2001 Honda Civic EX

A couple weeks ago I notices a water leak that was puddling up where the front passengers right foot would be (if the person had their leg stretched out and resting on the right wall). Looking closer, while raining, it looked like a water fall was running down the right interior wall of the car. I followed the leak up to, what I believe to be, the ac/heat fan. Pulling the plastic strip that frames the bottom edge of the windshield I could see the fan and the big housing hole it sits in. Nothing really protects water from going into this area and the only thing stopping the water from flowing into the car looks to be a sponge filter that was soaked.

A week ago, when I would put the heat on, the fan would make a hissing grinding noise. Than yesterday the fan stopped working in the low and medium position. It only works if you put the fan on full blast. And when turning the fan on you can here a switch clicking noise from the fan area.

One thing I did, before the fan went out, was try to seal the fan housing area. I surrounded the top of the housing with some rubber weather stripping. It helped a little but the fan still went out.

OK, here are my questions after that wordy description:

How can I stop the water from flowing into the car?
What do I need to do to fix the fan?

 

For the water problem, it sounds like the evaporator drain tube is plugged. You will have to access it from under the vehicle. It's usually a rubber tube. (It's what causes the water drip behind the passenger side front wheel when the A/C is on). You can use a coat hanger wire to push up the tube and unplug it, but be careful not to push too hard. You COULD do damage to the evaporator.

With respect to the fan problem, you will have to check that as an electrical problem. I would jumper 12v from the battery to see if it works. From the sounds of it, you will need a new blower motor, but they aren't usually expensive.

Hope this helps!

 

Since his blower works on full blast but not any other position, i don't think the blower motor is bad. There is a resistor back thing and that is what allows you to set the speed. On low speed, there are more resistors in the circuit and on full blast there are no resistors in the circuit. If the resisitors blew, then it would work on full blast since it doesn't go through any of the resistors but wouldn't in the modes where it has to go through the resistors because the resistors are creating an open circuit.

 

Thanks for the tips. I will give it a try today.

One quick thing - where can I find the resistors and how do I check to see if they are bad?

 

That is a picture of the blower motor unit. Your car doesn't use a set of resistors like i said, it uses something called a power transistor. I'm not sure how this works, but i think it works in a similar way. I would put a meter across power transistor and check the resistance. When you change the setting, the resistance should also change. When you select full, there should be no resistance, i think. (I haven't looked at the schematic). When the selector is on off, low, and medium there should be some resistance, it should be a number not infinate. Off might be infinate however. I'm gonna try to find the schematic.

 

the fan could be a fuse or the thermostat also

 

If the water leak started and it leaked in to the floorboard of the passenger side. and the heater blower stopped working. you have a blown heater core. check that. i have no idea how to check it but it can be one of the symptoms if it is blown

 

So I pulled the fan motor and there was water and some corrosion in it. I am sure the fan air intake (located by the passenger lower corner of the windshield) is where the water is getting in. Not the best design. So I put the fan on high and for a second nothing happens. Then a second later there is a click in the fan relay (located just under the glove box, dead center) and the fan comes on. I turn the fan down one position, hear the click in the relay and the fan stops blowing. Fan only works on high.

Is the relay bad? Is there only one relay for the fan for all settings? Is it bad because it got wet or could the fan jam up and cause the relay to burn out? Or is something else causing this problem?

If anyone has the wire harness schematic please send it my way, I will give you my email address.

Thanks for all the help

 

So I put a volt meter to the fan. I am only getting current in the fan high position. I am going to buy a new relay and a new fan if they aren't too expensive.

Anyone know where I can pick a cheap fan?

Also,
It looks as though the majority of the water is getting in somewhere around the passengers side of the windshield. The seal looks fine but water will find a way.

 

I replaced the blower motor and the accessories relay. The fan was sticking pretty bad and had some corrosion. Still the fan only works on high (no low or medium). Could there be a blower motor relay that is bad?

Any help?