00 V70 Suddenly No Blower

[C@lvin]

If that seems like it may be the problem, you might be able to
clean up the contacts, but replacement may also be needed.

Thanks BEG.

When you say "replacement" are you referring to the connector or the whole harness?

Can you suggest a source for either or would you just get one from the junk yard?

[BEJinFbk]

The wire should be fine. It's usually just the contacts that get baked...
It wouldn't be my favorite way to go, but you could find some connectors in
better condition and splice them in to avoid swapping the whole harness.
( I'd go solder and shirink vs crimp connectors as a best case for that scenario.)

[Burn-E]

Treat me like I'm ignorant here. What's the best approach for replacing / repairing the connector? Looks like this is my issue also.

[jblackburn]

Basically what BeJinFBK said. Solder and heat shrink will work much better than crimping the two ends together with a cap thing.

You'd either source some kind of connector that will fit (Radio Shack has lots of electronic parts; it's like a nerd's paradise whenever I go in there), or cut out part of an electrical harness from a junk car.

Give yourself plenty of room to work with the wires on both ends. Strip down the insulation with a wire cutter tool, and then put a little bit of paste flux on the wires and use the iron to heat them up until it melts throughout the wires/joint and sizzles. Then solder the two ends together nicely, and then put some heat shrink tubing over the connection. Done right, it should hold up (or at least as long as the stupid ABS modules do).

You'll need some of this and some rosin core solder. And, if you're not very good at soldering, pick up some wick as well. Small, neat connections that cover the wire ends completely are best - huge ginormous blobs of solder don't work very well.

[BEJinFbk]

Taking this to the next level, my preference would be
to replace the contacts in the connector housing.

Pros: Back to stock! Fresh and new OEM contacts.

Cons: There may not be enough wire length to do that...
The contacts need to be sourced - Could be easy, could be a PITA.
A good pair of the correct open barrel crimpers is an absolute must have.

It may also be possible to strip all the tape from the stock harness and
a decent donor J/Y harness and change the wire and connector contacts out.
The contacts can be extracted and reinserted without too much trouble.
Then just get some good quality tape and close it all back up.

[C@lvin]

To put it nicely, soldering is not one of my gifts. On my ABS controller I got a local electronics shop to solder all those connections for a $15 minimum bench fee. Don't think he'd do that if he had to solder in the car.

Fortunately, a local yard has several S/V70s they are about to crush that still have this harness in them. Maybe I could get the wires I need without too much trouble or expense and follow BEJ's approach.

But thanks to you both for your suggestions and information.

I have limited time to spend on this, but I will post back with follow up when I have a chance to work on it more.

[C@lvin]

Can't find the time to work on this and we've been getting by OK on 1/3 speed or less on the fan. Trying to talk myself out of letting the dealer diagnose it for $79. I still have glove box and kick plat disassembled. I have felt of the connector numerous times as the blower quits and it doesn't even feel warm. However, the wire in the harness about 6-8 inches back toward the control unit stays slightly warm at all times when the fan is running. Don't know if that means anything.

[C@lvin]

Quick update....

The parts from the V70 where the fuse originally blew have been in the S70 for some time now and seemed to be working fine. However, the last week or so it started sounding a little "strained" and the air flow seemed less than normal at all speeds.

The part from the S70 that were working fine in that car have continued their problem of the fan running up to about 1/3 speed (set manually) and then tripping the circuit overload relay.

Last night I swapped the parts back to their original vehicles and the fan in the V70 continued to run "weak" and sound "strained' but did not blow a fuse or trip the circuit overload relay even when run at high for 20 minutes.

And....the parts that returned home to the S70 took their 1/3 speed only, tripping the circuit overload realy problem with them to the S70 even though they were fine before moving over to the other car.

I am thinking I might have two fans going bad and hoping I didn't cause one of them somehow when doing all that swapping around.

Any thoughts?

[C@lvin]

Thought I would close this out - nothing dramatic or profound. I didn't discover any strange problems or learn any innovative way to diagnose my blower issue.

Eventually, the blower in the V70 completely died. I replaced it with a TYC blower off of Amazon for $64 including shipping and, though it is a little bit noisy at full speed, I don't find it offensive and I think it is a great aftermarket replacement. That completely resolved that car's blower problems.

I also bought a TYC blower for the S70, but before I got it installed the blower that previously would only work at 1/3 speed mysteriously started working. So now I have a spare on the shelf.

Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions.

[jblackburn]