Hi all, new to this forum, but not new to Mazda.
Car is 323F 1991 1.6, based in UK.

For a while now, the interior blower motor has only operated on the two highest speed settings.
Someone on another forum suggested the fan resistor was faulty, but I did nothing about it, as it wasn't a major issue.
Until yesterday, that is, when the fan blower stopped working completely.

So far, I've checked all the fuses and circuit breaker, then (I think) removed the resistor which looked knackered, with one of the "springs" snapped. I replaced it with one from the local scrapyard, but the blower still will not blow on any setting. My local Mazda dealers are shut over the weekend so I can't source a brand new resistor anyway, even if that's what will fix the problem.

Any way to bodge the connection where the resistor is, to see if I can get the fan to spin and confirm it's the resistor at fault, before I start looking for a whole new fan motor?

BTW - can anyone describe or post a photo of the resistor assembly? The thing I stripped out was in the airbox near the fan motor, in the passenger footwell, had one black one white connector on it. When it came out it looks like a plastic plate with 4 short posts on one side, holding three coiled springs with what looks like solder on top of each. Have I been looking at the right thing?

Car is now getting to be undriveable, with the windscreen misting up in all the July rain we're getting. Any ideas for a fast fix would be greatly appreciated, guys!

Cheers

clog

 

I'm a first-time owner of a Mazda, but this sounds like a simple switch issue to me. I have a book that might cover your year of Mazda, and I'll look at the schematic in the next couple of days and see if I can help.

A good place to start would be to pull the harness from the blower motor, and stick a multi-meter to the harness and see if you're getting power to the motor. If not, just work your way backwards. If there is a resistor that controls the blower speed, when it goes out the blower goes completelyout (A Mazda expert can correct me, but I'm pretty sure this is right). I would suggest pulling the blower switch out of the dash and test it as well, as I bet this is the issue.

 

Turns out it was more than one thing.
The resistor was knackered, one from the scrapyard made no difference, and a brand new one wouldn't work either, at first.
Power was going to the harness, so the switchgear and fuses were fine. So that's an afternoon of pulling the motor out, then.
The fan looks like it was blocked with bits of ceramic off the old resistor and the motor was full of gunge. After a good clean up all is now well.
The new resistor means that all fan speeds work well, and a thorough clean of the fan and pipework means that the airflow is great.

First registered 1989, not yet hit 80,000 miles, still a great car.
Our trusty 323 lives to fight another day.