r/Cartalk 21h ago

Blower motor not working no Heating

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My blower motor in my 1997 Buick Lesabre hasn’t been working for a year now and I can’t figure out why, after taking a look in the engine and doing all that, I stuck a wire from the battery to the cord connected to the blower motor and it fired up immediately, but when i turn it on from the control panel nothing happens, i opened up the fuse box and noticed that I am missing two relays, is this the problem? I have circled the two I am missing

(UPDATE) I attempted to swap the horn relay for the blower relay and noticed that there is no cords behind the blower motor relay or the blower speed relay, if anyone has any ideas on this please let me know

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u/Effective-Gift6223 15h ago edited 14h ago

You said it hasn't been working for a year. Was it working before that, and stopped, or did you just get the car a year ago and it already wasn't working then?

If it just suddenly stopped, but it worked before, why would it be the missing relays? Did you or someone else remove them? Unless your car has been vandalized, or you removed them, if it worked a year ago without them, that's not the problem.

You said you "looked at the engine and all that", what do you mean "all that"? Why were you looking at the car's engine for the problem?

Since the blower started right up when you touched the blower wire to the battery, there's a problem between the blower and the battery.

There must be a switch or a different relay that isn't working, or lost connection. Could it be a wire chewed by mice?

If you have an OBD scannner, see if that shows anything. If it's a '97, it should have a port.

Edited to add: Did you try it on all speeds? Was there any response at any speed?

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u/Smart_Dig632 12h ago

Already wasn’t working when I got it, when I say I checked the engine and all that I mean I checked the things related to the heating in the engine such as changing the thermostat, adding more coolant, checking the blower motor, etc

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u/Effective-Gift6223 12h ago

Thermostat and coolant wouldn't affect whether the blower is working. It started working when you connected it to your battery, but otherwise it doesn't work.

Was it noisy when it came on? It it's loud, you might just need a new blower motor, and blower motor resistor. They do wear out, and your car is pretty old. It's likely to need these parts replaced.

Check YouTube for videos about replacing the blower motor and blower motor resistor specifically on your car's year, make & model.

Another thing to try is turning on the blower switch, and tapping on the bottom of the blower motor and see if it starts turning. You can usually teach under the dash under the glove box, and tap on it there. You might need to remove the glove box to do this. YouTube can show the procedure. If there aren't any videos for your specific car, look for a similar model. With most cars the procedure will be similar.

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u/Effective-Gift6223 11h ago

Also, check for loose wires under/behind the fuse/relay box. Since it hasn't worked the whole time you've had the car, those missing relays could be the problem.