FAQ: HVAC Blower motor only works part time, or stays on

I replaced the motor unit. It was a 60$. it did not come with the squirrel cage. Just the motor attached to the flange and a red and black with coming out the back. Did not have a connector, had to splice the wires in.

Always wanted a Riv, and bought a 96 8 years ago. Here are her issues, and maybe someone can shed some light on what we need to do to rectify the problems.

Every 200 starts or so, the engine will not turn over. Bells and whistles come on. As per the manual, I give her 4 minutes and then turn the key, and she will always start. Still, it is a pain. Once when Hubby came out of a store, the car was ON and RUNNING!!! I like to tease him that she did it to appease him,as he had just taken her to the spa (car wash) and she knows he is fed up with her problems. Could it be that she has a remote starter and it is on the same frequency as someone else's car in the parking lot, so that is what caused her ignition to engage? Or is she possessed?? How can we tell if she has one? Her wiring is a tangled mass. Hubby is well versed in mechanics, but this car has him perplexed and very frustrated. We have the thick service manuals we got from ebay, but there are so many sensors, etc. that it is a headache to probelm-solve.

Her drivers side window locked up (thankfully, in closed position) and hubby has to get a switch. Dealer wants over 100 bucks (crazy for such an old car!) so he wants to know if anone knows of a reputible after market site where he can get one for less. He could fix it, if so. May just need filing, but if he takes apart the door and finds she needs a new switch, he wants to have one.

Latest problem is her blower/fan won't shut off after the car is turned off. He found the fuse and disconnected it. Again, a ton of sensors could be involved so just wonder if anyone else has had any of these problems and can offer some assistance. Thanking you in advance!

Regarding the 200 starts, your comment is not specific enough. Need to know if the SECURITY light is on, for instance.

Regarding the on and running when DH came out of a store, might want to take it back to whoever installed it and ask for advice. If not (if you did it yourself or if the installer is gone) might want to ask yourself if you really need it, and if not then take it out and restore the wiring to original configuration but if so then your starting for troubleshooting is the installation manual for that remote starter.

Regarding the drivers side window, the switches are repairable if you are patient. For used parts use the search function on this site to find Ed Morad, or use your local "yellow pages" to find the used parts/auto recyclers and start making phone calls. To the best of my knowledge you will not find the Riv switches "aftermarket" at an Autozone or some such. As for the dealer $100 price, think of it as $1.99 for the switch and the rest of the money is the rent due for holding it for you for all those years... and if they actually have it/can get it promptly you will save time. Or you could get it via monsterpartsonline.com. It is under electrical/body electrical/front door/interior trim, it's $68.74. another link to the site is http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/index.cfm?siteid=214632.

Regarding the blower/fan are you talking about the radiator fan or the heater/air conditioner. If the radiator fan, you probably want to put that fuse back in so your car does not overheat, then figure out where the wiring problem is and fix it. There is a warning label that says the radiator fan may come on at any time, so I can't tell you it's actually broken. It depends... If the heat/AC, you might need to replace the HVAC control. They are durable but do not last forever and ever. Best bet is to get one used 'cause they are very, very pricey - about $1,000 from a dealer and about $500 from monsterpartsonline.com - they are less from Ed Morad or others having used ones.

I think the bottom line is not that your riv is possessed, rather that it sounds like you've let a number of small problems go for a while and now it's frustrating because there's so much broken the car does not run right. I understand your frustration, and I will close by simply saying it will take a while for you all to work the problems long enough to get it right.

Albertj

Blower Motor runs on high only, even with the ignition off and key out. Had to remove the fuse under backseat to stop it. Can anyone help?

Sounds like a relay is stuck on.
Will have to look at wiring diagram to be sure.

Hi Albertj and thanks for all the info. My husband maintains our vehicles on a regular basis, so these problems are not due to neglect. Only the not starting issue has longevity. Tried disconnecting the security system but she would still not want to start sometimes. Since it happens very rarely, we never resolved the problem. Took it to a GM dealer and of course she started every time for them so they had no solution. She does it with both of our keys. Could it be the key chip reader is not recognizing sometimes?

We bought this car used, and we never put in a remote starter, so my question was how to tell if she does, indeed, have one. Then Hubby can disconnect it. She had better have one, or else she turned herself on . . . scary thought.

It is the AC blower, and it just did this last week on my way home from work. I had the AC on and all of a sudden the fan went up to full speed and the controls did not show it. I could not reduce the speed. When I got home and turned off the ignition, the blower kept running. Had to pull the fuse to make it stop.

