Heat AC will not work

PLUXO

MEMBER
2003 CHEVROLET MALIBU
3.1L
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
185,000 MILES

Just bought this car. The problems were: one headlight out, blinkers not really working, AC/heat not working, windshield wipers delayed. The problem I want to fix is the AC/heat. It will not blow. Everything on the controls works, but the heat blows out very minimal, like the smallest breeze. It takes ages to defrost my windshield.

Already fixed the blinkers.

5 Replies

HARRY P

MECHANIC
2,292 POSTS

Check fuse B9 in the under hood fuse box. It is for the blower and should be a 20 amp fuse. If it is blown, replace it and see how it does. Of course only use a 20 amp fuse.

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Wednesday, January 24th, 2018 AT 7:15 PM

STEVE W.

MECHANIC
13,573 POSTS

So selecting different blower speeds does not increase the blower speeds or the blower speeds up but you do not get the extra airflow?

If it is the first one it could be a bad blower motor. To test that you can remove the cover under the dash on the passenger side to get to the blower motor. Then remove the two wire connector on the blower motor. It has a black wire and purple wire. The black is ground and the purple is twelve volt power. If you connect twelve volts to those the blower motor should spin up, if it does the blower should be okay.
Check fuse C in the right hand fuse block and the blower relay in the under hood fuse block. Power to the blower motor goes through the contacts on the relay for the lower speeds and high speed is also there. Simply swapping the relay is an easy way to test that.

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Thursday, January 25th, 2018 AT 11:25 AM

PLUXO

MEMBER
71 POSTS

Update: Fixed! Father in law and I took the blower motor off and inspected it. The 2 metal squares that make the current go to the motor, one was rusted. The spring was stuck because it rusted the square to it. Got the square unstuck, used a file to get the rust away, put the motor back together. Installed it and it worked!

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Sunday, January 28th, 2018 AT 5:59 PM

HARRY P

MECHANIC
2,292 POSTS

Well that's a nice bit of luck for you! I just love it when a simple little thing like cleaning rust off of a contact point solves the problem.

Please feel free to use this site again to help you get those other issues worked out.

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Sunday, January 28th, 2018 AT 8:27 PM

STEVE W.

MECHANIC
13,573 POSTS

Yep the brushes stuck would be a problem. I would check the drain for the blower housing, there shouldn't be water getting in there enough to cause a problem. Glad you got it fixed.