I have a 97 OBS that has had a short in the climate control fan for the last several months. I have taken it to the local dealership & of course while they were looking at it, the short would not occur, so they could not find it. The problem comes & goes. Any suggestions as to how I might find this & resolve the problem?

 

Thanks

I have a 97 OBS that has had a short in the climate control fan for the last several months.[...]

How have you determined that there's a "short"; what happens when the "short" occurs?

Like OB99W stated, it would be good to know what happens when this problem occurs. Since a short is less likely to happen compared to a break in the power to the blower I think you may be confusing the terms. If the blower just quits without blowing a fuse then you have a power connection problem. If this is the case the most likely thing for this trouble is the blower relay. It is a common point of failure.

The blower will stop working, and will remain off until the car hits a rough patch of pavement & then it will start working. It will blow for 2 days - 5 weeks & then will stop again. When it is working, it will blow on all of the settings from low to high. Sometimes when it stops & starts, it is completely random, no jarring of the car is needed to make it stop or start. If it is a blower relay, is this something that is easy to repair?

The blower will stop working, and will remain off until the car hits a rough patch of pavement & then it will start working. It will blow for 2 days - 5 weeks & then will stop again. When it is working, it will blow on all of the settings from low to high. Sometimes when it stops & starts, it is completely random, no jarring of the car is needed to make it stop or start.

That's likely caused by an intermittent open circuit, not a short. When the problem occurs, if it affects all the speeds the relay is certainly a possible culprit. If the highest speed works while others are out, it's more likely that there's a problem in the blower motor resistor or wiring to it.

 

 

If it is a blower relay, is this something that is easy to repair?

Yes, the relay is a "plug-in" part.

The hardest part about fixing a relay problem is locating it. Yours may be near the steering column under the dash. They are in sockets and just pull out to replace them. If you can catch the problem while it is occuring you should be able to locate the relay by tapping on it and the blower will turn on. I would guess your problem has a 90% chance being a relay problem going from what you say.

Leave it on high and see if it goes away, if so it's the resistor pack located in the AC ducting under the passenger side behind the glove box. If not, it could be the fan itself.

 

I have a spare fan if you need it.

I had a similiar problem on my 91 Subie wagon. I did some minor disassembly to get at the blower motor. I found it littered with old tree leaves and crud. I cleaned out the crud, and the motor worked good as new. Solved my problem. It was really easy getting to the blower motor. You might want to check it out.

The suggestion about the relay sounds good. I will try to locate the relay for the switch & see if it is a loose connection. When I had it at the dealership, I am not sure what was done, but they could not locate the problem.