2006 Chevrolet Equinox, Blower Erratic / Inoperative

This 2006 Chevrolet Equinox came in with the complaint that the blower motor worked sometimes. Most of the time it did not work. The customer had already replaced the blower motor and the blower relay to no avail. I checked the blower fuse in the underhood fuse box to make sure it was both good and powered. It was.

Under the passenger side of the dash, I removed the hush panel to gain access to the blower motor wiring. The panel is held in place by two 7 mm headed screws.

No power was present on the red wire with the white stripe.

I went back to the driver’s side of the vehicle and lifted the rear edge of the sill trim plate. Then worked my way towards the front of the vehicle.

Releasing the clips as I went.

The problem is in the multiwire harness connector shown below. If you look closely at the upper red/white wire to the right of center, you should notice some discoloration in the color of the wire. The terminals inside the connector are overheated and it is best to not disconnect the connector assembly. It may not go back together without a lot of effort.

I removed the 40 amp blower fuse from the underhood fuse box. No sense in cutting and splicing a live wire in tight quarters.

I clipped the wire above and below the in line harness connector body.

Then used splicing terminals and heat shrink tubing to make the repair.

The circuit is now repaired and on the outside of the connector.

I made sure that the wire was held in place when the connector body was reattached to the body panel.

I installed the previously removed 40 amp blower fuse in the underhood fuse box and now there is power on the red/white wire. The blower motor also now works on all speeds.

Another one finished.