Thanks again for all your help and people/places to contact!

BatMobile wrote:

We bought this car used, and we never put in a remote starter, so my question was how to tell if she does, indeed, have one. Then Hubby can disconnect it. She had better have one, or else she turned herself on . . . scary thought.

The first place to look for the remote start control module would be under the drivers side insulating panel. The one that covers the bottom of the steering column and has the OBD 2 connection.
Remove that panel, only a few screws, and look for the box that doesn't belong and has wires that are crimped and not in the cars wiring harness.
Remove one wire at a time and return to factory condition.
I have heard nothing but bad things when it comes to remote starters for these vehicles. It's a combination of problems, one being the interaction with the Pass Key system and the others just being a poorly made remote start module and sloppy wiring. These cars are very sensitive to electrical loads, especially where your ignition and start circuits are concerned.
Get rid of that unit completely if you can or bring it to a shop that does installs and pay to have it removed. Just be careful who you bring it to, obviously a hack installer can cause more damage removing the system. Try and find a reputable stereo and remote start installer.

BatMobile wrote:

Latest problem is her blower/fan won't shut off after the car is turned off. He found the fuse and disconnected it. Again, a ton of sensors could be involved so just wonder if anyone else has had any of these problems and can offer some assistance. Thanking you in advance!

First question does the AC blow cold even though the fan only runs in High speed?

Hi, Rickw and thanks for your helpful input!
Yes, it blows cold air when the car is running and AC is on. When I press the auto button it engages compressor and when you pressed off it disengages the compressor as it should, but fan continues to blow on high. Hubby was going to start by checking fan control module to see if that is causing this.

Regarding the black box under kick panel, he had disabled it to see if then the car would always start, but then she wouldn't start sometimes so he reconnected it. When it was disconnected, the key fob buttons were disabled, too. I would think if she had a remote start installed, there would be a button on our fobs, but there aren't. Then again, if it was not factory installed, I guess that would explain why the original fobs don't have a button for it. Car had 2 owners before us. Someone told us that if there was a remote start there should be warning decals under hood, and also a switch to deactivate it while working on the car. We haven't seen either.

Thanks again for your help!

with rick on the remote stater issue.
You might also check for a loose contact on the starter.

You need a new blower control modulator to fix the fan problem. They are $$$$ at the dealer or get it cheaper here
Ed morad can get you a used one even cheaper. 98% sure that is the problem.

As for the window not working... do you hear a relay click when you use the switch? if so then you need to clean the brushes on the motor or replace it.
If you hear no click then pull the door panel off and remove the switch box. test it with a multimeter to see if the switch works. You can also jump the motor for the window to make certain that is not the problem.
It isnt too difficult to remove the door panel. Just be very careful with all the plastic clips holding it on; they can get brittle with age, but some plastic epoxy will fix them right up.

Sounds like we're making progress here, great work so far folks.

Also about the starting thing - you say you got the car used - any chance it was in a collision before you got it. What I am thinking is that in the repair/restoration some of the wires in the steering column got chafed. Chafe the right pair of wires, the car won't turn off. Also - this could be as simple as a bad ignition switch - I replaced my ignition switch at ~167,000 miles (7/2007, car was 9 years old). Let's get this straight though. The ignition lock has the pass-key part - and the contacts for pass-key may be involved with your no-start problem. I can't tell from here. You might try putting some rubbing alcohol or dry gas on a q-tip and cleaning the keyway. Looking further, the ignition switch actually is the electrical part that turns the car on-start-off. If it is worn and the on contacts have created a conductive track then that may be the run-after-key-turned-to-off-position problem. You and DH may or may not be aware that the ignition lock and ignition switch in these cars are separate parts.

As for a remote starter you ought to look, based on what you wrote so far I doubt your car has one.

