A/C Blower Issue

Yeah, still working.

One more word, though. After replacing the fuse and the resistor (and not being certain the blower was going to be the culprit), I went cheap and ordered the lower-priced blower from Atlantic British (they have both this one and the Land Rover one).

https://www.roverparts.com/heating-cooling/blower-motors/JGC500050/

It works fine, but the fan cylinder on the Land Rover one has been balanced, with weights placed on it accordingly. The cheaper one is not.

I thought about simply taking the fan cylinder off the Land Rover one and putting it on the cheaper one, but it seems impossible without destroying it. So I just installed the cheaper one as-is.

Still working, but you can tell it's not as smooth as the Land Rover one when you have it on the upper speed settings, and I bet it's because it's not balanced.

Probably something I never would have noticed if my LR4 came that way, but compared to the original one, you can tell.

Ryan, that is good info. It's one of the reasons I stick with OE or OEM parts as much as possible. There is almost always a catch with the lower-cost option.

The blower on our 2010 LR4 has been making a slight squeaking noise, but only when braking - very odd. I was thinking about removing the blower to see if the motor shaft bushings/bearings can be lubricated, but otherwise I was planning to replace it with new OE. Looking at the photos it doesn't appear possible to open the housing to access the internals, so I may just shell out for replacement.

I hope Atlantic British isn't selling a TYC for $130 when AHAZ (and RM Euro) both have it for ~$60:
https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/TY-JGC500050

AHAZ has the OE JLR blower for $177 delivered:
https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/JGC500050

Or, it's $176 delivered from the Land Rover dealer in Tampa, FL:
https://parts.landrovertampa.net/Land-Rover-LR4-Blower-motor-p/jgc500050-107372.htm

Yeah, I've tried to take my old blower apart when I was trying to get the fan cylinder off, and there's no way to do it without breaking it apart.

ryanjl said:

Here's what the old resistor looks like. You can see the bottom right prong has gotten hot, and it smells like a burned out electrical part. All the resistors I've seen online that have shot craps look just like this, so I'm guessing this problem is common when they go.

View attachment 11414

Click to expand...

For those of us old enough to get this, imagine being psyched to see a part labeled "Made in Japan".

For the record I also love my Seiko diver and Sony mirrorless camera...

Our front hvac blower began exhibiting a strange behavior today - it suddenly no longer turns on unless the fan speed is manually turned to max (and then it blows strongly, as normal). Rear blower functions normally.

@ryanjl - after your adventure here, do you think this failure points toward trying a blower+resistor replacement?

And do you recall the manufacturer of the Atlantic British blower? I see RM and FCP carry a VDO unit.

In the morning I'll start with a visual inspection of the resistor, along with trying the front/rear relay swap and checking the fuse.

I don't remember what the Atlantic British aftermarket blower was.

But I'd guess yours is a resistor issue. The resistor controls the fan speed. You may be able to get away with just replacing that.

On mine, it would just die entirely. I'd replace the fuse, it would run for a few minutes, then blow the fuse and die again. I think there must have been a short somewhere in the blower motor.

Might be moving from bad to worse over here… noticed a couple mouse droppings on the passenger floor mat while opening things up ahead of swapping in a new resistor. Photo attached suggesting compromised wiring. Will investigate…

After fixing the wires leading to the resistor, my blower is working correctly again. Thanks @ryanjl for pointing me in the right direction.

Thankfully, it doesn’t look like there is any additional wire damage back there behind the glove box. I did notice some foam in resting atop the cabin air filter, suggesting the rodent is/was working on accessing the cabin air inlet. That’ll be another post for another day!

Sweet. I love it when I can actually help someone.