2016 Rogue Blower motor not working

[hcliffe]

My DIL has a 2016 Nissan Rogue, AWD S with 150,000 miles.

Blower motor not working on any speed, any setting. She says it works about every 10th start and is noisy, but I have driven it several times and never heard it. I have replaced the blower motor with a new one, still not working and old blower motor tested fine on the bench.
Replaced motor resistor on driver side, this did not fix the problem either. Tested 2 blower fuses in side panel on driver side, both are fine.

Suggestions on what to check next? Blower motor relay, but not sure where it is. Would this cause the motor to not work at all?

Thoughts? Thanks for any help you can provide including links to instructional videos or manuals.

[VStar650CL]

The blower relay is in the back of the cabin fusebox. You pretty much need to remove the left lower dash to get at it. You can find the layout on page PG-66 here:
https://www.nicoclub.com/service-manual ... 6%2FPG.pdf

However, the relay is easy to check without removing anything because it's located upstream from the two fuses. If the fuses still have solid 12V when your blower misbehaves, the relay isn't causing the misbehavior. If the voltage at the fuses drops way off when the problem occurs, the relay is the likely culprit.

[hcliffe]

Thanks for your reply!

So to test the power at the fuses, do I remove each fuse (one at a time), and with power to the blower, use my voltmeter to touch inside the 2 contacts of that particular fuse?

Another question, the mechanic said the battery is 7 years old and was only putting out 11 volts. Would this cause the blower not to run?

[VStar650CL]

The blower should be able to run at well below 10V, and in any case you'll have 14V when the engine is running. So no, I doubt that's the problem. To test, leave both fuses alone and just measure voltage from either one of them to ground. Then turn the blower on and measure again. If you get a big voltage drop when the blower tries to connect, the relay has bad contacts. Resistance in the contacts is the only thing which can cause that drop.

[hcliffe]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean, but it is not possible to get a meter probe to touch fuse contacts with a fuse still in place. Can you clarify?

[VStar650CL]

Sure it is, the little exposed metal squares on top of the fuse connect directly to each leg. That's in fact the right way to test any fuse, if it doesn't light a test lamp or show identical voltage on both sides then it's blown.

[VStar650CL]

PS - I always prefer a bulb-type test lamp. Fuses protect power circuits, and a bulb needs power. So it tells you more about the health of the circuit than a voltmeter, because it both loads the circuit and tests it. A dim bulb means a resistance issue, something a multimeter can't tell you.

[hcliffe]

Interesting, thanks!

[VStar650CL]

[hcliffe]

Hello, thanks for you continued help! I was able to look at the car last night. Here is what I did. I turned the car to "on", not running. I used my voltmeter, set on 15 DC and put the black probe on a metal part of the car for ground. With the blower motor set to off, I used the red probe and touched the visible metal part of the fuse. It measured about 14 volts. I then turned the blower motor on, and the voltmeter did not change. I then did the same test on the other blower motor fuse. It responded the same. But then I touched the red probe to the other lead on that same fuse and the voltmeter did not read anything.

Did I do this testing correctly? What does the zero reading on one side of the fuse tell us? Is there a chance it is still a bad relay? If not, what else could be the cause of the blower motor not working.

Tomorrow I will be able to look at the car again.

Thanks again for your help on this, and Happy Holidays!

[VStar650CL]

If you got 0V on one side of the fuse, the fuse is blown. When you test fuses that way, there are three possible outcomes:
0V on both sides - Fuse has no power
Battery voltage on both sides - Fuse has power and is good
Battery voltage on one side, 0V on the other - Fuse is blown

[hcliffe]

Hmm, I had tested that fuse previously by pulling the fuse and testing for continuity with a probe on each side and it was fine. I'll do some more testing, thanks.

[hcliffe]

I was able to locate the relays on the back of the interior fuse box. There were 2 relays, both with the same part number. So I swapped them and tried the blower but it still didn't work. So I put everything back together. I then tested the fuses and both seem blown! I know I tested these before and they were fine. I swapped in some fuses from other areas and the blower still didn't work. I ran out of time, but I need to go back in and put in new fuses and try swapping the relays again to see what happens. I just hope these fuses weren't blown when I swapped out the resister previously because that is so hard to get to.

Any thoughts?

[VStar650CL]

If it keeps blowing fuses then it's likely the blower is jammed. Has it ever worked since the new one was installed? If not, it's likely either the wrong part or wasn't installed correctly.

