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blower motor resistor mismatch

TheHorror

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Location
Up a Creek
Year, Model & Trim Level
1996 V8
I got a new 4 Seasons 20321 blower motor resistor, which supposedly fits my '96 Explorer V8 Limited, since the fan control only works at Max or Off settings. I had pulled one at the junkyard, but it was rusty, so I ordered the new one.

I could tell the base of the old one was quite a bit bigger, but didn't think to count the number of wires down in the dark depths of that tight space... Once I had removed it, I realized they're not even close to similar, with totally different form factors, screw hole placement, and number of wires (5 vs 4).

Is there an undocumented different style of blower motor resistor? I was going to include pictures showing them side by side, but I don't seem to have that option. Probably a minimum post threshold?

I hate to put the old one back in after how much work it was to get to it, but I'm thinking my best bet is to clean up the somewhat corroded pins and hope that's enough to get it working properly.
 



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I found the style that's on my Explorer, but it's listed as being for '98-01:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/282394640456

"Note: It will only fit automatic temperature control, not for manual climate control"

Are the various parts listings wrong about the years (for both '96-97 and '98-01 parts), and the defining factor is actually just whether the truck has automatic climate control, which mine does? Less likely is that my entire blower box was replaced with one from a '98-01.

Edit: another example of all the parts listings being wrong; Rock Auto shows just the wrong style I ordered for '96:

http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...g,blower+motor+control+module+/+resistor,6557

but they have the style that matches mine for '98:

http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...g,blower+motor+control+module+/+resistor,6557
 






Yes. EATC, auto climate control uses a different part # transistor pack, sometimes erroneously called a resistor pack because a resistor pack is what is used on the manual climate control option in this generation.

Can you solder? This is most likely a ~ $12 repair if you can and have misc support components such as heatsink grease and a couple bolts and nuts. See my posts here:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums...-control-module-failures.404889/#post-3278612
 






Thanks for the info. I've got a soldering station, but I'm inexplicably bad at the simplest of soldering tasks.
 






What you have is not called a blower motor resistor. The vehicles equipped with the automatic HVAC controls (AKA EATC) use what is called a blower control module. The vehicles with the manual HVAC controls use the blower resistor.
 












Rock Auto has a couple of them around that price, too. I'm rather annoyed that everyone has them listed for the wrong years and no one seems to carry them locally. I don't really want to wait to order another one, so I'm leaning toward putting the bad one back in and just saying to hell with it. I might hold off for a junkyard trip and see if I can find one of that style.
 






The transistor is a known wear-out item, so I would only get one from a junkyard to have a spare to solder a transistor into when the time comes, not plan on getting much mileage out of it as-is.

Rock auto is great but depending on how they want to ship, not as good a deal on few, some small items due to postage cost. Maybe in this case they can use a USPS flat rate box.

Locally you would probably be looking at paying $75 or more for that, though I vaguely recall O'Reilly's has some.

Edit: Ha! They have the resistor version for $14-$17 but want $264 for the transistor/EATC version and it's a special order item (ship to store or home).
 






The transistor is a known wear-out item, so I would only get one from a junkyard to have a spare to solder a transistor into when the time comes, not plan on getting much mileage out of it as-is.

All the more reason to just put the bad one back in. If they wear out frequently, I'm not sure it's worth the aggravation of getting to more than once.

Locally you would probably be looking at paying $75 or more for that, though I vaguely recall O'Reilly's has some.

Edit: Ha! They have the resistor version for $14-$17 but want $264 for the transistor/EATC version and it's a special order item (ship to store or home).

Ouch. AutoZone has one of them at a much more reasonable price, but they too only have it as a special order item.
 






I guess I don't appreciate the difficulty getting to it with the V8. Mine with the SOHC V6 wasn't that hard to get to. I don't even recall having to remove anything to get to it though it's possible I did.
 






Kudos to Ford for designing something that would default to "fully" functional as a solution to being poorly built. :)
 












It looks pretty close, with the right housing shape and bolt/tab placement, but it the pigtail connector they pictured doesn't appear to match the housing. It's also a different part number, so who knows.
 






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