How to Repair Blower Motor Issue
Time Required: 20 minutes
Tools Required: Phillips screwdriver
Cost to Repair: $45.00
Description of Problem
Last week the blower for the A/C and heater stopped working on my 2003 Acura TL Type-S. The climate control unit will turn on, but you cannot feel the air because the blower will not blow. I tried turning it on Full Auto in both the hot and cold settings, nothing. I turned the fan knob to max and still nothing. When you turn the climate control unit on, you can hear the compressor under the hood turn on. The problem is clearly the blower not turning on.
The Repair
After some online research, I learned that much like the seat heater problem, this too is a common issue for the Acura TL (as well as other Honda and Acura models). A friend had this same issue with his Acura TSX. The solution: Replace the blower resistor.
Disclaimer / Precautions
I am not a mechanic. Follow my advice at your own risk. This repair is easy and cheap- so don’t be scared. Be sure to disconnect the battery, wear safety glasses, put on gloves, tie your shoes, chew with your mouth closed, and any other safety stuff that makes you not sue me.
Let’s begin!
Most of the time, the problem is that the blower resistor needs to be replaced. But first check to make sure the issue is not something else like a blown fuse or corroded connector. The blower fuse is located under the hood (it is close to the firewall on the passenger side for my model). The fuse is labeled “Heater Motor” on the fuse cover.
If the fuse looks good, move on to the blower inside the car. The blower motor is located below the glove box. Notice the giant yellow arrow pointing to the location.
Here you can see the blower motor and the blower motor resistor.
Disconnect the wiring connector from the blower motor to make sure there isn’t any corrosion or connection issues. Sometimes corroded connectors [photo] will cause the failure. These are clean, this is not the problem… On to the blower resistor.
Follow the wiring harness from the blower motor to the blower motor resistor. It is a white plastic trapezoidal-ish piece that is fastened by two Phillips head screws. Remove the two screws that fasten the blower resistor in place. This will allow you to pull the blower resistor down and disconnect the wires.
Gently pull the blower resistor down and disconnect the wiring connector. Here is a close up of the resistor after it has been removed. These connectors look clean too.
The metal side of the blower resistor had some crud on it. I don’t know if this was any indication of it being broken or not.
Replace the blower resistor with a new one. This part can be purchased at most auto parts stores. I paid $41.99 plus tax at AutoZone. To reinstall the part, simply screw the resistor back into place with the two screws. Reconnect all the wiring and test by turning on the climate control fan.
It should work perfectly now. If you continue to have issues, you might need to visit your mechanic.
Did this repair worked for you? Please leave a comment below and include the year, make and model of your car OR share this fix with other Acura/Honda Owners:
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Nice photos and good clear verbiage. Great Job
Awesome. Summertime is here and I was in a complete quandary as to how I would manage. You were dead on with this. Thanks!!!
Wow! Thanks Josh. This saved me. It was the blower resistor.
THANK YOU SIR…..The pictures you posted were perfect. It indicated what and where i needed to look. Went to auto zone, bought the resistor & it works. You saved me money for not having to take my car to the shop. Thanks again.
You’re welcome, Lee.
And you’re welcome, Autozone.
What do you recommend if the blower fan won’t turn off and remains on High in my 2004 TL? (PS: My dash display speed-bars operate up/down when I push the dash buttons, but the fan motor won’t stop until I pull the fuse.)
The Acura Parts desk suggested Part # 79350-soh-A01 which I believe is some sort of switch module @ $237.
Any thoughts / recommendations?
John
Hi John E, I don’t know about that issue. Try searching on Acurazine, lots of helpful folks there.
Thank you for taking the time to post all of this info. I have the same car and my A/C system shut down completely while driving. I googled the problem, found your posting, located the part at O’Rileys for the same price and fixed the problem the next day. We used a continuity tester on the resistor and determined that a nonreplaceble fuse inside had gone bad. Thanks again. Entire job, including tax was $45.
John E what did you find your problem to be? This just happened to my car 2 days ago! Thanks
Thank you. You were right on the money. I have a 2006 tsx has a different set up but I follow your steps. Woalllaaaa ac working again.
Thanks for the info. I had a similar issue. I did replace the blower resister but fan still did not work. I actually found out that it was my blower connection that’s attached to the blower and possibly my connector wire as well. I bought some motomaster electrical contact cleaner. Took me about 3-4 hours of continual cleaning taking breaks and letting it dry. I cleaned the connector wire and the blower connection. I also scrubbed off as much build up as I possible could with a bobby pin to both lol only thing I could find that would fit to scrape off the black corrosion. After all that, it finally kicked in after about 6 clean and scrubs. Although my resister was corroded slightly, I don’t know if that was the issue. Might have just been the connectors/connection. Either way, I replaced the resister in Canada cost me $74 taxes in. Motormaster cleaner was $8. I would advise to try cleaning the connection/connecter wire first before replacing the resister. Could save you $50+. For me I bought the resister so whatever. Not bad fix and I know nothing about cars! I am good at putting things together in general but cars, this is my first fix!