[hcliffe]

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately my troubleshooting will be put on hold since I will be traveling for over a week for the holidays. I will resume when I return and hopefully you will still help me. Merry Christmas everyone.
What are the chances that the climate control fan knob is bad?

[hcliffe]

I talked to the owner and got this info:
- Has the blower worked at all since I replaced the motor. Answer: Yes, it worked last week on Wednesday (12/17) or Thursday (12/18), but it was barely blowing even though it was set on the highest speed. . (blower motor was replaced on 12/10),
- Was the blower motor still noisy? Answer: No, actually it wasn't
- When it does work, at what speed does it work. Answer: Has to be on the highest setting

I ran the fuse test on 12/18, when I didn't get voltage on both sides of the fuse. So maybe when the blower kicked on earlier that day, it caused the fuses to blow?

Before I installed the blower motor, I had replaced the cabin filter but it is very hard to get to and you have to fold it up to get it in. Wondering if I should remove it altogether, perhaps it is blocking airflow?

So the new motor has worked since it was installed, but barely blowing, and the speed has to be on high. This seems to indicate a blower resistor problem, but the mechanic did replace that. But the fuses were blown sometime in there, so maybe replacing it blew the fuses (even though I know he had the battery negative cable disconnected when he did it.

Can a faulty relay cause the blower to only blow on high?

[VStar650CL]

Important question, then -- is the system Auto or Manual (does it have an "Auto" button and a display that shows temperature, or just dials and buttons)? The VBC's (blower resistors) are very different in the two systems and the diagnosis differs a bit as well.

[hcliffe]

I don't have access to the car, but I am pretty sure it only has "manual" controls, not "auto". It is an "S" trim level which is the base model and according to Google, does not have the Auto feature. It does not show the desired/set temperature on any display.

[VStar650CL]

Yep, an "S" trim will definitely have Manual. The following all assumes the fuses are good and you've already performed the test I described earlier to exculpate the blower relay. Pop the connector on the VBC (resistor) and use a jumper wire to temporarily ground the fat Green wire. It will spark, so don't startle yourself. Once it's grounded, the blower should run at top speed. If it doesn't, remove the glove box and check for the same voltage at the Red blower wire as you saw at the fuses. If so, the new blower motor is bad, if not, there's an open in the wiring between the fusebox and the blower. If the blower does run when you jump Green, the motor is fine and the problem is in the VBC, the wiring, or the control head. To determine which, first use a thick paper clip to jump the Green terminal to Violet. Grip the clip with a pliers, it may get hot. If that doesn't also make the blower run full speed, there's a problem in the ground wiring. If it does run, next put a voltmeter between the Pink wire and ground and turn the blower speed dial. The voltage should rise and fall as you turn the dial back and forth. If it does, the control head is good and the VBC is either bad or the wrong part. If the voltage doesn't move, either the control head is bad or you have an open in the Pink wire.

[VStar650CL]

FYI, this may help you understand what you're working with. The Manual system in a gen2 Rogue is identical to the attached diagram except that the relay is north of the fuses:
blower-basics-t628180.html

[hcliffe]

I finally had time to work on this again today. Here's what I did:

1. I checked the cabin filter to make sure it wasn't interfering with the blower motor. It was not.
2. I replaced the 2 fuses that had blown.
3. I replaced the climate control module with a used one I bought from ebay. The blower still didn't work.
4. I used my voltmeter to test DC voltage across the 2 fuses. Each had about 13 volts with the blower on and turned off. No change in voltage.
5. I swapped the 2 relays I had found. No difference. I saw that there are actually 2 more relays on the back side of the fuse box. I swapped out one of the newly discovered relays, no change. I just can't get to the 4th relay.
6. I inspected all wiring harnesses as far as I could see them, which wasn't very far, and there are no bare or corroded wires.

I can't do any of the testing with the resistor wire harness because it is just too hard to get to. I really appreciate all the time taken to assist me with troubleshooting this issue.

[VStar650CL]

That connector is indeed a PITA to reach, but you can still infer a few things from pulling the glove box (phillips screws, pretty easy stuff) and accessing the blower connection. The fat Red wire should have battery voltage and stay at battery even if/when the blower runs. Jumping the fat Green wire to ground with a jumper should cause the blower to run on high. If so, you know the problem is downstream, either a bad VBC or a disconnect in the VBC ground wire. If not, the blower may be new but it's bad anyway.