Thread: replacing blower motor resistor?

so im replacing my blower motor resistor and have a couple of questions first off I called up the parts store and they said there's a resistor for auto ac and manual ac and im not sure what I have on mine or how to tell what so thats my first question. 2nd is has anyone that does this have any tips for getting the resistor out i Didnt try for very long but couldnt get out with my standard socket set.

If you losen the far bolt and take the other ones out you can slide id out without have to take the PITA one out all the way. I changed three of these I learned this on the first one

try morad I've dealt with them, they are very helpful

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

Take a trip to the local JY where you pull it.

Only problem with that is how do you know you have a good one, I mean they are a PITA to pull and you don't want to put it in and it does not work. Because I thought of that and decided to go new

yeh i was also thinking that aswell about the junkyard but i went and looked for a couple hrs last last week tore apart like 6 cars and they all had the manual resistor and alot of them looked like they had leaky windshield problem im wondering if there gonna be fried even though theres no power running through them?

not fried but could have a rusty solder joint

hey thanks for the morad suggestion guys! wow 30 bucks the auto climate control restitor from them 130 from rock auto and 300 from napa theres some money to be made in parts i think lol

Morad is a good guy to deal with he can also answer some mechanical and compatiblity questions and he stands behind what he sells

Hello, all, an occasional poster with an '03 GTP. The final speed (4, not 5!) went on the fan the other day. Got a NAPA/Echlin BR77 to replace it- it has those 3 capacitors that I saw mentioned on another thread, so it does not look like what came out. The result of all my contortions was that I now have only high speed (5). Please somebody verify that 97-03 should only have one type of blower motor resistor. As it stands now I'm ready to drive to Detroit, find the idiot that put those two screws all the way in the back, and hit him so hard his grandkids will be born dizzy. If I find there are two different kind of resistors, and I got the wrong one, I'm liable to just give up and buy a horse.

Before I post helpful tips I don't see here, I want to thank Logan541 for telling us to only loosen the back two screws. THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART! Take it from me, you'll never get them back in with the new resistor in place. I'm not even sure you could get them back in with the resistor out. One of them is buried in the firewall padding behind the flat connector on the driver's side - you'll never see it, you have to feel it. Just a couple of turns is all you need.

Thanks also to Russosaur for illustrating the position (my wife laughed and laughed when she found this stodgy 60 year old in similar straits), and he and Jomamma for the flex extension tip. I have a 1/4" drive screwdriver handled spring-type flex that made this job possible. I seriously don't think I could have done it any other way, and even then getting the socket on the head of those two in back was tough.

Now for my 2 cents:

1. After you disconnect the resistor (two wires clipped to the blower), take the blower out. There are (3) T20 Torx screws on the blower flange. There's a bundle of wires running under the resistor that looks like it could power New York City; to move them, you'll have to squeeze the one-way clip on the ring holding them in place and yank it out, too. Be careful not to break your blower wheel, it's plastic.
2. The 3 resistor screws on my car took a 7/32" socket. No metric equivalent.
3. When putting it all back, there is a small hose on the side of the blower that connects to a port in the bottom of the blower housing near the resistor. BE SURE THIS GOES BACK ON AND ISN'T KINKED. That's how the blower motor is cooled, it's a little recirculation path.

So thanks again for the tips, and hope mine help someone else.

TomofTarsus you are welcome, made me feel good to see that tag on my old post

Well, Logan541, it was sure useful no matter when you posted it!

And Russosaur, I may be in trouble then. It only ran on "5" after I put it in; now it doesn't run at all. Yea, now I want to find 2 guys - the one that put those two screws in the back in the first place, and the fiend from Hell who said "Oh cool! Now let's have two different resistors fit the same hole!" And just keep beating, and beating, and beating until I'm completely exhausted...

Thanks again, guys. My car has 160K as well. Daily driver, can't help it... Wish I could. If I can just get it to go another couple of winters...

then call me in to beat him until you rest up again

Sounds like a plan! you see stuff like this and just shake your head. About 18 years ago, my two daughters somehow ended up with the same model car once, mid-'90's Berettas, and the serpentine belt was wrapped around the top front engine mount! I'm sure you all have some real "SMH" stories to tell.

I'm out at Grand Coulee Dam in Washington on a job, so I'll have to wait a while to get back to the Pontiac. But looking on-line all I see in the OEM from AC Delco and these other kind with the capacitors at the "top" of the IC card and on either side at the bottom. Nobody says anything about the application - i.e. auto climate control or not. Yii.

<sigh> I LIKE my Grand Prix. It's the 2003 GTP special edition, midnight blue-black metallic. I hate watching it getting driven into the ground. The 3.8 is as strong as ever. But little things like this start popping up, and it's just miserable to deal with. And, of course the designers made it far more miserable than it had to be.