I have a 90 4runner and recently lost high speed control setting for the heater blower motor. I am wondering if i can simply install a on/off toggle switch to avert this problem?. has anyone done this before?.. it was in the single digits this morning and i would really like to have high speed to help defrost and warm things up inside.

 

the problem is not the switch, it's the blower motor resistor. Hooking a switch up to bypass the dash controls will not work if the resistor is bad.

 

i was under the impression that if it was the resistor that i would Still have the high speed setting. Currently only low and medium is working

 

pull your resistor out and see what it looks like.

 

Should be doable. Odd that it's high that isn't working though, usually it's the resistor that goes out and causes the lower speeds to quit working.

If I were you, I'd pull your fan speed resistor (it's behind the glove box) and spend a little quality time with a test light and multi-meter to figure out where the problem is...might be repairable pretty easy.

Might want to test your fan switch too for that matter.

If you're determined to ghetto it up, there's no reason you couldn't rig up a toggle. I'd just suggest that in the time it takes to do that, you could very likely find and fix the actual problem.

Good luck!

 

heh, beat me to the punch xtreme.

 

it could be the switch as well, but it's more common and easier to pull/test the resistor first then it is to rip those heater controls out of the dash.

 

ok.. i'll check out the resistor, and keep you all posted. im pretty sure its the switch tho. everything ive read so far seems to be that if it were a bad resistor that the lows wouldnt work but the high would.. Ive searched napa for the fan speed switch with no results.

 

Hijack

I've got a frozen fan speed selector. No amount of force is getting that thing to budge from the off setting. I know that my resistor is in various states of failure as I had off, low, and high but no medium high speed. But now the switch has totally locked up. Is there a cable back there? or is it all electrical?

 

fierohink.. i read somewhere that the switch sometimes can melt.. if your switch is set on high while the vehicle is being started that the power being drawn is too high and melts the switch... this might be what happend to me as well. im waiting till the temp outside.. currently about 14 degrees outside, warms up a little before i go out and rip this dash apart.

 

Thats what it feels like. This switch is solid now. There is no wiggle left. So it would make sense if it was fried.

 

I just replaced my heater resistor 5 mins. ago. Now I have all the speed selections. Before I only had high and just before high.

 

I had to replace the resistor AND the switch in the dash on my 91 Pickup, so it really could be either one


the resistor is MUCH easier to get to though, so I'd start with that one, lol

 

fierohink i had the same problem as u and it is the switch, i got mine from a junk yard and all works now, its just melted and needs to be replaced.

 

The switch on mine melted. I was able to remove the glove box and loosen the climate controls, then pull the old switch and snake the new one in without removing more of the dash. Not fun but still doable

 

I was wondering if any one has ever tried a after market variable rheostat ? I had pulled one out of a old truck and it was self contained ,the more you turned the knob the faster it would blow. It worked like a home dimmer switch. It might be a easier cheaper fix if it would work.

 

Yes you could and the specific resistor your talking about causes your blower to run at difernt speed with tax prolly about 60 but yes if malfunctioned it can stop all togather on the back of it jump blue and black wire to black it will come on full blast when you start car I signed In to help you out hope you get straight goodluck

 

I'm glad someone was finally able to help this guy out, 8 years after asking this question
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