Recently, the fan on my son's forester stopped blowing hot air (and probably cold although he did not check it).  We checked the fuses today, and they are all okay.  Any suggestions for what the likely cause is, and about how much the repair would be?

Thanks

Common problem is that leaves and debris falls down from the windshield into what must be the defroster unit. Leaves and gunk bind up, so that the motor blower will not rotate (blow air).  I had this happen on my old Legacy. It wasn't too dificult to remove the glove box door, then disassemble, as if you are replacing the motor. At the time, I thought my motor had gone bad, so I had a replacement motor ready to install. However, cleaning out the leaves and gunk fixed the problem. I would try this approach first. It does not tame that much time or effort to access the fan motor. 

Thanks, I just watched a video on line.  It looks as though you do not even have to remove the glove box.  A couple people commented that mice have gotten in theirs.  It is definitely worth taking apart.

Is the motor not blowing any air whatsoever? Or are you saying it won't blow hot air, and AC isn't working?

 

 

 

If no air whatsoever, very first thing you need to check is IF the blower is even getting power to it, then go from there. On my 95' Legacy I'm pretty sure the connector to the blower is directly behind the glove box (think it's a yellow and black wire going to the connector), so imagine yours is similar. Unplug it (wherever it is) and connect a volt meter to it or very least a test light, though voltage number will be more helpful. Turn key to ON, then turn heater on to high and check for voltage at the connector.

 

If it's getting power, then something is wrong with the blower itself. Might also want to try wiggling the connector and see if the blower starts or not. This was a known issue with my 96' Lincoln Mark VIII. Connector would get loose over time. Easy fix was bending the prongs out slightly (like how you would for an AC cord plug) and reconnect. Could also be possible something like car manual was forced into glove box and while closing it got behind it and loosened the connector.

 

If it's not getting power at the connector, it could be wiring, the actual switch, wiring going to the switch, etc.

 

If blower actually works but no hot air is coming from it, that could be a bad heater core, OR the adjuster for hot/cold isn't working. They use a cable on the lever that manually manipulates a diverter flapper to allow or block hot air. Those can break or the cable will come out of the flapper end or the lever end. If it has electronic climate control, it could be an issue with the button, the unit itself, or the solenoid that operates the diverter panel.

Edited November 16, 201510 yr by Bushwick