Which blower motor resistor?

fred246

The blower motor resistor on my Fiesta has gone. The options are:
Unbranded from under £4 upwards on ebay.
Hella £16
Febi Bilstein £17
Ford £30 ish
I don't mind getting one which doesn't last long because I can replace them quickly. I seem to remember that they get hot and can potentially cause fires? Which would people buy? They all look the same and could all be made in the same factory. Thanks.

forgotmyname

Unbranded....Runs away to get the fire entinguisher..

Anything but that one.

reddwarf2002

I would go for Hella. They are original OEM suppliers for some things so can't be too bad, and at half the price it's worth a try.

angrycrow

Remember to take out and service or replace your blower motor to stop it blowing the replacement resistor.

fred246

Is that the garage industry way of making a 10 minutes job into a much longer and more expensive one? If a new resistor blows I might take a look at the motor but not before.

facade

I'd change the cabin filter and check the inlets for leaves, and service the motor if it blows again. (unless it is a 5 minute job to take it out)



The resistor is placed so the airflow from the heater fan cools it down.
If the cabin filter is very dirty. or the intake is full of leaves, then airflow is restricted and the resistor overheats.


Also if the motor is partially seized because water has got to the bearings it will take excessive current and burn the resistor out.



I did have one go once because the little lever came off one of the air direction flaps, and it ended up blocking enough airflow to burn the resistor out, but that is a pretty odd occurrence.



They should last pretty much forever (apart from the eco-friendly modern solder failing at the joints)

thorganby

fred246 wrote: »

The blower motor resistor on my Fiesta has gone. The options are:
Unbranded from under £4 upwards on ebay.
Hella £16
Febi Bilstein £17
Ford £30 ish
I don't mind getting one which doesn't last long because I can replace them quickly. I seem to remember that they get hot and can potentially cause fires? Which would people buy? They all look the same and could all be made in the same factory. Thanks.

I would not buy any of those!

There is absolutely no need to replace the resistor pack when only the thermal fuse needs replacing.

This is a very easy fix and the thermal fuse can be bought for less than £2.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/thermal-fuse



Do check the cabin filter and air intake for leaves etc. because something has caused the excess temperature resulting in the thermal fuse blowing.

System

angrycrow wrote: »

Remember to take out and service or replace your blower motor to stop it blowing the replacement resistor.

That isn't what caused it. On Fords the resistor pack is in the fresh air intake pipe from the scuttle panel. What causes the pack to burn out is people not changing the pollen filter. This gets blocked, cool air no longer flows down the pipe, hot air from the resistor pack can't escape, resistors burn out.