I'm retired now, but that sort of job was something I never enjoyed in my workshop. For a start, I'm 6' 3", so any job under the dash was difficult to get to. Added to that, here in the UK, cars are usually more compact, so you have less room to work, and on top of that, most cars are designed as left hand drive, then they make a right hand drive version for the UK and similar markets, with the bare minimum of alterations to the layout under the dash, so you have to work around the pedal box and steering column as well. It's good to be able to sit here and watch someone else do it now, knowing that I don't have to. Keep up the good work, Eric.
The night light on my radio went out over two years ago. I didn't feel like pulling the radio to see what was wrong, so there I was without a lit radio at night for well over two years. The other night I got sick of not seeing the time on the radio at night, so I gave it a good shot with my knuckle. LET THERE BE LIGHT! BTW: Always nice to hear Mrs.O.
Worked for my buddy’s 1992 Toyota Tercel dash. As a joke I beat on the dash and the lights all came back on. After that had our standard operating procedure.
@@FishFind3000 I have a 1986 Corolla GTS that did that some years ago. Eventually I got tired of hitting the dash so I took it apart and found a fractured solder joint on the light switch. Easy fix and no parts required!
Simple job, but the hammer method successful. Our neighbor farmer used to say if it didnt work, get a bigger hammer, as he took a sledge to his tractor shifter. It worked.
Nicely done and thank you! If I may add if it hasn't been mentioned in comments already, mine (2011 Enclave) first acted up last time I had the heat on during spring. Ordered the new fan from Amazon but summer hit and using AC, the fan ran just fine. Chicago getting chilly again so running the heat, it would get stuck again so I've been bumping it with my fist to kick start it lol. Today... I put that new one in! Now to figure out why I have constant heat on my drivers side when my AC in on.. Ugggs
Nice job, Eric. Good ole, practical mechanics. See problem, diagnose in a practical manner then fix it; taking us along with you. No scanner, no wave form, no TSB's. Just good old logic based on experience and knowledge. Change of pace. SMA videos are always valuable.
I think there may have been a scope, but of course I could b wrong. Rather than a dead spot on the commutator, it maybe that the brushes were a little stuck?
My Escort had the same problem. The first time it happened I put a set of brushes in the fan motor. I had it long enough to wear it out again and just replaced the whole motor the second time. I diagnosed it the same way. I just slapped the heater box and it would work for a few days. I've used the same trick to get vehicles with worn-out electric fuel pumps started. Only failed me once. My 97 Chevy Express died and I was about 2 miles from home. It got pulled up a pretty steep hill by a 91 Nissan Sentra.
Ahh...the memories. Back in the late 90's a mouse found its way into the AC duct work of my '96 Impala SS. It ended up in the squirrel cage blower fan. I didn't know it at the time. I was driving in the middle of the Nevada desert with the AC cranked up. Then suddenly, the entire car started severely vibrating. When I reduced the fan speed, the vibration was much less. I drove about 2 more hours before getting home. Our cat showed an unusual level of curiosity about the car. She normally wants nothing to do with cars. She apparently smelled the dead rodent. Just like Eric did, I dropped the fan assembly down from behind the glove box. Much to my surprise, there was a mouse inside the fan. Needless to say he was deceased and very flat. The centrifugal forces did him in. I took some pictures (of course) and removed the dead rodent. Put the fan assembly back where it came from. No more vibration.
In high school I had a '83 Chevrolet Chevette. The dash selector didn't work for the defrost and floor. So each time in the winter had to decide, cold feet or a defrosted windshield. You had to reach up under the dashboard on the passenger side to manually move the diverter. It was a total PITA but being a first car it was freedom regardless!
If you think back, I'm sure you could be like ''if I had just of had say a steel clothes hanger hooked to the blend door opposite the bearing/hinges what haveyou and ran it to arms reach near the steeringwheel or ankle and' voila' manual mode". Buuut never did by the sound of your post. Now, wait for it
You tube sucks with their new warnings before you can comment,anyway, these are the kind of videos I like to watch you do, I know the scan tools are really needed on new cars, but the average guys wants to watch you work on common problems,after you’ve scanned lol !
Often, the blowers fail because the brushes fail to make good contact with the commutator due to wear. Bumping the motor causes then to make contact again and the motor takes off. It may run for a day, week or month. Best to replace the motor when this happens because it is going to fail again. This type of failure usually doesn't show up as a dead spot when you scope current draw
My hero... @10:16 ([screw these directions, we're not following that, we know when directions are Bravo Sierra]). BTW, Kudos to Mrs. O, the unsung heroine of the channel. No disrespect to EricO at all, but I'm thinking Mrs. O basically keeps the shop running while the grease monkeys are doing what they do best. Thanks Eric, Josh, Mrs. O and all others. @Eric--your troubleshooting skills are beyond *mad* !! Thanks for all the entertainment and education. Favorite quotes; "...you'll lose your religion no matter what it is..." and "Son of a monkey!!", and of course "Remember, If I can do it, you can do it". One of the best outros in all of RU-vid! Salute !!!
