The hard way every time...

[Old Goat]

Home for a snow day, I decided to tear into the car--blower only runs on high. Since I found a pound of birdseed in my waders, I immediately thought of mice.

There ain't much room in the floorboard of a Camry for an old, arthritic goat in insulated overalls, but I managed to get the cover off, the glovebox off, and the blower out. Sure enough, the cage was full of insulation and other detritus.

After I cleaned everything out, I put the negative terminal back on, plugged in the fan, still ran only on high.

I called Toyota, and the guy said it could be either the switch or the motor, so I put the tester on the plug and got no power except on high. I couldn't see any way to get the switch out, so I put everything back together and hit Google.

Turns out this is a common problem in Toyotas, and it's a $30 resistor pack that goes out.

So I'll take the cover back off and change the resistor pack.

I have a habit of picking the hardest thing that can be wrong and then hitting Google. Just a leftover from not having access to such easy help. In this case, though, Google would have talked me out of two hours fighting the blower, leaving it full of mouse nest. I'd have been replacing the resistors again soon.

[NewNorthernGal]

Wow OldGoat - that sounds like a lot of work!     It sounds like one of those lessons that's best learned from someone else's experience.  LOL   


I'm glad I take my car to a mechanic.   




NewNorthernGal

[Joom]

I used to love the whole tear into something and figure out the problem thing, OG, but anymore my first move is to Google to see if I can find a possible answer.


A few years ago we had a 32" TV (when that was good sized) that quit working at only a year old.  I did some searching based on how it was acting when it quit, and found out it was common in that model RCA.  One guy figured out that if you bypassed the circuitry for the onboard control panel it solved the problem - except you could only use the remote after that.  I took it apart, did the bypass (a couple wire snips and solders), put it back together, and it worked fine after that.  Saved a bunch of money.  Now I Google first, then troubleshoot if I don't find an answer.


Glad you got it figured out, not the best time of year for heater problems...