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GL-10 Blower Switch 1 not working


beataru
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Hey guys i was just wondering if anyone knows a remedy to fix the 1 speed on the little control knob for your GL DL and such Blowerfan! Mines out and i wana know if its an easy fix or not? :confused:
Replace the resistor block that controls the speed of the blower. Easy fix, pricey part.
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Very common Subie problem. Fan speed is controled by a resister set located next to the fan. take the lower pass. side panel and glove box out. You will see the blower fan and HVAC box. Right next to the fan is a small component held in with 3 screws, one of them is on a leg that also holds in the fan. It has a small harness with blue wires running into it. That is the resister pack. These things are VERY delicate so don't pull it until you have a replacement. No new ones that I know of so go to a junk yard and pull every one you find. Look at the coils on the resisters and find one that is not broken.

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If you search around on this board you may come across a few posts about people that have made their own resistor pack from off the shelf electronics. More reliable, and cheaper.

 

But actually I find that these don't seem to fail so much in the regions where the temps don't get too low. Here in OR, I rarely see these fail. It does happen, but most I find at the junk yard are good.

 

GD

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Ok thanks ill check out a junkyroo when i find one... im making a list for a one big trip to a junkyard if i had a million dollars i would bye a million old subarus and definatly a 360 :headbang:

 

 

wait you guys do know that im talking about only the first speed on the 4 speed switch right?? Just wanted to make sure if you are the other speeds are working fine

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wait you guys do know that im talking about only the first speed on the 4 speed switch right?? Just wanted to make sure if you are the other speeds are working fine

 

The resistors are in a string. The slowest speed & highest resistance is at the end of the string, so if it breaks, it is the only speed effected.

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Ok thanks thats what i needed to know.. i hate tearing into that car without reason!
Pretty straight forward; once you locate the part, it's less than 5 minutes to remove it and re-install it. I hate to disagree with GD but here in Washington, the failure rate on used ones is pretty high. I used to scrounge Pull a Part for these and found 9 out of 10 were bad....but then again, you're looking at parts found in 20 year old cars or more. If you find a '90's Loyale you might have better success finding a good one. Good luck.
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No - it's a coil of "resistor wire", soldering it will destroy it easily, and even if you got a "glob" of solder on the wire you would just create a hot spot that would burn through virtually instantly.

 

I'm sure Ed probably has had a hard time finding these, but I've owned 5 EA82's at various times, never had one fail, and when I did go looking for one (I accidentally destroyed it while cleaning out a mouse nest), I snagged about 3 that were all perfect as well. I grabbed enough of them that I would hopefully get one or two home in one peice, and installed without breaking it. They tend to be rather fragile. But emperical evidence sugests that they survive well here in OR, but apparently not in WA. :confused:

 

GD

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well dang, that means that i AM right and its not blowing on 1, and that the switch i got to replace mine isnt gonna fix that problem.

 

O well, good that i read the thread before i got into it.

 

I wanna build my own, i think... because if i can do that then i can do it for a number of things, and ive often thought it would be nice to know how to build a speed changing switch assembly. I understood the basic principles behind it, but didnt know how to do it from scratch.. it seems that since i have a spare switch anyhow, i can go do the junkyard fix, examine how its set up, and then have a spare resistor pack to build my own with.

 

any helpful links, or should i just go to howstuffworks.com or wikipedia?

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Out of the 9 EA82 Subarus I have owned, only 2 of them worked on all 4 speeds. 2 were inop on the #1 and #2 settings and one was inop on #1,2 and 3 settings. The remaining 4 were inop on #1 only.

 

I'm sure it has something to do with environment. The more you run the system with the switch on on anything but "4", the more you heat those resisters. Subaru tried to help strengthen these things by putting a ceramic-type bead along the tops of the windings, but those crack and allow the coil to disfigure and break. Then your friendly neighborhood mouse takes up residence in your blower housing and decides he does not like them.:mad:

 

I have ran a thin bead of high-temp RTV on top of the factory ceramic bead to hold it together when the ceramic cracks. Been working good for years. If you try this, MAKE SURE you do not get any RTV on the wire itself. It would likely smoke it off. Subaru didn't locate the resisters in the blower box for the heck of it, they get HOT and need the airflow accross them from the fan. (BTW, this was done on a GOOD set. You cannot patch a broken set)

 

Another thing to consider is keeping the resisters clean. Do some cleaning in the blower box every year. Any debris (leaves, rat nest) that gets piled on them will cause them to over heat and fail. While you are in there, clean your fan and reach over toward the drivers side in the box and get out all of that crap stuck on your evaporator. Mine was completely covered with leaves. After cleaning, the airconditioner was easily 10 deg. cooler.

