Heat/Fan issues

[1990ina1988body]

Greetings,

 

Our 88 GL wagon's fan blows hot air on 3 or 4, yet does not blow much, if any air on 1 or 2. I am inclined to think that we have some debris inside the vent system, due to the occasional fluttering sound.

 

Could this reduced/varied flow rate be due to the resistors and the fan electronic controls? Or should I look elsewhere?

 

Thanks for your help!

[Sister7]

There are quite a few posts about this problem. There is a resistor pack down under the glove box by your blower motor, and they are to blame for this.

[Buddy]

hey welcome to the boards. yeah check out the what sister7 said. once again welcome and sure hope you stick around.

 

Later

 

Buddy

[ballitch]

if it is making a fluttering sound then maybe you do have some crud in there. i remember cleaning mine out a while ago, all sorts of debris in there, from pine needles to dirt, even bees. under the glove box is a plastic flexible type duct that you can unhook form the heater core and blower motor housing. take the duct off and vacuum out the crap in there. while youre at it, take the fan out also and vacuum it out, and check your resistor pack too. chances are, if it still blows on all four speeds, it should be okay.

 

 

 

 

~Josh~

[NorthWet]

Any debris would tend to affect the high-volume speeds more than the low-volume. That being said, anything is possible.

 

Another possiblity (in the same vein as the resistor pack) is that the switch itself is bad and only works on a couple settings. This is probably much rarer than resistor problems, but I have had it happen.

[1990ina1988body]

Thanks for the replies! When the temperature rises and the time requirements decrease a bit (next month), will try out those fixes. They sure are a lot easier sounding than dismantling the dash to access the fan and heater core:D!!

 

I will let y'all know how it turns out.

Thanks again!

[hooziewhatsit]

Thanks for the replies! When the temperature rises and the time requirements decrease a bit (next month), will try out those fixes. They sure are a lot easier sounding than dismantling the dash to access the fan and heater core:D!!

 

I will let y'all know how it turns out.

Thanks again!

 

actually, the fan and resistor pack are just above the passenger side kick panel. All you need to remove to get to them is the passenger side kick panel.

 

My loyale a while ago had both problems... bad resistors, and a bad switch. Replaced both with parts from a junkyard and it's been fine since.

[NorthWet]

As H said, pretty easy access. Biggest pain is if the 2 phillips-head screws that hold the resistor pack are frozen/stripped... (insert expletives here).

[1990ina1988body]

:grin:YAY!! IT worked!! After going to the local subaru junkyard and pulling out 3 resistors that were fried, we got one that is intact and our 88 now has all 4 speeds of heat! Thanks for your help in getting me the information needed to remedy this quickly and for $19 less than the backordered part from NAPA!