Problem with Blower Control on 2002 Sebring.

I am having a bit of trouble with my 2002 Sebring, which is just fresh out
of warranty, of course. :-)

The blower control seems to be the symptom, but apparently not the cause of
my issue. When the blower is set to full-on (position 4), all climate
controls work normally albeit at maximum output. When the blower is set to
positions 0, 1, 2 or 3, there is no air being blown out of the vents at all.

I suspected that perhaps the rotary switch was not making good contact in
all cases, so I disassembled it and bent the contacts up just a hair so that
they had more tension against the switched contact points. As I really
thought would be the case, this did not change anything. While I had the
rotary switch apart, I made sure to note which the common terminal was so
that I could map out the outputs for each position.

The connector has 8 positions, 5 of which are populated with contact points
arranged like below (shown looking into the connector on the switch itself,
so the connector coming from the wiring harness is the reverse of this).
There are two contacts for the common position (position 1), so I've noted a
1 twice to reflect that.

4 5
3
1 2
1

I found the following using an ohm meter to see what contacts where shorted
to the common contact for a given switch position.

Position 0 (no contacts shorted to common)
Position 1 (contact 4 is shorted to common)
Position 2 (contacts 2 and 4 shorted to common)
Position 3 (contacts 3 and 4 shorted to common)
Position 4 (contacts 4 and 5 shorted to common).

In order to fully eliminate the switch itself, I made a wire jig so that I
could short the contacts of the mating connector on the wiring harness in
this same manner. Consistent with using the switch itself, the only
arrangement that enabled the blower was shorting position 1 to positions 4
and 5 for "full-on."

It would seem to me that there are two main possibilities. The first would
be that something is wrong in the wiring harness, but positions 1,2,3
stopped working under normal use, with no bumps, jars, etc. that might cause
a connector contact to break loose. The second would be that whatever
electronic control watches the position of the blower rotary switch is not
operating properly. Is this function handled by the main engine computer?

If anyone has any hints as to what might be wrong with my blower control
function, I would really appreciate the help.

Thank you!

Scott

The 3rd possibility (most likely) is an open resistor, which is used in all
positions, except max.

--
I work for the ILEC ...." stuff happens! "



"Scott_SS" > wrote in message
...
>I am having a bit of trouble with my 2002 Sebring, which is just fresh out
>of warranty, of course. :-)
>
> The blower control seems to be the symptom, but apparently not the cause
> of my issue. When the blower is set to full-on (position 4), all climate
> controls work normally albeit at maximum output. When the blower is set
> to positions 0, 1, 2 or 3, there is no air being blown out of the vents at
> all.
>
> I suspected that perhaps the rotary switch was not making good contact in
> all cases, so I disassembled it and bent the contacts up just a hair so
> that they had more tension against the switched contact points. As I
> really thought would be the case, this did not change anything. While I
> had the rotary switch apart, I made sure to note which the common terminal
> was so that I could map out the outputs for each position.
>
> The connector has 8 positions, 5 of which are populated with contact
> points arranged like below (shown looking into the connector on the switch
> itself, so the connector coming from the wiring harness is the reverse of
> this). There are two contacts for the common position (position 1), so
> I've noted a 1 twice to reflect that.
>
> 4 5
> 3
> 1 2
> 1
>
> I found the following using an ohm meter to see what contacts where
> shorted to the common contact for a given switch position.
>
> Position 0 (no contacts shorted to common)
> Position 1 (contact 4 is shorted to common)
> Position 2 (contacts 2 and 4 shorted to common)
> Position 3 (contacts 3 and 4 shorted to common)
> Position 4 (contacts 4 and 5 shorted to common).
>
> In order to fully eliminate the switch itself, I made a wire jig so that I
> could short the contacts of the mating connector on the wiring harness in
> this same manner. Consistent with using the switch itself, the only
> arrangement that enabled the blower was shorting position 1 to positions 4
> and 5 for "full-on."
>
> It would seem to me that there are two main possibilities. The first
> would be that something is wrong in the wiring harness, but positions
> 1,2,3 stopped working under normal use, with no bumps, jars, etc. that
> might cause a connector contact to break loose. The second would be that
> whatever electronic control watches the position of the blower rotary
> switch is not operating properly. Is this function handled by the main
> engine computer?
>
> If anyone has any hints as to what might be wrong with my blower control
> function, I would really appreciate the help.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Scott
>
>

Any idea where the resistor block is located in a 2002 Sebring?

