2 MELTED blower motor resistors in 2019 TRD sport 4x4 *fixed*

Hey everyone,

So just wanted to share my story. Yesterday I was driving my truck to a job site when all of a sudden my ac fan decided to crap out. However, weirdly the high setting on the fan still worked. So using this information, I soon figured out possible culprits via Google search. I tried to do a quick warranty claim but with coronavirus, it didn't look very quick at all. So painfully I decided to take a hit and do it myself because God knows I can't be without my low speed fan setting. I went to the parts store at Longo Toyota and was further punished by being robbed of 60 bucks. And in addition, all they had was one returned open package resistor. Fml, all of this had no guarantee it was even going to work. Using YouTube videos as reference, I took out the old blower motor resistor and examined it. Upon initial inspection everything looked fine until I flipped that thing over. Boom. The freaking soldering joint melted off completely and the freaking filament was dangling in the air. Dunno if any of y'all had this happen on a newer tacoma but beware! I replaced the melted resistor with the new one and it started working normally again. Thank God!

*Edit* I left out the part where I had to go to Home Depot and stand in the coronavirus induced line for about 30 minutes to buy the 5.5mm socket because apparently standard bolts weren't good enough...

*Edit 2* So it's Sunday morning and I go turn on my car and let the heater warm it up. Shortly after I smell burnt hell coming through my vents. I'm pretty sure the new resistor crapped out and melted again. HELP!

*Edit 3* It's Tuesday today, and I came back to the dealer to go through with my warranty. Initially I thought they were only going to swap out my resistor but I guess they found a problem with the blower motor, so they swapped that one out as well. The car seems to be running fine now and all the fan settings work correctly. Thank you Longo Toyota and Tacoma World!

 

Had this happen in my 2010 taco but no issues with the 19 yet.

 

Looks like some type of over temperature protection. Recommend looking for a reason the fan would overheat.

 

It's that the resistor is only resisting on the lower levels, it's consuming power so the fan runs slower; it's not a protection mechanism, that's just how they work. Old school stuff. You're right to think about why it failed, maybe a blower crapping out, I guess, maybe, but if it doesn't fail again, I wouldn't be concerned. A janky solder joint sounds like the issue, per OP.

 

See if you could get a reimbursement through Customer Care

 

Truck has just over 13k miles now

 

Doubt these blood suckers would reimburse me for the new resistor but I guess it doesn't hurt to try.

 

This also happened in my 2007 5 lug. Maybe Toyota needs a new supplier of resistors?

 

Huh. So its interesting that the solder melted. That tells me something was overheating - alot. Were there any signs of arcing on the connector?


I don't think the blower is the culprit. Unless something was jamming it, which it wasn't because it was still blowing, they pull a very predictable amount of current, which they would have designed the resistors for.

 

I'm not much of an electric guy but I think I read somewhere that the cables weren't a thick enough guage for the amount of amps running through it. Not sure, I could just be talking out of my ass...

 

I had a recall on the blower motor in my 2016 Taco........it seams the fan was coming apart causing it to brake free of the shaft. Could your blower motor be binding up causing hi resistance ( overheating ) ?

 

Ehh. Thats a possible thing, but extremely unlikely. A first year electrical engineering student would get that right.

Thats why I'm curious about arcing. I've seen loose battery cables melt lead terminals that way, this feels similar.

 

It could. A motor makes its maximum torque - and pulls maximum current - at zero RPM. If it stalls, then its pulling all of the current that will fit through its windings. That could possibly melt something. But it sounded like OPs was still running correctly, so this might be a different situation.

 

God, I hope not. It doesn't sound like there's any noise or vibrations indicating that the blower motor is compromised. I'll keep an ear on this...

 

Huh i wonder if the same happened ro mine. Although mine was warranty work and they just replaced the blower. I have less then 12000 miles and already had to bring it in for warranty work

 

Arcing definitely could be a possibility. However IMHO I think that joint was soldered correctly and it just melted due to a heavy load of current. Possible surge ?

 

I was thinking arcing at the connector that you've got in your thumb in the last picture.

A surge in this case would be either something dragging on the blower continuously, which you would hear. Or the voltage could change, but that much of a change would have burnt out other things in the truck too.

 

Please keep us informed....inquiring minds want to know!!!

 

Ic. Thank you for your clarification.

 

Will do! Stay safe!