The ventilation / blower fan has stopped working on my Y reg (year 1999 / 2000) Kia Shuma 1.6. The heater circuit appears to be working, just not the fan. Note that this is a simple fan, not air conditioning. I may have smelled an electrical burning smell my previous car trip, but there was a stench coming from the sea, so I’m not sure. There was no electrical smell this trip.
I had a quick check of the fuses before I came into work and all the possible ones listed in the manual seemed fine. It was only a quick check, because I didn’t want to be late for work, so I’ll be thoroughly checking them in the morning.
I’ve had this happen before where the plug for the fan had worked its way loose. That required disassembly of the front panel by a dealer.
If it’s not a fuse, what else could it be and how do I check?
The most likely suspect is the blower motor. With a proper circuit tester, test for power and ground at the motor wiring plug. If both are there, it’s a faulty blower motor.
If there isn’t both power and ground at the plug, the next likely suspect is the blower switch. Another possibility is a faulty blower resistor, but that’s quite unlikely if all blower speeds failed at once. Testing for these is a bit more involved; a repair manual for the car is probably the best bet for info about their locations and circuitry.
I’m no expert like Rick, but in the cars I’m familiar with, there are these resistors* that control the fan speed based on what you select on the controls. There are usually located somewhere near the blower itself, not the controls. It could be that is what you smelled burning and needs replacing. It should have wires running into it and it’s held in with a couple screws.
*I forgot the technical term, it might not be known as a resistor. Once you unplug the wires and take it out, you should see some coiled wires.
I’ve just checked and fuse #10, the blower fuse, had gone. I obviously missed it last night. So I replaced it and the replacement fuse blew immediately.
Unplug the blower motor connector and put another fuse in. If it blows again, some electrical troubleshooting will be necessary. If it doesn’t blow, replace the blower motor.
to add to what Gary T said, disconnect the blower motor, turn the blower switch to off, put in a new fuse. if the fuse blows immediately or only after turning the blower switch on, this helps indicate where the electrical problem might lie. if the fuse doesn’t blow after the switch is turned on then replace the blower motor.
Is there a connector in the engine compartment? Disconnecting it from the front means removing the whole front fascia, not a trivial job, and will have to wait for the weekend.
No, the connector will be under the dash at the blower motor housing.
My repair info on this is not very helpful. On the one hand, the procedure for blower motor replacement instructs to disconnect the A/C lines to the evaporator housing. This is quite unusual for an Asian car. On the other hand, the labor estimator shows a “time” of 0.7 hours, which is in the realm of typical times for Asian cars. I question if it’s really necessary to disconnect the A/C lines, but the procedure lacks details which would help clarify the matter.
This online question/answer indicates that the wiring plug can be accessed by removing the glove box (good news), but that dash removal is necessary to replace the motor (not-so-good news).