Thanks!

Scott

"Remove This" > wrote in message
news:hIPGe.1636$2y2.609@trndny02...
> The 3rd possibility (most likely) is an open resistor, which is used in
> all positions, except max.
>
> --
> I work for the ILEC ...." stuff happens! "
>
>
>
> "Scott_SS" > wrote in message
> ...
>>I am having a bit of trouble with my 2002 Sebring, which is just fresh out
>>of warranty, of course. :-)
>>
>> The blower control seems to be the symptom, but apparently not the cause
>> of my issue. When the blower is set to full-on (position 4), all climate
>> controls work normally albeit at maximum output. When the blower is set
>> to positions 0, 1, 2 or 3, there is no air being blown out of the vents
>> at all.
>>
>> I suspected that perhaps the rotary switch was not making good contact in
>> all cases, so I disassembled it and bent the contacts up just a hair so
>> that they had more tension against the switched contact points. As I
>> really thought would be the case, this did not change anything. While I
>> had the rotary switch apart, I made sure to note which the common
>> terminal was so that I could map out the outputs for each position.
>>
>> The connector has 8 positions, 5 of which are populated with contact
>> points arranged like below (shown looking into the connector on the
>> switch itself, so the connector coming from the wiring harness is the
>> reverse of this). There are two contacts for the common position
>> (position 1), so I've noted a 1 twice to reflect that.
>>
>> 4 5
>> 3
>> 1 2
>> 1
>>
>> I found the following using an ohm meter to see what contacts where
>> shorted to the common contact for a given switch position.
>>
>> Position 0 (no contacts shorted to common)
>> Position 1 (contact 4 is shorted to common)
>> Position 2 (contacts 2 and 4 shorted to common)
>> Position 3 (contacts 3 and 4 shorted to common)
>> Position 4 (contacts 4 and 5 shorted to common).
>>
>> In order to fully eliminate the switch itself, I made a wire jig so that
>> I could short the contacts of the mating connector on the wiring harness
>> in this same manner. Consistent with using the switch itself, the only
>> arrangement that enabled the blower was shorting position 1 to positions
>> 4 and 5 for "full-on."
>>
>> It would seem to me that there are two main possibilities. The first
>> would be that something is wrong in the wiring harness, but positions
>> 1,2,3 stopped working under normal use, with no bumps, jars, etc. that
>> might cause a connector contact to break loose. The second would be that
>> whatever electronic control watches the position of the blower rotary
>> switch is not operating properly. Is this function handled by the main
>> engine computer?
>>
>> If anyone has any hints as to what might be wrong with my blower control
>> function, I would really appreciate the help.
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Scott
>>
>>
>

Scott_SS wrote:
>
> I am having a bit of trouble with my 2002 Sebring, which is just fresh out
> of warranty, of course. :-)
>
> The blower control seems to be the symptom, but apparently not the cause of
> my issue. When the blower is set to full-on (position 4), all climate
> controls work normally albeit at maximum output. When the blower is set to
> positions 0, 1, 2 or 3, there is no air being blown out of the vents at all.

Burned out resistor. I don't know where it is on your car.
It will be in the airstream though. The max setting bypasses the
resistor via relay.

Every one I've ever seen is inside on the passenger side up under the
dash on the heater/AC plenum.

Professor
www.telstar-electronics.com

Scott, my money is on the ballast (resistor.) Believe it's mounted inside
the air duct cowling (requires air flow over). Probably the only thing that
can cause what you describe.
http://www.makeitmopar.com/ sells it for $20 for the coupe & $32 for the
sedan/convertible.

> The blower control seems to be the symptom, but apparently not the cause
> of my issue. When the blower is set to full-on (position 4), all climate
> controls work normally albeit at maximum output. When the blower is set
> to positions 0, 1, 2 or 3, there is no air being blown out of the vents at
> all.

yep, its there. ive had to replace one myself, its about a $20 part.


"Professor" > wrote in message
ps.com...
> Every one I've ever seen is inside on the passenger side up under the
> dash on the heater/AC plenum.
>
> Professor
> www.telstar-electronics.com
>