As for the GM dealer don't be too upset, their protocol for car repair requires that they duplicate the customer's complaint before working on the car. If there is something that you want them to go ahead and do, suggest to the service manager that they put "CUSTOMER REQUEST" on the work order. For instance, one failure that is hard to duplicate is when the crank sensor fails - because it does not usually fail completely, it'll quit then start working again when it cools off and it won't cause the car's OBD system to remember a trouble code. I've had two of them fail. The first time I'd had the car towed in twice for a no-start, they'd let it sit over night and it'd start next day. Which is a problem that others have noticed is frequent on GM cars with teh 3800 engine. So my car was still at the dealer. They had not done anything but I said, "the failure pattern looks like these problems I read about on teh Web." They said, "we have to duplicate the problem then decide what to do." I said ' just replace the crank sensor and I'll be responsible. So they wrote "CUSTOMER REQUEST" on the work order. That crank sensor was an aftermarket (did not have a GM sensor in stock that day) and it worked fine for 2 years then one day (a couple months ago) the car quit again. Towed the car in, and stopped by the next morning to check. They told me it did not start in the lot, so they pushed it into the service bay, connected it to the scanner - and it started and they could not get it to quit. I said, "run your diagnostics if you have not already and if you do not find anything, replace the crank sensor as a "customer request." Which they did. It's been fine since. One of the other dealer employees (who shall remain nameless) told me they'd had problems with the aftermarket crank sensors... this time they put in a Delphi (last time was a Standard Tru-Test).

If you think the crank sensor is the problem and you decide to do it yourself here is a write-up with photos:

http://mykidz.net/GTP/CrankPosSensor.shtml

Should cost under $200 for dealer to replace it.

I have to run, let us all know what you find and what you do.

Albertj

Albert,
Thanks for the link to the procedure for replacing the crank sensor.
Maybe it could be added to our Write Up section.????

Hi, welcome - here's a question for you -

Do you know if you have the factory remote keyfob or an aftermarket? Can you take a picture of it we can see? That will answer if you need to keep the aftermarket remote starter/alarm system for a while, at least until you can acquire some factory remotes and have them programmed.

Wow! You all are the greatest!!! Hubby is going to start with fixing the door switch, then the blower. The "not starting sometimes" issue will be on back burner, because we have dealt with it for a few years and it is no biggie. After we wait the recommended 4 minutes and put the key back in and turn it, she always starts. He is on vacation next month and will devote as much time as possible to fixing her ailments. Thanks to all of you SO very much for all the help you have so generously offered. I will keep you posted on our progress.

Oh, about the key fob. Hubby says it is original/factory. I can try to take a photo of it, maybe this weekend. We don't even use it. I manually lock the car, as that is what I am used to from having older cars than her.

The door switch and blower module have been ordered and are on their way to us! Only question is: were is the blower module located? Have conflicting information. The service manual shows it is accessible from interior of car, yet I'm told it is under hood on driver's side up by the windshield. If someone could give us a link to maybe a write up, it would be much appreciated. Thanks again!

The module is located inside the car. Near the blower. Easy to replace.
Maybe someone else remembers the write up or pic's of it.
I think AA did one a while ago.

remove the 2 screw holding the passenger kick panel on, then you will see a black module at the far back behind the blower. unplug the 1 or 2 clips in it and i believe there are screws holing it in place too.
it's pretty easy to find and replace, but i can get you a pic of it tomorrow if needed.

BatMobile wrote:

The service manual shows it is accessible from interior of car,

I couldn't have said it any better.

Thanks, everyone! Module and switch arrived today (yeah!) and it is supposed to be a rainy weekend, so Hubby will work on Rivi. Mr. Riviera, if you have pix to post, that would be great! Thank you.

hope those help.

Good news!!! Hubby just installed the window switch and it works fine! He is now dealing with the blower module, and thanks so VERY much for the helpful photos, Mr. Riviera!!! I will post as to the outcome today or tomorrow, and thanks again! Really like the sparkly wheels on your white Riv. I just HAD to have sparkly wheels on our girl, too . . . really adds a touch of pizzazz!

Somebody somewhere won the Mega Millions, but I am jumping for joy that the blower module installed like a charm and made my girl all better . . . can't thank everybody enough for all your generous input! And if we ever DO become lottery winners, I will bequeath some to my fellow Riviera devotees. I never forget a favor, and always try to repay. Thanks again to everyone!!!

Just wondered if anyone who helped us by posting to this topic would like the old driver's side window switch to tinker with. Hubby wanted me to ask before he throws it away. If so, send me a PM. If I get no takers by next weekend, I will start a new thread offering to mail it to anyone that might want it. (Free, of course.) Thanks again for everyone's help!

Look at the post below regarding "Security wait 3 minutes" and print out the procedure for by-passing the VATS system for your no start problem.
Remember the color of the wiring could be different - look it up in your FSM.
Good Luck

Rickw wrote:

Look at the post below regarding "Security wait 3 minutes" and print out the procedure for by-passing the VATS system for your no start problem.
Remember the color of the wiring could be different - look it up in your FSM.
Good Luck

Thanks, and we printed it out for future reference.

The old window switch has a new home, and thanks again to everyone who helped us!