So strange, my blower motor stopped working today in my Buick and when I hit my notifications and started watching your video, same problem, but mine was the resistor.
Good video. Years ago, on my '72 Ford, I ignored my blower fan squealing because I had no money. Eventually, the blower fan switch melted and failed. Cheaper to fix the problem before it gets worse.
I'm fuckn dead!! At work, come out in the cold to smoke a grit... no fuckn heat blowing... so I look this up... lean over, smack the bottom of the dash... heat... 😆 🤣 😂
Good Job, I deal with about 5 Blower Motors a week and I agree to get a new one but since I am in Mexico and People do not wanna spend that much Money for a new one I replace the Cole's if the rest of it looks halfway usable and good to go for another Year or two
You used the word omen. Reminds me of an interview of a race car driver after a part failed on his car and he crashed. The interview asked him if he thought it might be an omen, and the driver said, "nope, it was a new one."
I drove with a baseball bat in the passenger’s seat all through high school to start up my blower fan on my 94 Silverado. Sometimes had to use it under the hood to hit the AC compressor wire connection. Had my girlfriend (now wife) trained to give it a good kick every time she got in the car. She quit wearing sandals after a couple weeks…
Good talk; My first car was a 1962 English Ford Anglia Estate ("Station wagon" for us yanks). I don't think they had ever changed the oil because it clogged the oil filter within 500 miles for the first ten oil changes. I ended up rebuilding the motor within the first year. Horrible car, but I dreamed of swapping the motor for a Cortina motor with double my 39 horses! Woot!
If the aftermarket company NAPA rebranded for this blower can figure out how to make a profit and have a decent margin on a Canadian produced product, so can GM. List price on Canadian one is like $5 less. I wonder how many parts on a Buick Envision (assembled in China) are made in China? Over winter, I helped a friend replace the 5.7 TBI (rod and kibble/bits made new drain holes in the oil pan) and 4L60 E (hersheys syrup) in his 95 Silverado Z71. The only real annoyance of the job was the lack of disconnects on the harnesses. So easy and straight forward. A stick shift 90s Chevy truck with a 350 sounds cool, they weren’t common.
Those bearings are technically called bushings and rarely last a long time. When they start failing, they will require a lot more startup torque to spin. A drop of oil might make it work another year or so but not the most reliable repair method for a garage and customer. Nice replacement part.
Hey. I was checking out that space under the seat! Ok. Not really. Great video. Better to put a new one in than to have a disgruntled customer. Another one under yer belt, Eric. Nice job!!
That was pretty cool. I watched the video the first time, and I was indeed yelling that I wanted to see under the dash, and sure enough it worked. I then re-watched it and kept quiet, and sure enough the camera didn't tip over. What will RU-vid think of next!
"Don't mess with your daily". Wise words, indeed! I'll risk screwing up my fun car by working on it myself or hot rodding it, but the daily goes to the pros and stays stock.
Eric, fun watching the video and reading the comments as we lament about the old trucks we use to own. Had a old Ford truck with a worn out neutral safety switch. Took it out and apart, replaced the worn out balls in it with bb's. Worked great. Pretty amazing the stuff you think about when your upside down under the dash. Thanks for Sharing!
You mean they had fuel injection back when you were a kid, then you're not as old as I thought you were. I was 19 50 years ago and we still had carburetors, my favorite setup was the Ford Boss 429 with a cross ram intake manifold and dual Autolite inline carbs rated at 1400 cfm a piece, it was a monster, now you can get the same performance with a 4 liter v-6 a turbo and fuel injection and a performance chip in the computer. You know what's funny a lot of young people today think these computers have been around a long time, some guys were rebuilding a camaro and said they were going to put it back original at first till they found out most of the internals don't exist, then they found a niche company that can make what they can't buy but it would cost them over 100,000 dollars to do it it was a '67, my cousin had one they were nice..
Yessiree...that 4.3 was no slouch but the 5.7 should have made a difference although in the EFI days all they put out was 210 HP and some were only 190 HP in the 3/4T or 2500 models.
Love watching your videos I got out of this line of work over 10 years ago and every time I see you getting your hands in a tights places I am really glad I got out of it
yep I wish I would have listened to my dad more I bought a new 69 Chevy Chevelle with no motor in it at Bridger Chevrolet in Grand rapids Michigan and had a LT1 installed in the car I think my dad was mad at me the rest of my life don't know how many times I heard the expression that he didn't realize that he raised such a dumb son but with that being said that car would rock sorry Dad and I sure do miss you
I have often assumed that DC motors that restart with the Fonzarelli Method, were actually suffering from a stuck brush..a bit of gumming or crud holding a brush off the commutator and the shock loosens the brush, contact is reestablished and off they go for another couple of years. Case in point 2010 Forester electric window motors
That's what happened to me ('00 Olds Intrigue blower motor). Brush was hanging up; I disassembled, loosen the brush in the channel, reassembled, and voila, ran for the rest of my time with her.
