mcase Posted August 2, 2023 Share Posted August 2, 2023 Hello all! I have a 2001 Pathfinder with the digital HVAC and its been acting VERY strange. It originally worked perfect until one day I started it and nothing came out of the vents. All the controls still worked, or appeared to work, but nothing would come out of the vents. I would randomly turn it back on after driving for a bit and sometimes it would work, and sometimes it wouldn't. Once you could get it to work, it worked perfect on all temps and fan speeds and wouldn't give you any trouble until you turned the vehicle off. I noticed that if I drove on the interstate for about 10 minutes (RPMS around 2500) and then turned the AC on, it would usually work. But if you reach those RPMs for a certain amount of time, that trick wouldn't work. Then I tested it at slower speeds but higher RPMs (turned OD off) and it worked. But it never worked if you never reached those RPM levels. This kinda made me think maybe a vacuum issue? Now that trick doesn't work at all anymore. I'll drive at 2500 RPMs for a while, hit the AC button, and it'll blow air out of the vents for about 2 seconds and then it stops. Then after you turn the AC back off, sometimes you can feel a puff of air on your feet for a second. Just so everybody knows, everything "appears" to work. The compressor kicks on, idle changes, the digital display lights up. You can see the little fan light showing what speed its getting too, but nothing is coming out of the vents. Also, it doesn't matter if I have it set to 65 degrees or 85 degrees. Hot or cold makes no difference. Recirculate makes no difference. Nothing coming out of the vents. It just feels like it tries and cant do it. Any ideas? Please help. Its hot AF in Tampa. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted August 2, 2023 Share Posted August 2, 2023 It sounds to me like you've got a bad blower motor or blower motor resistor. I would unplug the blower motor and check for voltage at the plug (when the blower's supposed to be running). If you have power at that connector, but the blower doesn't spin when you plug it in, order a blower motor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcase Posted August 2, 2023 Author Share Posted August 2, 2023 4 minutes ago, Slartibartfast said: It sounds to me like you've got a bad blower motor or blower motor resistor. I would unplug the blower motor and check for voltage at the plug (when the blower's supposed to be running). If you have power at that connector, but the blower doesn't spin when you plug it in, order a blower motor. Thanks! I had one person tell me the blower motor was going bad but I couldn't understand how it would still work sometimes. Did some digging and saw some posts about the resistor. Just thought I'd check here and see what everyone thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted August 2, 2023 Share Posted August 2, 2023 If one bar of the motor's commutator is worn through, or one of the armature windings is bad, the motor will have a dead spot, and if it stops on the dead spot, it won't start again until something else moves it. I would guess that driving at highway speed forced enough air through the fan to move the motor past its dead spot. This would not explain it blowing for a couple seconds and then stopping, though--that could be a control issue. Still, I would check the cheapest/easiest thing first. If the voltage test doesn't point to the motor, you'll find troubleshooting info, parts locations, and wiring diagrams in the HA section of the service manual. It's got separate diagrams for manual, auto without navigation, and auto with navigation, so make sure you're looking at the right one. Also, looks like the auto systems use a transistor instead of a resistor pack, so, that's different. Allows it to change speed gradually, I guess. Probably less likely to start a fire if the duct gets packed with leaves. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawairish Posted August 2, 2023 Share Posted August 2, 2023 @mcase, @Slartibartfast's spot on. You can even just pull the motor down pretty easily (it's 3 bolts I think?) and inspect the fan cage, give it a spin, check for debris or blockage, etc. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcase Posted August 5, 2023 Author Share Posted August 5, 2023 On 8/2/2023 at 6:51 PM, hawairish said: @mcase, @Slartibartfast's spot on. You can even just pull the motor down pretty easily (it's 3 bolts I think?) and inspect the fan cage, give it a spin, check for debris or blockage, etc. Pulled the fan motor and there is zero debris or issues that I can find. It’s out so I’m going to replace it anyway but can anybody tell me the location of the resistor/transistor/power control module? I don’t have the factory manual and I’m getting unclear answers on google. Remember mine is a 2001 with the digital controls. Any help appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcase Posted August 5, 2023 Author Share Posted August 5, 2023 12 minutes ago, mcase said: Pulled the fan motor and there is zero debris or issues that I can find. It’s out so I’m going to replace it anyway but can anybody tell me the location of the resistor/transistor/power control module? I don’t have the factory manual and I’m getting unclear answers on google. Remember mine is a 2001 with the digital controls. Any help appreciated! Never mind! I pulled the glove box and found it. Thanks for the advice y’all. I’ll be back if this doesn’t work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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