Sigh, blower fan just quit in my '93 Accord LX

[Mojoed]

The blower fan just bit the dust in my 1993 Accord LX. It blows no air at any setting. I thought it could have been a bad knob at first, but that's been checked and it's fine. I checked the fuses and they all seem fine as well. It appears to definitely be a bad fan/motor. Unfortunately that's about the limit of what I can do myself since I'm not too handy with cars.

I've got this love/hate relationship going with my Honda. Mechanically it runs as good as it did 16 years ago, but I'm starting to wonder if it's worth it anymore, as everything else is starting to go. Just redid the entire AC system a couple of months ago too.

Anyway, it's gonna be at least a week before I can go get an estimate to get this fixed. I'm wondering if anyone can provide me with a ballpark on what this job would probably run me.

Any other tips/suggestions are welcome!

 

[kalrith]

Did you just do a visual check of the fuses or did you swap them out with new/different ones? The same thing recently happened to me. It was just the fuse, and the fuse looked fine to my eyes. I spent $2 on a fuse kit that contained every fuse I use. I swapped them out until I found the culprit. I don't have the owner's manual, so I didn't know which fuse was for the blower.

It's always best to start with the easiest and cheapest step of troubleshooting. It would stink to replace the blower switch and then the blower itself only to find that the fuse was bad.

I hear you about frustrating problems with older cars. All I can say is to stick with it as long as the repairs are relatively cheap. This year for my '92 Mercury Cougar, I had to replace the fuel lines, serp belt, rear wheel cylinders and shoes, right inner tie-rod end, coil wire, starter, and solenoid. I still need to replace the spark plugs and wires, rear shocks, and both ball joints. I spent about $1k on all that stuff, but that's a whole lot less than a replacement car would cost.

 

[OdiN]

I'm not sure on the Honda, but the one in my Maxima was very easy to replace. Just had to take the glove box out and then I could get access to the fan just under the dash there. Very simple replacement.

Also - the dealers will charge you an arm and a leg. I got one for $60 on ebay OEM type and it works great. The dealer wanted like $250 for the same thing.

For any mechanic it shouldn't be over an hour in labor, if even that. What's gonna cost more is the price of the unit itself. (This is assuming that Honda didn't make it ridiculously difficult to get to.)

My best suggestion to you is to pickup a Haynes manual for your car and repalce it yourself. It really shouldn't be that hard.

 

[Billb2]

Well, it has to be fixed, just try and sell a car with no heat/AC!

To get an idea of do-ability/labor cost, go to the library and look in a Chiston's and see how hard it is.

 

[MadAmos]

Before you change the blower motor make sure the problem is not the blower resistor/speed control.

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: MadAmos
Before you change the blower motor make sure the problem is not the blower resistor/speed control.

Yup do this. I glanced over the OP and saw fuses, and guess I just assumed he did this. But it's an important check.

 

[Mojoed]

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: MadAmos
Before you change the blower motor make sure the problem is not the blower resistor/speed control.

Yup do this. I glanced over the OP and saw fuses, and guess I just assumed he did this. But it's an important check.

Hey thanks you guys. I have no idea what the resister/speed control is, but I'm gonna hit the library tomorrow and grab the Chilton guide and try to make some sense out of this mess.

 

[thomsbrain]

I used to have a 91 Honda Accord LX. I had to replace the blower motor at about 110,000 miles.

Other non-regular-wear items things replaced during my ownership from 97K to 225K (sold for $2000):

--Entire A/C system (would have been fine with a conversion and recharge, but a crooked and incompetent mechanic ruined nearly every part of it trying to cover his mistakes).
--Distributor (only thing that ever left me stranded)
--Vehicle Speed Sensor (makes speedo stop working).
--Thermostat
--About ten fan/temp control knobs (fucking things kept cracking inside)

If it makes you feel better, almost all of this stuff happened between 100K and 145K or so. After that, I had basically replaced all the "known issue" things on that car, and it stayed solid until I sold it. Don't know how many miles you have, but these cars are basically pretty tough with the exception of these parts that "only" last around 150,000 miles and need to be replaced every decade or so.

 

[RU482]

I've got the pdf version of the shop manual from when I had a 93 Accord LX. In total, it's about 130 MB. Anyone know a place I could upload it to?

 

[Mojoed]

Originally posted by: redly1
I've got the pdf version of the shop manual from when I had a 93 Accord LX. In total, it's about 130 MB. Anyone know a place I could upload it to?

Oooh, if you find a host, please let me know! :beer:

 

[HiTek21]

I had to replace the blower in my 93 Acura Legend last Christmas. Rather than take it to the dealership I bought a new blower from Ebay for around 80 dollars and attempted to install it myself. I spent maybe 2 hours under the dash removing and installing the new one. I've never done one before but it was actually fairly easy, once you get your glove box removed you can see how easy it is to get at it. The only hard part was remembering where everything goes, but everything is just plug n play.

Probably saved me a couple hundred dollars from taking it to the dealership.

 

[GerryEgan]

I can give you a place to upload the 93 Honda Accord shop manual pdf if you're trying to store it or share it. Just let me know.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Mojoed

Originally posted by: redly1
I've got the pdf version of the shop manual from when I had a 93 Accord LX. In total, it's about 130 MB. Anyone know a place I could upload it to?

Oooh, if you find a host, please let me know! :beer:

Is this not what BitTorrent is for? Just go to the bay and U/L

 

[nwfsnake]

http://www.spoonhonda.com/Sear...p?Cat=119&Redirected=Y

The 1990 manual should be close enough.

 

[MannyU]

I know this is 10yrs later but maybe this might help someone looking for help. I manage to take to blower motor housing out. I was gonna buy the motor but decided to test it. I opened the hood and attached electrical wires to the motor wire clip connector. Yellow to ground and blue to positive. Bingo the motor works, so i checked the next thing it could be the resistor. My issue was it worked fine, it cut off so i figured it was fuses. Checked those but all were fine. It mysteriously started working again on and off so i figured fan motor was going bad bc it got to blowing really slow and making loud noise. I assumed thats the blower motor. It finally cut off and never came back. So those were my symptoms and even tho i thought it was the fan motor it is the resistor. Hope that helps someone.

 

[Thump553]

Just replaced the one in my 08 Prius today-mice were nesting in there and the crap they brought in wore out the motor-sometimes to get it to work it took a hard bang on the dash. Not too bad to replace-some screws and bolts were a PIA to reach. My part was $38 on Amazon and there was an excellent youtube how-to video. Could be done by the average person.

As others said if yours crapped out all at once the problem may be electrical rather than mechanical.

BTW excellent way to keep the mice out-dribble some peppermint oil on the cabin air filter once in a while. The car reeks for a while but apparently mice hate peppermint. They also apparently hate moth balls, but I didn't want my car to smell like an old lady's closet.

Rats, didn't realize this was a necro'd thread.