No air blowing from my AC/Heat

I have an '05 Tacoma and it has stopped blowing air (hot and cold).

The main problem is that it stopped blowing air for about a month or so and then all of a sudden everything worked fine again for another month. Same thing has happened for about a year until recently. Now the air never blows, except for extremely rare occasions where it will blow for about 5 minutes and once I shutoff the car the air won’t come back on the next time I start.. Any ideas?

I initially thought it was a fuse or something but intermittent issues make it seem like it is something else. Any ideas?

 

With out testing I would say that it sounds like your blower motor has failed. I would want to do a little more testing to confirm but this is the same thing that happened on my celica. the motor worked fine one night and then the next morning nothing. a week or to later it turned on again and worked for a while and then then it would quit on me the next time I would get in and turn it on. this happened in cycles for a while until it stopped working long enough to really piss me off (Florida Heat). so I went to a Barley Used auto parts and got a used one from them. Haven't had a problem since.

 

Ah ok, thank you for the quick response. How did you determine that it was the blower motor? Just guessed and then replaced?

 

Welcome to TW!

These trucks are known to have blower motor issues. If you search "blower motor issues" you will find hundreds of threads on many different ways they have failed.

 

Thanks for the help! I'll try it out this weekend and let you know how it goes.

 

Now that you guys pointed me in the right direction, it sounds like it may be an issue of the blower motor resistor, actual blower motor or the wiring. I'm going to take a deeper look and see. Either way I definitely think I found a fix!

 

Give the blower a solid smack. NOT with a sledge hammer, that'll break it. I use a tire knocker. Or go the "correct" route and test things.

 

I know when a resister goes bad it still works on high. I had a feeling it wasnt the switch so I chose to replace the motor. I could have tested the switch with a test light but I didn't and my hunch was good.

 

Oh ok, mine isn't working on high either so it sounds like it is the actual resistor.

 

No that's wrong a bad resister will always work on high. It would only not work on 1 2 or 3. Where the resistor has to provide resistance to slow down the speed of the motor.

 

Seriously. Go out, turn the fan switch on high (with ign on), and smack the bottom of the blower motor. See if it starts working.

 

where is the resistor

 

Check the resistor first. I'm willing to bet that it is the problem rather than the motor! I can tell you where it is and how to fix it if you want. There's a thread somewhere around here.... Anyhow I am an electronics tech, and fix circuit boards everyday. Take my advise for what it's worth!

 

If the resistor is totally blown it causes an "open" in the path of current and the blower will not work at all. The reason it only work on high when the resistor is "bad" is because the resistive value has been comprised causing a "short" to wich only high will work

 

A "bad" resistor will NOT ALWAYS work on high, that is really poor electronic circuit advise. The bang test is a legit test on your blower motor. Likely there are relays in the motor assembly which stick in an "open" position causing it not to work

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/8310-replacement-hvac-blower-motor-resistor.html

This is the blower motor/resistor thread

 

Correct.
When they work on high only its not the resistor its the plug assembly.
Check connections first then the blower motor.

 

Sigh.

The Fan resistor is actually 3 resistors in one module.
The 3 resistors have different values to vary the fan speed.
On HIGH the resistor module is bypassed and the full voltage goes to the fan. That is why the fan will run on HIGH if the resistor module is burnt out.

There are no relays in the fan motor. It's simply a cheap, brushed motor that sometimes gets stuck. Some kinetic energy transfer maintenance will jolt it enough to get it moving again.

Fan only runs on HIGH - resistor
Fan doesn't run at all - fan/wiring/fuse/control. Or a dead rat jammed in the blower.

Fritz

 

That's what I've been trying to say. Just didn't want to spell it out from my smart phone.

 

Sadly the "new design" resistors suck just as bad if not worse than the original design. My original lasted 3 years before burning out and the new design lasted less than 1 year. I need to buy a crate of the junk.