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well dang, that means that i AM right and its not blowing on 1, and that the switch i got to replace mine isnt gonna fix that problem.

 

O well, good that i read the thread before i got into it.

 

I wanna build my own, i think... because if i can do that then i can do it for a number of things, and ive often thought it would be nice to know how to build a speed changing switch assembly. I understood the basic principles behind it, but didnt know how to do it from scratch.. it seems that since i have a spare switch anyhow, i can go do the junkyard fix, examine how its set up, and then have a spare resistor pack to build my own with.

 

any helpful links, or should i just go to howstuffworks.com or wikipedia?

Lots of ways to do this, if you do a search on the resistor block you mind find a lot of info. I remember posting the resistance values for each leg. Nichrome resistance wire will work and you can wind your own. Other approaches work but remember that the wattage is quite high (over 50 watts if I remember correctly--that's why they are mounted in the path of the blower air stream for dissipation of the heat generated) and 2 watt resistors from radio shack will go up in smoke pretty quick.
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thanks, ed!! you rock!!:headbang:

 

irnoically, i havent been inside a ratshack since my friend, Ed, told me they didnt sell ciruit componentry and thingies like that anymore, that they were bascially a glorified wireless/overpriced electronics store anymore...

 

but my friend Ed lives in Boca Raton, Florida.... if you know ANYTHING at all about Boca, then you might understand why none of his local radio shacks carry things like resistors etc anymore.. i asked him if they even had solder, and his verbatim response was, "They perobably still HAVE some solder.. but when they run out, i don;t think they'll be getting any more...":lol:

 

i guess he was wrong. i must look into this. wikipedia time!

 

Beataru: there is a constant current going through the switch, regardless of the selection. before it goes into the fan, however, the switch routes it through a block of resistors.. a resistor is something that resists electrical current, and the result is heat. You see resistors every day; the most common is called a "lightbulb":banana: any electric heater is also a resistor of a type, as are stove and oven elements. However, those resistors resist current with the production of heat or light as their sole purpose. This resistor block has three different circuits; the one that gives the highest resistance is switched on when you are at "1," and then the remaining power is routed to your fan. when you have your fan on "4," there are no resistors inline between the fan and the switch.

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There is an aftermarket resister pack available for this. It is made by Standard electric. I found it looking through car parts stores on internet. Can't find the darn part number just now. I got mine from O'rielly auto parts for about $27.00. If I find that info I will post it.

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No - it's a coil of "resistor wire", soldering it will destroy it easily, and even if you got a "glob" of solder on the wire you would just create a hot spot that would burn through virtually instantly.

 

 

The resistor wire is nichrome. Solder won't stick to it, and the normal operating temperature will likely melt it. Easy Flow brazing alloy, however, will flow on nichrome, and won't melt until it is glowing orange.

 

I repaired one years ago with a small torch tip.

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I lost 2 speeds on my Loyale's resistor block. I repaired it with solder. It doesn't stick well to the Nichrome, but sand it up and pour on the 60/40 solder. It has worked fine for the last 2-1/2 years.

 

Getting the resistor block out is not easy. The screws rust in place. I wound up having to drill out one. A real PITA.

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Really ought to look into how the speeds are controlled on the EA81 and see if it could be retro-fit. They never fail, and AFAIK, there is no resistor block used. It might be in the switch itself..... I'm not sure.

 

GD

EA81 and EA82 both use the same resistor block if I remember correctly. Some of them are difficult to replace if there is a leak in the windshield gasket allowing water to run down into the blower area; this causes the screws to rust in place and yes, that makes it a PITA to repair.
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The resistors are in a string. The slowest speed & highest resistance is at the end of the string, so if it breaks, it is the only speed effected.

 

is this right? because the #2 spot on my '88 is dead, and I figured it was the resistor pack, but haven't got around to checking it yet... by the above login if #2 is dead then it should take another speed with it.. but all my other speeds work...

 

are you saying that if only #2 is dead then it's probably something else? like the switch?

 

--Spiffy

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is this right? because the #2 spot on my '88 is dead, and I figured it was the resistor pack, but haven't got around to checking it yet... by the above login if #2 is dead then it should take another speed with it.. but all my other speeds work...

 

are you saying that if only #2 is dead then it's probably something else? like the switch?

 

--Spiffy

It's the resistor block. In all the cars I've found with this problem, it has never been the switch.
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It's the resistor block. In all the cars I've found with this problem, it has never been the switch.

 

are you saying that you have encountered situations where speed 2 fails, but lo speed stays functional? because it seems like thats impossible, from my understanding of it... that was the point of the post you quoted :-p

 

otherwise, some of us still dont understand.

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