Ok. First post.

[rpseeley]

"Our records indicate that you have never posted to our site before! Why not make your first post today by saying hello to our community in one of our forums. With over 3,300 users and more than a 110,000 posts across many categories, the USMB is a great place to find tons of information about your Subaru!."

 

Ok. I'll just do that little thing, even though I've never posted before so don't really know what I'm doing. First of all let me say that I'm sure glad to be here because my 87 GL Wagon is not in the best of shape and I could really use some friends that know their way around this vintage of Subaru.

 

I've got a couple of problems as of late that I could definitely use some help with.

 

First, that is to say it's been around the longest, is my heater/defroster blower motor intermittantly failing to come on. First it happened rarely and then more and more often and now it just won't come on at all. I figure it's a loose wire somewhere, maybe at the blower relay or the diode connection. It looks like it must be the pits to get to those parts. Funny thing too, is that as long as it's running, it doesn't cut out or stop. I also get the impression that it's temperature related, but I don't see anything on the schematic that would be temperature dependent. Has anyone dealt with this before? If so, what was the problem?

 

My second problem is the rubber seal in my driver's side door. It was occassionally folding in and making the window difficult to open. I would have to run the window down to the bottom and jockey it slightly up and down a few times until the rubber unfolded and went back into the correct position again. So this was happening more and more often, and now it's pretty much stuck (luckily in the window closed position). I guess the rubber seal need replacing, right? But where in the world would I find a replacement rubber seal? Arghh.

 

Well, thanks for listening. I hope there's someone on the USMB that can help me out. I've got a bunch of other little problems, but if I can fix these two at least I'll be able to make it through till spring. Manually defogging the windshield is difficult not to mention dangerous.

[Subarian]

The heater motor may be failing, or it could be the connection. Does it occur at all fan speeds, or only certain speeds? If it only occurs at low or medium speed, but it works fine at high speed, it's probably the resistor element.

 

As for the window seal, you might be able to find it at a dealer, but a lot of our parts come from junkyards or donor cars.

[northguy]

And hey, welcome to the board.

[WoodsWagon]

Blower and resistor pack are easy to get to. All you need is a 10mm 1/4" drive socket, extension, ratchet, and a #2 phillips screwdriver. Put the front passenger seat all the way back to give your self some room, use the screwdriver to remove the plastic panel below the glove box, and you have direct acess to the blower. It has 3 nuts that hold it in, and one of the nuts is common with the resistor pack, which is a black box with wires coming off of it. It has a couple of screws that hold it to the air duct, then the blower and resistor pack come out. Often the resistor coils crack, making various speeds die and sometimes erratic operation. There is a little acordian hose to help cool the fan motor that pops off, and the plugs for both units. It's like a 5 minute job. I do it often because mice like to live in the fan shroud in my car.

[jeffast]

welcome and your definatly in the right place my friend

[stumpy]

Welcome, your in good hands here!!

 

If you can't find any thing closser to you I have an 86GL parts car. Let me know if I can help. Stumpy

[rpseeley]

When it does run, it runs just fine and at all speeds, so I don't think its the resistor element itself or the speed switch itself. Another funny thing is that it never quits as long as its running.

 

I haven't been able to find a parts car in my area. I might have to go to Portland or Salem.

 

Thanks for the response.

 

The heater motor may be failing, or it could be the connection. Does it occur at all fan speeds, or only certain speeds? If it only occurs at low or medium speed, but it works fine at high speed, it's probably the resistor element.

 

As for the window seal, you might be able to find it at a dealer, but a lot of our parts come from junkyards or donor cars.

[rpseeley]

Wow. Thanks for the directions. I've been in there before pocking around but couldn't find anything amiss. Have you ever accessed the blower relay? Looks to me from the manual like it's behind the ducting about center firewall. That means taking off a whole lot of stuff, huh. :-/

 

Blower and resistor pack are easy to get to. All you need is a 10mm 1/4" drive socket, extension, ratchet, and a #2 phillips screwdriver. Put the front passenger seat all the way back to give your self some room, use the screwdriver to remove the plastic panel below the glove box, and you have direct acess to the blower. It has 3 nuts that hold it in, and one of the nuts is common with the resistor pack, which is a black box with wires coming off of it. It has a couple of screws that hold it to the air duct, then the blower and resistor pack come out. Often the resistor coils crack, making various speeds die and sometimes erratic operation. There is a little acordian hose to help cool the fan motor that pops off, and the plugs for both units. It's like a 5 minute job. I do it often because mice like to live in the fan shroud in my car.

[rpseeley]

Thanks. I appreciate that. We only have one wrecking yard here in LC and it's sorely lacking. If I can't find a seal around here, I may be over to see you.

