# Blower Motor Died?



## Alin99 (Aug 3, 2005)

Hi,

I have a 1989 Sentra. This past summer during a heatwave, I had the blower working at full power for a few hours straight and it died.

The fan stopped working on any setting. I'm not sure if the heater coil itself is okay or not though. I haven't been in town for a few months now and I wasn't able to test it before I left as it was summer and the car could never provide cold air during the summer. It has no ac! 

Although it may seem unrelated to the heating coil, I had the thing running on partial heating as my engine runs a little warm... and having that blowing some of the warm air from the engine has meant the indicator shows the engine being cooler.

Anyhow, I checked the fuse and it was blown so I replaced it.

I tried starting the heater again and nothing..

I checked the newly installed fuse and it was fine.

Any ideas? Having an overheating engine during winter which can't warm up the interior of the car is kind of bad.


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## bob89sentra (Sep 15, 2005)

If the blower stopped working, and blew a fuse, and a new fuse does not fix it, then you need to check with a volt meter to see if you are getting 12VDC at the motor. If you are the motor is bad and will need to be replaced, and if it is not, then it could be a bad switch. If the resistor pack that is used to provide lower settings is blown it would work on full, but not at any other settings.

Your engine running hot problem sounds like a plugged coolant by-pass. If you move the heater selector to hot but have no air blowing does it run noticeably cooler? The heater core is one of 3 ways coolant is circulated past the thermostat when it is closed, and if 1 of the other 2 are plugged even slightly it will run hot in all weather, unless the heater selector is on the HOT side.


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## Alin99 (Aug 3, 2005)

Thanks for the quick response!

I'll check the voltage to the motor when I get home this weekend.

As for a plugged by-pass, I do believe that was the case. I usually didn't have the heat selector on hot without any fan support but even on low speed it made a noticeable difference in the dash. 

Also, can you direct me to this coolant by-pass? Where is it and what does it look like? I've tried to google some images but haven't gotten anywhere for a sentra. I'm not too car knowledgeable.


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## ahardb0dy (Nov 9, 2003)

I would try running a 12V wire straight from the battery to the fan motor( just touch it to to the fan motor terminal don't connect it) connector to make sure the motor works ( or doesn't) if the motor works this will tell you it is a problem before the motor.


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## bob89sentra (Sep 15, 2005)

Sorry if the pic quality is not so good on the first one...
This is the first coolant by-pass, it runs from the intake manifold back down to the thermostat housing. It is about 5 inches long with a 90 degree bend in the middle.
The hose barbs that the hook to are steel, and will sometimes get rust inside to nearly plug it up. You can run a hand file or drill bit by hand through the center of the barb to remove the rust.









The second by-pass is way more complex, but usually gets plugged in one spot. 









The spot where it gets plugged is right before the fast idle circuit. Usually it is bits of RTV, or big flakes of rust that get trapped inside this housing. 
Be warned the wax pellet fast idle is difficult to re-install by yourself, because of the throttle needs to be held open while holding spacers, and inserting the bolts. One thing I did to make it easier is use a small dab of RTV gasket maker to hold the small black plastic spacers in place. Also the #3 Phillips head screws that attach the Fast idle controller to the throttle body are VERY tight, and will require a impact screwdriver (you can usually borrow one from an auto parts store). Next you will have to remove a smaller #2 Phillips screw to remove a "C" shaped clip. After the clip is removed you will have to take the brass inner part of the controller out (I have had some that were nearly imposable to remove, and resorted to a vise and vise grips) Behind the brass piece is where you will find all of the junk that gets trapped. After cleaning all the passages, re-assemble everything and you should be good to go.


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## Alin99 (Aug 3, 2005)

I haven't yet looked at the coolant by-pass tubes yet, but did I get the blower motor to work by simply punching it.. really! It just started and it still works on all speeds.

As a side question.. could punching the tubes dislodge the rust and fix them? 

It just seems a lot of things on this car start to work after some aggression.
examples: side portion of the right headlight: if it goes out tapping it turns it on. One of the lights on the dashboard, same thing. Clicking starter at <-15C: playing with the wires that leave the brand new battery make it work.... 

PS. I plan to test out the tapping/punching theory tomorrow. And if that doesn't work.. well then, I guess I can't take that shortcut.


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## Alin99 (Aug 3, 2005)

New problem, it would seem that someone fixed something around here at some point and probably didn't use an original part. So before I continue, is this the first pipe I'm trying to get to?


















This second black connection just above the pipe is a different colour than all the others in the area and it doesn't have the plug on the left side of the connection like the grey one above so I suspect it's not an original. Before I pull the thing hard and break something, any idea how sturdy those connectors are?


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## bob89sentra (Sep 15, 2005)

Yes that is the first coolant by-pass I was referring to. Those plugs are sometimes quite difficult to unconnect you need to squeeze the tab on the side firmly to disconnect, the black one is stock as far as I know. At least every one I have ever seen on a GA16I engine has had a black lower connecter. If you are removing the connectors to gain room to work on the coolant by-pass, you might also remove the ground screw that has a 10mm head that you can see in your second picture right next to the black plug.


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