Anyways thanks for the post because it probably saved me some good coin!
Josh, I have a 2003 TL Type S. The AC/heater blower stopped working. I found you doing a google search about the problem.
Well after following your advice and instructions my wife’s AC is now working like a champ….bought the resister for 41.99 at AutoZone. Suck it dealership….LOL
Thanks!!!
This Fix saved my butt big time! Thanks a ton Josh, my connection must’ve been loose because after un and re plugging the resistor my a/c and cold air was back in commission! I may need to replace the resistor in the near future, but I’m pretty confident that I can do that now. Suck it dealership! Go Josh’s World!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! My husband’s air conditioning quit working last week in his 2003 Acura TL. I found your repair instructions and ordered the part online from Rock Auto for around $30. I completed the repair in under 5 minutes! This saved us hundreds of dollars. Thanks!!
My conection at the blower got hot and burned the conection and wire, what causes this.
Thanks Doug
I pulled the connectors and, boy were they stuck. I found some melted plastic on the connectors and cleaned them up and it worked for a few days. redid the work….and still nothing. maybe the connector is burned up.
I will take a meter to the connectors to make sure I know where power is and isn’t.
thanks for the great instructions and pics!!
The blower motor resistor was my problem. Hooked up fan directly to battery and it spun. Checked fuses and they were good. So went and bought resistor from auto zone for $41.99 and blower works. Thanks Josh and everyone here in forum.
Acura tl typ s 2003 blower motor didnt work and I dissconnected motor / heat blower fuse/and heat resistor -i cleaned motor by taking motor apart cleaned blower wheel and resistor (all with just a old tooth brush) and installed all parts back in and a/c is colder then when i bought the car. Got the idea for this from all of you- reading info on many different web posts. Thank you all for your ideas. Hope someone else will be able to fix there a/c for free just as i did… 45minutes and some uncomfortable positions under passenger dash..good luck to all
This was exactly my problem. Thanks for saving me probably $100 for something that literally took 10 minutes!
Great information Josh, you gave me some hope, but it didn’t take care of the issues that I have. Replaced the resistor and fuses were good! Thanks anyway
Thanks again Josh, very helpful information after farther investigation, I removed blower motor and found wires to blower burned and corroded and that and that was the problem. After a trip to the dealership for a harness extension and $25.00 later problem resolved.
If you were here I’d kiss you in the mouth!!
Hey Josh;
I have a 2004 with a similiar problem. I was with you up to going to the resisstor, where it all looked different. Can you point me toward any 3rd gen folks with this problem
Very helpful and great pictures too! My 2003 Acura TL-S problem turned out to be the same as comment #14046. I changed the resistor but the fan didn’t work. Turns out the blower motor contacts were corroded. I removed the blower motor and noticed that there were a lot of dried leaves and other crud in the wheel mounted on top of the motor. Not sure if this is due to bad design or points to another issue. Cleaned up the wheel, and the electrical contacts and all is good.
Corroded connection at the blower motor for me. It was melted a bit and fused to the connector so really had to yank.
It seems corroded connectors are fairly common. If anybody can send me a photo of the corroded connector, I will add it to this post so others can see. Email to photos@joshsworld.com.
Thanks very much, Josh. This was right on the mark. I had the same problem with my 2003 Acura TL this week. The fuses weren’t blown, but changing the blower resistor did the trick, and I never would have figured it out on my own.
My 2003 Acura TL blower motor stopped again while the temp is in the 90s. I had already replaced the resistor a few years ago but took it out to look at it and found a hairline crack on both sides so I bought a new one. I installed it but didn’t fix it so I tested it with a meter set to ohms and got the same readings as the old one. So I put the old one back in. Next I pulled off the connector to the blower motor and found it had melted into the connector plug terminals. I was able to scrape it out using a small screwdriver and got it working again for a couple of days. I just removed the blower motor plug again and scraped some more and is working again but the black wires insulation is burned off right at the back of the plug and shows corrosion and may have to be replaced if I can’t get it cleaned up enough.
Thank you for the perfect information. Fixed the problem on my 2000 TL, The only thing I will add is that it was helpful to have a flat head screwdriver to break away the clips on the old part.
Josh,
I followed your directions step by step and now the air is blowing perfectly in my 2002 Acura TL. Thank u so much.
