Climate control won't respond

[s13EastTN]

My climate control recently decided that it wasn't going to work. It won't blow air it won't change where to blow it, it won't move. When i push buttons the little green light does NOT come on. It is backlight behind it. I've checked all the fuses I could but there seems to be a relay or something and I'm not sure where to get one of those or how to check and see if its even blown. Could there be some loose wires going to the heater/control panel or could my heater core be bad?

[slipnfall]

S13 I'm assuming? There's a blue relay under the AC controls, mounted on the left-hand side to the rear... It's directly behind the stereo-don't bother removing the AC controls. This is the blower relay, but IIRC, it is also tied into the lighting system. If you put a finger on the top of it while turning your ign. key, you should feel it switch on. You can listen for it, but since there's other relays that come on at the same time, you might mistake it for another. If you feel it click, you can then remove it to test it further.

First things first... make sure to report back!-Slip

::edit:: It surely won't be your heater core - that simply allows hot coolant to flow through it. The blower moves air through the core to provide warm air. It will only either clog or leak, both of which are pretty noticable. Replacing a relay isn't hard: there's a little push tab on the side of it that you have to depress to release it. Be prepared if it is indeed bad, some places charge upwards of $25 for a replacement.

[Lt.Mike]

I have somewhat of the same problem. I know my car is old, but I do not know if it is the relay or the whole climate control unit.

The climiate control unit is able to switch from hot to cold air, but the fan blower works only on #4. 1,2,3 does not work, nor does the AC. Is this unit, or some bad relays. My car is an 89 fb.

[MaxType 240]

The relays are an easy find at the junk yard. You can use a multimeter to test them, the schematic is on top of each one to guide you.

You checked the fuses by the driver side kick panel?

Jesse

[s13EastTN]

I've checked every thing I can, but i don't have the little cover telling you what ever thing is since my car never came with one. Ok so take out cd player/dash around it and find the blue relay. Feel for a click. So if it clicks it would more than likely be my blower, if it doesn't click I need a new relay then eh?

P.S. Thanks all for the response

[slipnfall]

Is it the fuse panel cover you don't have?(under dash). Search for a post by me about 3 weeks ago - I listed what each fuse goes to. FYI, the blower has two fuses, they are on the top-left-hand side of the fuse box. 15A each.

::edit:: http://www.nicoclub.com/zerothread?id=88969 ::edit::

These two fuses tie into the (+) terminal of the blower constantly. The ground connection on the blower is made through a multi-tapped resistor. The resistance to ground is based on the position of the fan speed switch. This resistor has four connections, and is located near the blower itself. I've attached a simplified schematic to [hopefully], clear things up. The green lines are ground paths, red is power, and the orange are the button lights. Point is, if the relay goes, it will take the blower and lights with it, which is likely the case here.

Modified by slipnfall at 10:01 PM 11/30/2004
Modified by slipnfall at 11:08 AM 12/1/2004

[slipnfall]

Oh I should also add that it may be the (+) power connection to the relay. If/when you pull the relay, take a multi-meter and probe around with the fan switch off: one of the pins should have +12V on it when key is in 'run'.

[slipnfall]

Mike, Does your compressor kick on at any fan speed? I don't know much about 89's, but looking at a manual, I dont *think* the two problems are related. First, check that your fan speed switch is working correctly by measuring continuity with an ohm-meter:

::edit:: some electrical contact cleaner goes a long way for switches like this... Soak the switch down good, and slide the switch back/forth rapidly to clean the contacts.

[s13EastTN]

Well the fuses are fine, I checked every single one of them. I then pulled the cd player/climate control and put my finger on the blue relay on the left somewhat behind the climate control to feel for a click of movement or anything. I didn't feel/hear anything so I'm assuming that could be the problem. Also the button lights do not light up, so I'm guessing trip to junk yard to find relay then eh?

[slipnfall]

Yeah, if you want to be sure that will fix it, you can swap in a relay from under the hood temporarily. Generally you can distinguish different relay types by their color(unless they have been replaced already, in which case they may be any color).

Anyways, blue and green colored relays have the same pole configuration in the S13: so here's a list of relays you can swap in(in order that I would choose), to test:

1:AC condensor fan(Blue)2:fuel pump(Green)3:AC relay(Blue)4:ECCS relay(Green)

Don't use either of the accessory or ign. relays: they are in one way or another tied into the circuit you are trying to test.

Yeah I'd go the junkyard route: don't let them charge you more than $10-12 for an untested one.

HTH,-Jamie

[s13EastTN]

Well i might as grab the AC condensor fan relay since its not on my car anymore. Thnx a bunch dude.