so what if the blower randomly cuts out at all four speeds for several months, and then one day quits working all together? Cause that's what I'm currently dealing with on my 01 XJ. I'm hoping its not the motor itself.

 

I recently replaced my resistor, and now when I start my jeep my gauges don't work unless the dome light is clicked on. If I unplug the resistor, all gauges work. Any Ideas?

 

Maybe a wire near it? Blown fuse? I don't know.

 

I just replaced my resistor the other day and all was good. Now, I'm right back to square one; only works on high again. Resistor was blown and switch checks out good. I did consider either cutting the switch connector and adding new spade connectors or just soldering directly on to the switch posts... think it's worth it? Or what else should I be looking in to?

 

Is the new resistor blown too? On the 97+ XJs all legs of the resistor are energized as soon as you flip the key to RUN, the switch simply grounds out the different sections of the resistor (or no resistor on 4th).

Could also be the socket to the resistor

 

If you've lost another resistor pack you should consider replacing the blower motor. As the motor fails (depending on the failure mode) it can draw excessive current. The resistors end up acting like a fuse. I just replaced both in my 96. It was simple.

 

I'm on it! I have a motor and resistor waiting for me at Napa, first thing in the morning. If I have to get either behind the switch or resistor again, I'm cutting the plugs and soldering.

 

To help anyone out there more, possibly? Just recently I've had the accumulation of stuff possibly over the years somehow get down into the blower fan either by mice or whatever else. This could have probably happened when I was gone on a 2 week trip and not driving it. Now to the more important details. When you take the passenger kick shield thingy out to be able to access the (blower motor resister) once you take it out and look at it you'll see coils. These coils need cooling by the fan when it is in hence why its plumbed so then air is running through it to help keep it cool. In the case of when mice or other means get down in there 1 stuff gets stuffed in the blower motor but then also gets pushed over into the resister. Then packing its self in the resistor then heating it up because of the lack of air flow and blow this little temp fuse. You possibly will get a burnt smell also.


Doing some testing to the whole resistor program I found just the thermal fuse cutoff blew out. So either you can go to the local junk yard, or get some from some auto parts store, or ebay blah blah blah. You'll be able to find one. Key thing is to when trying to clean out the blower fan you DON'T need to pull the blower motor! Just turn your fan to off with middle switch all the way to the left where it shows a little circle. This opens the door that only opens when off or when you are cooling the whole cab on the AC re cooling the air inside option not sucking new air from outside (very good terminology lol) . I just used one of those long arms with the button on the back making a spider grabby thing come out the one end and you'll be able to grab whatever might be up there. Then once you take off the blower resistor you'll be able to clean it from the packed stuff, easiest way is a vacuum with a long skinny snout.


These resistors can be pretty cheap to get but if you are wanting to save that much more then these thermal resistors are for sale on ebay some from china but those take forever to ship but there are some in the US. My resistor that went out was an aupo 121 degree Celsius thermal fuse cutoff. Thermal fuses like these are normally sold in groups. There are other brands also. If you look on your blown resistor after you take the one shield thing around it you can solder it off and then re solder a new resistor on. I'm guessing all xjs have the same resistors temp ones (121 degrees Celsius) it would shock me if not. So just a simple ebay or amazon whatever search for a 121 degree Celsius thermal cut off fuse will get you what you need to re solder or just buy a new one or used one that works.


That I have found to be the most common problem. Stuff getting in blocking air flow and then the fuse goes out. Hope this helps!!!

 

for owners of '96 and earlier, the fan wiring design is poor..all current flows thru ignition, switches, cabin wires etc

this was corrected in 97 & later

there is only one way to completely solve the issue, run a 12V feed adjacent to the resistors, and 1 relay for each speed

will be doing this soon, 4 relays $10

I think this is a big reason earlier XJ fry the ignition switch

its also very easy for the resistor pack terminals to corrode, when this happens, a high resistance occurs, drawing more current, and causing heat

 

Lose wires underneath by code plug

 

I installed a new resistor and it worked for a minute then failed. It smoked a bit too. I did not put it back in the housing when testing. Did I burn it out?

 

Yes, seems burned out. It needs airflow to cool the coils.
Somehow you do not have the proper airflow around the resistor and the thermal fuse blows (inside the resistor pack).



Regards,
Rob Oudendijk