2003 Chrysler Town and Country Van came in with the complaint of the blower operates on high speed with key on and cannot be adjusted down. This procedure will also apply to Dodge Caravans with auto a/c. The controls and indicators seemed to work normally. I checked the wiring diagram and component locator and found that the blower power module is located behind the glove box. Good place to start.
After opening the glove box there are two stops the have to be depressed inward in order to drop the box down.
The blower power module is directly behind the lowered glove box. It is held in place by two 8mm hex head screws.
After removing the two attaching screws, the blower power module can be positioned for testing.
Turn the key on and while manually rotating the blower switch from low to high you should see a voltage change between about 2 volts (high)up to about 10 volts (low) on the blue/light blue wire. It is the middle wire in the left connector pictured below. Because the blower was working on high speed there was no need to do any other testing, however if you were to have low blower or no blower you would need to test further. Check for 12 volts – on the black/orange wire and 12 volts+ on the dark blue wire in the three wire connector. If either is missing check respective fuse and ground connections. Next check for 12 volts between the blue wire and the dark blue /yellow (sometimes black as pictured below) wire in the two wire connector to the right of the pictures. If either signal is missing in the two wire connector and the three wire connector tested good then the power module is faulty. If 12 volts power and ground are present then the blower motor is faulty. Usually bumping the motor with the key on and the blower switch on high will make the motor work for a little while because it will reset the worn brushes.
Three wire connector:
Black/Orange wire should have a constant ground.
Dark Blue wire should have 12 volt switched power from the front blower relay. The front blower relay is located in the Integrated Power Module (underhood fuse box).
Blue/Light Blue wire should have a varying voltage from about 2 volts(high blower command) and a nominal 10 volts(low blower command).
Two wire connector:
Check for a nominal battery voltage reading across the two wires. Key on and blower set to high.
I removed the mounting screws to gain better access to the wiring for testing.
Be careful to keep the aluminum cooling fins away from the metal brace for the glove box. It will complete the ground circuit for the blower motor and will scare you when it sparks.
Place an insulating cloth between the aluminum fins and the brace if you want.
A good look at the blower power module.
Installed the new blower power module and all is well.
Hi Sparky
The blower is still blowing full blast with the wire cut. So the speed controller is bad and the 2nd one that I was given is also bad even though it was supposed to be “new”.
Thanks Sparky I’m now going back to the parts store.
Thanks
George
Spa
Yes, it does. Does the blower still stay on at high speed with the wire cut and the ignition on? If it does the blower speed controller is faulty or the heat sink is contacting a ground when it is mounted. Having a nearly constant 9 volts on the blue/light blue wire that is still connected to the blower speed controller means that the control head assembly is using a ground signal to bring the 9 volt circuit down to control the blower speed. Since we know that when the wire is connected the voltage does drop when the blower command is adjusted, we also know the control head and the wiring from it are okay.
Hi Sparky
I’ve cut the wire and made the readings that you asked for.
battery voltage 12.03
green to grnd. 10.8
green to jumper cable 10.8
low high
uncut 7.0v 1.6v
CUT
low high
term end 9.29v 9.32v
wire end 130mv 70mv
Hope this tells you something.
Thanks
George
Hi Anonymous,
A blower control module and a blower speed control module are the same part. There are several more names as well but all the same part. Please provide voltage reading for me to assist you with,
Hi George,
I need you to go back and do the voltage tests again. If possible use the battery negative terminal as the ground connection for your voltmeter black lead. You may need to connect a jumper cable to the battery negative terminal and run that over to where you can connect the meter to it. If the reading stay the same, go the the blue/light blue wire and find a place to cut it in half. Make sure you have a connector to repair the cut later. Perform the voltage tests again. This time provide the reading for both halves of the cut wire. This will hopefully tell me more about the control signal.