack: What shop are you using for re-upholstered? I have a spot I need to take care of. Also, which dealer are you using?

TIA and good luck. Electrical gremlins suck. AC gremilns and electrical gremlins double suck.

IndyDurango

 

FIXED:

Problem solved, I apparently unseated the green power wire from the motor. Background, there are two power wires, the green one is from the motor-ignition. The one I unseated is the ignition side of the receptacle. The other one is from the motor-resistor (dark blue-yellow) Once I got the wire reseated it worked fine.

Thanks for all that chimed in with info, now take me out of the sauna and move me to the meat-locker.

Steve

 

Like I suggested, double check your connections. You were on the right track. Congrats on the fix.

Hijack x 2: What shop are you using for re-upholstered? I have a spot I need to take care of. Also, which dealer are you using?

IndyD