Smoke with new blower resistor? (1 Viewer)

[effjay80]

After cleaning out my blower I decided to replace the resistor 87138-60220 while I had everything apart. After doing so everything works fine but twice now after sliding from hot to cold air side I get a serious blast of acrid electrical smoke out of the vents. Enough to cause panic and prepare the dog for evacuation.

Have the old resistor and will re-install but this never happened before. Any ideas what going on?

 

[Somebodyelse5]

was it a one time thing or does it happen each time you do it?

Things don't tend to let the smoke out more than once! sounds like something is getting hotter than it should, which *should* lead to a fuse failing to protect it...

Sub'd to find out.

 

[effjay80]

Twice now. Drove with heat on, parked in sun for few hours warmed up cabin, started up and slid control hot to cold air == smoke. Quickly shut off blower. No blown fuse. No hot or melted wiring around the blower.

 

[smritte]

Those resistors get real hot. Anything on them will burn off. I've had customers with paper or leaves stuck to them. If your hands were oily when you installed it, that could be what you smelled. Once in a while I would get a new one that smelled the first time I tested it. Never take it out of the case and turn it on. It needs to be in the blower air stream. The one time I did that, it was cherry red.

It also wont hurt to check your blower motor for current draw. As they get old they tend to draw more current. On the average, they draw around 12 amps (on high). I had motors that still worked drawing a bit over 20 amps. This normally burns out resistors and control heads.

 

[effjay80]

Yes I fear the old motor might need addressed. Something obviously drawing too much current. That's a hulking ceramic resistor too.

 

[Kernal]

As mentioned above, watch the video:

The Four Seasons motors apparently are made (?assembled) in Canada FWIW

More Information for FOUR SEASONS 35356

 

[effjay80]

Well it's the blower that's smoking and of course on my current nothing is easy crusade the replacement blower (from Toyota) has a different connector than the OEM. Although I'm at the dealer parts counter and they swear it shouldn't. But it does.

Does anyone happen to have a molex connector part number for the bottom / new replacement blower? I need the horizontal vertical one.

Thank you.

 

[Kernal]

Is the part number of the new Toyota blower motor you just ordered, 87103-26020 ??

The correct part number (NLA) is 87103-60140 (or -60150).


AFAIK the only new 80 Series blower motor available from Toyota is for models without Air Conditioning, I doubt many came into the US unless it was some special order for No AC??. Most of those models likely went to places like Siberia.

The "without AC" motor is smaller with a shorter squirrel cage (fan) and is mounted on it's side as the HVAC assembly is totally different than in an 80 with AC where the motor is mounted upside down. The harness would also (likely) be different in that model. The blower motor for HVAC systems with AC is larger (IMO) as it has to blow air through the evaporator core and maybe?? more/longer air ducts.

Can you post up a photo of the two blower motors side by side (face on) to compare their height.

​

 

[effjay80]

Thank you very much for the help. Yes, and the 87103-26020 is the correct replacement according to the guys at the parts counter in fort collins, who are always very helpful and friendly btw. Here the are side by side. They insisted this unit should work in my AC rig, and just passing along what they saying. I profess my ignorance but do see the no-ac in the part description.

This fits/mounts perfectly just like the original, just has a different connector as above and the impeller is shorter. I'm hesitant to rig anything up and hoping find the right replacement before hacking off the connector.

Thanks again.

 

[Kernal]

Technically they are not correct, that is not the correct part number for an 80 with AC, smaller motor and smaller fan.

There was however someone else who installed the smaller motor (87103-26020). He swapped the connectors to hook it up IIRC.

Here's the link, scroll down to see the photos:

1991 Blower Motor question

Been looking around and can't find the answer. There are two type of blower motors it appears, one with A/C (discontinued) and one without. I prefer to stay with OEM. Rockauto has the Four Season motor w/ AC for sale without the fan only (go figure) but OEM has the fan only w/ AC for sale but...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[effjay80]

Yep thank you!

 

[Kernal]

Someone else who installed the aftermarket Four Seasons motor said it was louder than the original. FWIW.

 

[MTrun]

For what it is worth, I ordered the non-AC version without realizing the difference until it arrived. Like others here, I wanted a factory replacement. Not wanting to hack off my original connector, I removed the plastic connector housing (without destroying it so it could be used later if I ever repaired the original fan) and I plugged those factory spade connectors directly into the new OEM non-AC fan. I did put some electrical tape around the spad connectors to ensure they don't short being so close together on the new fan.

If someone does come up with a reliable way to rejuvenate the old fan, it should all be reversible.

Not sure that is the right solution, but sharing the approach I took until a fully OEM option is available!

 

[effjay80]

Thank you all kindly and planning next step. Drove an hour last night in the freezing cold without a heater so working under stress and duress.

Preferred course action is a NOS correct OEM unit, second choice is the new OEM non-AC motor, and lastly the 4 seasons motor.

And btw I know this statistically unlikely but if you live somewhere cold I'd consider the rear heater deletion before doing so. I'm sure glad I replaced the lines and didn't delete as the redundancy saved my stones.