Worked perfectly following these instructions. Was the blower fan connector had burnt. Replaced. One problem though….can’t get vents settings to where they used to be. Barely blowing on any setting….
Blower vent settings barely blowing. They change…but barely blowing. Changed resistor. Still nothing…anybody got anything? Can hear blower fan blowing good. Just not coming out vents good.
It worked! Thank you so much!!!!
Really good one. I’m going to try this one for my acura 2003 TL
Thank you for posting!
I have an Acura 2003. I had the same problem. The blower didn’t work for years. After I followed your instructions, I went to Autozone and got a part order for Duralast.
It took me ten minutes to uninstall the old resistor. And it took me less than five minutes to install the new one. Right now, my car is working fine again. Thanks a million!
Hi, this was so awesome, thank you so much. However, the problem was not my resistor, but the pig tail and connector piece. They are both corroded and burnt out. Can you offer me any help as to that problem? I went to the Auto Zone and they said they cannot provide those pieces. Not sure what to do next.
I had the same problem, went to the acura dealer and purchased a tnew connector with an extension for $18 problem fixed
Thanks a lot sir, very clear discriptive info and thanks to you I don’t have to waste money at a shop where they will probably fix eveything but what I want fixed lol
Great photos and description! After reading and seeing the pics I was sure I could do it. I bought a new resistor $41.99 and it worked like a champ. Thanks for the great post!!!
Wow! I can’t fix anything but I did it! Thank you for the great blog! $41.99 at Autozone, 20 minutes to do the blower resistor.
This was absolutely amazing! I couldn’t figure out WHAT the problem was and I was dreading taking it to the mechanic in fear of the loss of two appendages. It turns out the wire connected to my heat resistor was loose. Anytime someone would sit in My passenger seat the heat would work, but driving alone was a disaster, especially in the rain! Now it’s a cheap and easy fix! And I found your article on my own and fixed it so my dad finally gave his daughter auto props! 🙂 Thanks a ton!
Hey Josh, great post on this fix. I own a 2003 tl type s. Checked the resistor and in fact was corroded. Changed the resistor as you indicate but nothing. I wonder if a relay inside the under the hood fuse box can also contribute to this problem. I have not tried or checked the connections for corrosion, removed the blower to check for leaves or maybe bad wires etc. This all makes sense. Just for reference in the future for this problem. I have checked everything related as far as fuses related to heater. But that heater relay in the fuse box makes me wonder. I’m sure some folks had the resistor replaced and nothing positive out of it. I would go back in a few minutes and play mechanic again, checking connectors, wires, leaves on blower etc. Wish me good luck! Thanks again for a very clear post and great pictures.
My blower in my 06 Acura TSX just randomly stopped working last night! Glad I found this, got the part (resistor) this morning at Pep Boys for $80. Autozone & Napa Auto didn’t stock it. Swapped it out in the parking lot & got to work warm & fuzzy today. Thanks so much!!
Josh, I own a Acura 3.2TL 2003. My heat is out and the defroster comes on but fogs up window. Please tell me if I need a heater core or a less expensive fix…. Thank you Ruth
I tried this the resistor on the 04 acura tsx is slightly different, it looks fine and clean. The connection two of them have a more look, he can I tell if a connection is bad? If not maybe the blower motor? I have 287 thousand miles.
I followed directions on installing Blower Motor for my 2006 Acura TL. It took me about 30 minutes, only because of the tight space, however it was well worth it. I save 50% on ordering the motor online and probably 2 hours of labor (Dealership). I am positive that by doing it myself, I saved at least $250. Your illustrations and directions convinced me that I could do it. I now have extra money for the Holidays. Thanks
THANK YOU SO MUCH. You saved me a few hundred bucks. Great pictures, everything. Awesome job! And thanks again!
Followup: I posted above that “replacing the resistor worked!” but it only lasted a day or so. The pigtail wires had previously melted and a day after replacing the resistor, I saw a flash and the blower stopped working again. Found the pigtail wires on ebay for about $25, had them replaced by my buddy (he took the glove compartment out to get to it, took about 30 minutes). Works like a charm for the last couple weeks, thanks! ! !
Some or many might not have an unexpected blower outtage trust fund like myself so if indeed the resistor is your problem, then look into simply cleaning it of debris and what nots… I am extremely thankful for this post! Only different thing I did was use the same one after I cleaned it so it cools and heats on point now. 30 min total time between checking fuses first and prying off the connection from resistor and $0 spent… For now
2003 Acura TL blower stopped working, followed advise and replaced heater/ac blower resistor and worked like a charm. With tax $44.95 and about 15 minutes to remove and reinstall. Thanks for the sound advise!