My first vehicle was a 94 4.3 v6 too, in an AWD Safari though. GM does love to mix in T20 for the interior and 3rd brake light but there's prob more T25s on the vehicle and T25s are far more common on other makes too
I watched the first two minutes of this video, paused it, walked outside to my truck, smacked the blower motor (after I already changed both blend door actuators) turned on the car and it worked. I stood there shaking my head and said “you gotta be f-ing kidding me right now!” 😂😂 Thank You!
I had one that, you just turned on, and it was up where you couldn't wack it... so you found some bumpy railroad tracks and drove over them and off it went
I was expecting to see a mouse nest when you pulled that blower out. Back when I was wrenching in Michigan it was common to clean a mouse house out of blowers. My wife had a 89 Acclaim that I cleaned out twice in one winter. One day she said a mouse ran up the outside of the windshield when she was half way to work!
I must have had the same blower motor in my old 77 GMC but mine stopped working every time I'd hit a bump...so I'd just drive off the edge of the road until it started again...NOT DANGEROUS AT ALL!!!!
On the GMT-400 (your old Chevy) the positive wire that connected to the blower motor often gets loose and burns up, but won't always be obvious right away. A simple spade connector will replace the original.
Morning Eric, I used to do the same thing with my car back in the 80's a 2 litre Ford Cortina GXL. The Mutts Nuts, my Dad used to say to me " If you want a car to go fast, buy a fast car"? I must have spent a fortune on it and not really got anywhere. But "you can't put a young head on old shoulders" where would the fun be if we'd listened to out parents😁👍. Regards as always Richard 🇬🇧
Too true Eric. Customer jobs have to be treated different to how you work on your own stuff. You have to warranty what you repair, and lets face it the labour to test and reinstate pretty much most of the labour cost. It only took you a few minuets to remove and reinstall the actual blower fan. Plus peace of mind knowing you installed a new NAPA (not sponsored) fan 🙄
You had money/time to swap a 4.3 to a 5.7 but not enough for a blower motor? Ah, priorities of youth. Would like to have those priorities back now that I'm in my 40s.
Well bouncing on that, i4, v6 to 5.7 v8 conversions were a common theme among s10 owners. My brother did that. Minor alterations but you, them, and or I could do it in our backyard.
The best part of your story is the statement of wanting more horsepower than you'd know what to do with, there's a lot of folk who want a fast car but few lack the experience to handle such a machine. Though it seems that a lot people lack in every department when they drive a vehicle, like they cut their own license out of a cereal box and the DOT approved them without any testing.
Man Eric how can we know for certain that this fixed the issue when you never assured us that you "torqued it to spec"? Now there are going to be people putting in their blower motor and having it fall off while driving down the road causing them to wreck because they didn't know it needed to be "torqued to spec" 🤦
New to this channel but man you have some wicked content. Very informative. Keep those video's coming especially Chev/GMC 2014 up. Cheers from Sydney, Nova Scotia Canada
I remember my first car a 1970 Chevrolet Is Impala I had to always hit start the blower motor, this went on for 6 months. I was buying more important parts first lol
Lucky you. Just done a blower motor replacement on a 2012 focus. Such a pain in the ars. I now know a trick on the physical removal part but considering how difficult the screws are to get out and the darn cage that's around it as well. Next time I'll pay someone like you to do it 😂
My 99 Camry has a blower motor with a dead spot. I just leave the bottom cover off, and when it doesn't run, I just reach over and smack it. It starts every time!
You forgot to mention the free tip screw trick. Turn them counter clockwise until you feel them drop into the existing thread... then righty tighty until it is tight like a tiger.
Like you, I had a Chev C10 w 4.3, best engine ever. Only prob was the old Getrag puked 5th gear @ about 220,000 mi. Didn't use or leak a drop of oil. Only got between 18-20 mpg. Wish I still had it, yes it would chirp the tires going into third.
After thumping it with the fonzereli I would have lost it if he turned to the screen and said.... "Remember viewers.... If I can do it, you can do it.....thanks for watching" 😂🤣😂🤣
Gotta be careful making that motion with his hands... Blaaaahahaha! OMG... Made my day brother. As instructors obviously we can't "Communicate" with one another in that fashion while students are around.. but doesn't mean after they've left for the day we're not right back in the saddle, like sailors coming off a ship, in the shop/labs lol. But I have to admit getting back to watching your videos today.. I do miss the "Real World" shop environment and real time diagnosing and repairs.. not to mention the shop banter 🤣Don't get me wrong teaching is amazing and watching these new tech's just getting started is a lot of fun.. especially when you see the "AaaHaa" moments occurring for their first time... along with seeing a repair done correctly.. bringing these machines back to life.. it's really cool. But just know for most of us teachers out here in the world we're living our days as live real time mechanics through you and your videos lol. Have an great week brother.. Peace Out ✌
What can I say, another great video. Clear and to the point. Sooooo if you moved to Canada (specifically Ontario) I could shoot the vids for you. Just saying!!!! Just remember hunting fishing and health care woo hoo
Hit that like button if you had a "fan whackin stick" in your first truck... mine was a 2ft section of broom handle in an 81 GMC 1500 (straight six powah!)
