Wonderful timing: blower amp

[MinisterofDOOM]

Blast it all. My blower amplifier/transistor/whatever you want to call it appears to have failed this morning.Terrible timing. It was about 18 degrees when I got in the car. I got to have 18 degree air blown on me at high speed until the car warmed up. Joy.Worst of all, I will actually be using my car to transport other people this weekend, and there's no way I can get the part here by friday, being the middle of the work week now.I'm thinking I'll just disconnect power to the blower motor until I can replace the amp.

I tell you, the Q's blower is LOUD on high speed. Major overkill.

Why the crap does stuff always have to break during the winter?

[Q45tech]

Remember the darlington control transistor failed from over current draw from worn out slow turning fan motor in the first place.

Expecting a part designed to last 10 years to function 14 years is just asking for it.

On Monday my 99 AMG C43 fan motor failed along with speed control transistor. Luckily I found one at Sports and Imports specilty junkyard for $130 and it only took took 1 hour to replace...............exactly 10 years right on schedule.

Maintaining old lux o sports requires a fexible work schedule so you can take off to hunt for parts.

[goody90q45]

Does Rhinoone live close? I bet he has a used unit available.

[qship96]

Have Joe overnite you one, use their new $10 coupon to help defray the extra shipping cost.

[Rex]

Blast it all. My blower amplifier/transistor/whatever you want to call it appears to have failed this morning.Terrible timing. It was about 18 degrees when I got in the car. I got to have 18 degree air blown on me at high speed until the car warmed up. Joy.Worst of all, I will actually be using my car to transport other people this weekend, and there's no way I can get the part here by friday, being the middle of the work week now.I'm thinking I'll just disconnect power to the blower motor until I can replace the amp.

I tell you, the Q's blower is LOUD on high speed. Major overkill.

Why the crap does stuff always have to break during the winter?

Can't you just turn the heat off completely until the car warms up?? I thought when it went out you get 2 speeds - Off and Full F'ing Blast??

[Victor]

My 1988 GMC van is 21 years old and never had any problems with the blower motor. In fact I haven't had any problems with anything in the last ten years other than normal preventive maintenance items and parts that are expected to wear out like brake pads and headlight bulbs. Just keeps perking along. I was talking to an airport shuttle service driver and he said they get 400,000 miles on their Ford vans, and the only reason they get rid of them is they start to rattle too much and the customers complain. They run them 24/7 and only take them off the road to change the oil once a week.

[Q45tech]

Does 88 van have auto temp control and continuously variable fan speed.

Each and every fancy gizmo is the source of a future failure and expense.

Crank up windows don't fail until they rot, same with manual mirrors, seats

[Jesda]

Our 1995 GMC van is also pretty trouble-free, but its as simple as a hammer. The parts all come from the biggest GM parts bin, so there's plenty of aftermarket and junkyard stuff out there for just a few bucks. It needs a driver side power window regulator though. It went out a year ago.

I replaced the blower resistor on the 1992 Cadillac Seville in December, as well as the blower. That lasted 152k and 17 years. And yes, the Seville uses an automatic climate control system similar to the Q's. Fortunately, GM cars are so plentiful that I was able to pick up two resistors and a used but clean motor for only $45. Installation was a snap, except for it being 10F outside. I can never get over how cheap it is to service and maintain that car, and how reliable it is. An old 4.9L Cadillac will never outperform the Q, however.

You pay to play.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I struck gold: a local pull-n-save I never noticed before has two late-model G50s on their lot. Time to snag a blower amp, motor, and a couple headlights!

Can't you just turn the heat off completely until the car warms up?? I thought when it went out you get 2 speeds - Off and Full F'ing Blast??

Nope. As long as there's power, the fan's on full f'ing blast. Even without the engine running, key just turned to "on" the fan runs. Turning the heat off just closes all the mix doors, which scares me even more as I'm afraid all that airflow with nowhere to go is going to damage something. So I've just been leaving it on feet only to give the air somewhere to go.

So if that is the case...does that mean it might NOT be my blower amp?

Have Joe overnite you one, use their new $10 coupon to help defray the extra shipping cost.

In my experience, even overnight shipping takes 2-3 days. If I'm going to be waiting that long anyway, I don't feel like paying more for it. I've NEVER gotten an overnight package overnight.

[Infinitiguy19]

Orders must be placed before 3PM for Overnight to work unless the seller is slow.

Did you run the HVAC diagnosis in the FSM to see what exactly is wrong with your HVAC system?

[qship96]

Joe sent my MAF overnite- from Arizona to Maryland in less than 24 hours from initial phone call to home delivery and install!

[silver2k2]

Local pick and pull?

http://www.picknpull.com/locations.aspx

[MinisterofDOOM]

Remember the darlington control transistor failed from over current draw from worn out slow turning fan motor in the first place.

I fully intend to replace the motor, too. I'm sure it's the cause. It has been making an intermittent rhythmic noise that frankly scared the crap out of me the first time I heard it because it sounded eerily reminiscent of lifter tap. Great was my relief when the noise suddenly stopped when I turned off the HVAC to listen more closely.

Joe sent my MAF overnite- from Arizona to Maryland in less than 24 hours from initial phone call to home delivery and install!

It's not a lack of faith in the seller, but in the delivery service. I've just grown tired of mid-week "next-day" orders that get to me next tuesday, despite the post date being day-of or day-after order. It's a gamble that's not worth my extra money. And if I can't guarantee the part will be here by friday morning there's no point in bothering with it right now.Plus, with the discovery that a nearby wrecking yard actually has Qs in it, I can get a couple of each part used for less than just the amp alone new, and have them as soon as I need them. Even if they only last a couple years each, that's worth it.

Did you run the HVAC diagnosis in the FSM to see what exactly is wrong with your HVAC system?

Not yet. I don't see what else it could be, though. Fan is stuck on high but the climate control unit is functioning. Mix doors operate, A/C engages when it should, the system even tries to shut the blower off completely until the car is warmed up like it should (e.g. fan speed display shows no blades until things get warmed up).

[Q45tech]

Q is kinda unique in that the always WO FAN is a diagnostic signal that the darlington transistor has failed if the HVAC display shows changes in fan speed bars.

With any Darlinton transistor assembly you can never get ZERO current/resistance loss, so high is never really high speed without a relay to bypass the transistor.

I added a relay to AMG C43 to duplicate the Q system and gained a hurricane with the flip of a switch. The fan speed is 30% higher than MB oem max.

Same with the more complex system used to variable speed the fuel pump, grounding the pump actually provides a higher speed for diagnosis.

Reading the FSM often doesn't provide the fine detail that spending hours studying the schematics does!

Remember the fan motor brushes wear with each revolution of operation so a fan motor only has so many useful hours at different speeds.

320,000 miles / 25 average mph = 12,800 hours or 16,842 average miles per year............................how many revolutions has your fan completed.

The point is always have spare fans on hand just like fuel pumps, window, sunroof, condenser, etc fans/motors.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Okay, I'm heading out for Pick-n-pull in a couple of hours. Just want to make sure I'm looking for the right part before I leave.

It's the gray rectangular item in the center of this picture, right?

Is it possible to get to it without removing the glove box (it's raining hard outside and I want to minimize the duration of my "visit" to the salvage car).

[maxnix]

Pretty sure the glove box has to be removed. At least it is not snowing!

[silver2k2]

Positive the glove box has to be removed I have done this to clean my evaporator. You will get a chance to see how it comes apart at the pick and pull

[Jesda]

http://www.q45.org/cleanevap.html

Yes its the silver thing.