Mazda 3 Heater Fan

[donnie_wadman@hotmail.com]

I have a 2005 Mazda 3 with A/C. The heater fan stopped working and I was working if anyone had any suggestions of anything I might check before having to visit the dealer. I checked the fuses, and they were OK. There were two that I checked. One 40a fuse under the hood labeled "Heater, and one 10a fuse under glove box labeled "Air Conditioner, Heater Control Unit". I also noticed that when I turn the fan control with the AC button in, that the AC light comes on so I assume that the control is actually doing something.

[icspots]

The blower motor might have crapped out..... happened on my old ranger. I think that one was about $20 and I installed it myself...... no idea on prices for the 3 though.

[x5918]

The blower motor might have crapped out..... happened on my old ranger. I think that one was about $20 and I installed it myself...... no idea on prices for the 3 though.[/b]

Beware of possibly labor intensive dashboard removal:
The switch operates a relay, which in turns the motor on/off. Since the blower motor is an inductive load, the arching at the relay contacts will eventually make the relay fail. As result the fan motor works intermittently or not at all. Check the fan relay in the relay box found on the engine side before taking the dashboard away in efforts to access the blower motor (for those who recently got this problem).

[ern23@yahoo.com]

I have a fan that is working, although intermittently - throwing heat and/or AC after about 10 minutes of driving. Local dealer said to replace blower resistor, which is under the blower motor. My questions: Do I need to remove the battery and tray - and which resistor (apparently there are 3) is it? Usually I'm pretty proficient - this has me stumped though.

Cheers

2005 Mazda3 Sport
2.3l Manual Transmission

[jfteng@netscape.net]

I have a fan that is working, although intermittently - throwing heat and/or AC after about 10 minutes of driving. Local dealer said to replace blower resistor, which is under the blower motor. My questions: Do I need to remove the battery and tray - and which resistor (apparently there are 3) is it? Usually I'm pretty proficient - this has me stumped though.

Cheers

2005 Mazda3 Sport
2.3l Manual Transmission[/b]

I just had a problem where the fan was progressively getting worse. I thought it was the fan and was going to take it to a local garage for replacement. I found out that the fans are mostly special order, so I found a local dealer who had it in stock. I bit the bullet and had the dealer fix the problem. It actually saved me money because it was NOT the fan but the fan relay. The said that the fans do not usually go out. 1 hour worth of labor, $30 for the part, and a free car wash. $130 later I was out and in my cool car again.

[clinton.foote@gmail.com]

I just had a problem where the fan was progressively getting worse. I thought it was the fan and was going to take it to a local garage for replacement. I found out that the fans are mostly special order, so I found a local dealer who had it in stock. I bit the bullet and had the dealer fix the problem. It actually saved me money because it was NOT the fan but the fan relay. The said that the fans do not usually go out. 1 hour worth of labor, $30 for the part, and a free car wash. $130 later I was out and in my cool car again.[/b]

jfteng1, thanks mate, I owe you one. I had the same problem you described. Before reading your post I went to Mazda Dealership and they told me that the entire climate control system had to be replaced at a cost of $1,000.00 AUD. I have since taken it to another Mazda dealer and told them "I believe it's the fan relay" and guess what - it was - $110.00 later all good. Saved $900.00.

[HondaH8er]

I have this exact problem right now. I took it to the local dealership. They checked all the fuses and all were fine. He called me before he did anything else because he said anything he was going to do from there was gonna cost labor.

They said first thing they would need to check is the fan switch. They estimated labor at 82.00+ tax and said if this wasn't the problem they'd need to move on to checking the blower motor resistor which would end up being 1267.00+ tax.

After reading this thread and finding many peoples problems were solved by replacing the "relay" i mentioned this too him and he seemed to not understand what i was talking about. I'm assuming that's maybe what he's calling the "fan switch" is what you guys are referring to as the "relay". Are they one and the same?

[sciguy]

I had this exact problem, climate control blower stopped working, started working, stopped working erratically. Heat and aircon worked fine, because you can test it by pulling air through the system by cranking down a rear window and driving fast. Here are detailed directions on how to fix it, since I used this forum for ideas and found them very helpful. All information provided pertains to my 2007 3i.

As others have said, it's probably the Heater Relay. Very easy to change in the 2007 Mazda 3 (assuming this pertains to other years as well, I have no way to check). Pop the hood open, then open the fuse box on the right hand side near the battery. Take a look at the underside of the lid of the fuse box. There is a space labeled HEATER. Find this in the box. It is a black cube about an inch on each side. It does not look like a fuse. Part number is LF66 18 811. Here is all the writing on it -

LF66 18 811
NAIS
CB1a-TR-12V
N.O.DC12V
JAPAN

When typed into the Mazda dealer's part system, this comes up as "Main Relay". The replacement part number is LF67-18-811. List price of $29.99, mine was $21.99. The dealer had to order it for me, and it took two days.

It takes less than a minute to install the part, just pop the hood open, find the box, pull the relay, push in the new one, and close everything. I fixed it for $23.42 (including tax). Don't let the dealer install it and charge you a fortune!

If you remove the relay, the blower will not work. Pop the new one in, and it works great. So - give this a try first, before you spend a thousand bucks having the blower replaced.

Thanks to all the great suggestions on this forum, you guys helped me find the answer!