 

Welcome, your in good hands here!!

 

If you can't find any thing closser to you I have an 86GL parts car. Let me know if I can help. Stumpy

[NorthWet]

...First, that is to say it's been around the longest, is my heater/defroster blower motor intermittantly failing to come on. First it happened rarely and then more and more often and now it just won't come on at all. I figure it's a loose wire somewhere, maybe at the blower relay or the diode connection. It looks like it must be the pits to get to those parts. Funny thing too, is that as long as it's running, it doesn't cut out or stop. I also get the impression that it's temperature related, but I don't see anything on the schematic that would be temperature dependent. Has anyone dealt with this before? If so, what was the problem?...

The blower motor on one of mine (my current daily driver) also would work intermittently, and would come on or cut-out after going over a sizable bump. It also make a noise similar to a card in bicycle spokes. I found that if I banged on the bottom of the motor (where your passenger's right toes would be) with my flashlight (or other suitable bludgeon) it would come on. Took the motor out and tore it down... found badly worn commutator (where the brushes ride). Replaced motor with a spare and voila!!!

[rpseeley]

I wish it was the blower motor. At least I could get to that. I know it's not though because when it does run, it runs fine. I guess what I need to find out is how to get to the blower motor relay. In my mind, that's the most likely candidate. Maybe not the relay itself, but the connector/connection. Thanks though.

 

The blower motor on one of mine (my current daily driver) also would work intermittently, and would come on or cut-out after going over a sizable bump. It also make a noise similar to a card in bicycle spokes. I found that if I banged on the bottom of the motor (where your passenger's right toes would be) with my flashlight (or other suitable bludgeon) it would come on. Took the motor out and tore it down... found badly worn commutator (where the brushes ride). Replaced motor with a spare and voila!!!

[Subarian]

Northwet is right. Worn brushes or commutator will cause exactly the type of problem you're describing.

[amartin]

If it is the fan pack resistor, they are available for about $29.00 at rockauto.com.

I have a 1987 gl wagon w/167k and have been in and around the machine quite a bit. Just replaced the heater core - makes a person mental.

Refurbed the heater box gaskets while I was at it.

[rpseeley]

Well, here's the thing. Doing what Northwet recommended has never produced any response whatsoever. The only thing that's ever got it to running again is to wait a half hour or so. Then it would run normally again for as long as the engine is running. Then if the engine was turned off, when I would come back five minutes later and start the engine, the blower is dead again. Another strange thing is that the A/C has also responded correspondingly. That is, at times when the blower would run, the A/C would activate and blow cold air. However, when the blower doesn't run, the A/C won't activate. I don't mean that it just won't blow cold air, I mean the compressor won't come on. So there's something common with the heater and the A/C that has gone south and prevents the blower from coming on.

Northwet is right. Worn brushes or commutator will cause exactly the type of problem you're describing.

[rpseeley]

Thanks. When it does run, the speeds are controlled as they should be with the speed switch. That's how I know it's not the fan pack resistor.

If it is the fan pack resistor, they are available for about $29.00 at rockauto.com.

I have a 1987 gl wagon w/167k and have been in and around the machine quite a bit. Just replaced the heater core - makes a person mental.

Refurbed the heater box gaskets while I was at it.

[Adam N.D.J.]

Is the A/c not comming on at all without the blower, or is it coming on for a second then turning off? If it's the first one then I would go after the switch it's self. That would do that. Not the rotory fan speed switch, but the push buttons. They can get abused pretty good over the course of a lifetime. And that is what actually controls your A/c and blower. When you push the off button it deactivates your blower relay, also activates it in any other position. That is where I would go first. Not too hard to pull out, just pop off the buttons and remove the screws. Lotsa luck, keep us informed.

[rpseeley]

It's not coming on at all without the blower. I has the switch panel off but couldn't see anything amiss in there. Perhaps I should hit it with some contact cleaner spray?

 

Is the A/c not comming on at all without the blower, or is it coming on for a second then turning off? If it's the first one then I would go after the switch it's self. That would do that. Not the rotory fan speed switch, but the push buttons. They can get abused pretty good over the course of a lifetime. And that is what actually controls your A/c and blower. When you push the off button it deactivates your blower relay, also activates it in any other position. That is where I would go first. Not too hard to pull out, just pop off the buttons and remove the screws. Lotsa luck, keep us informed.

[rpseeley]

Please take a look at this simplified schematic of the heater circuits I made. See anything wrong about it? Thanks.

 

http://www.rpseeley.com/My_Pictures/Technical/SubaruHtr.GIF