'00 impala fan/blower works intermitantly and occasionally smells of elect. burning. Previous clog evap fixed

Question

I have been having intermittent problems with the hvac (passenger cabin) fan. The issue first started when running the A/C in the summer, while steering the fan would make a squealing sound. Around the same time the A/C was dripping water on the passenger floor. I had the shop fix the while the car was in for inspection (clogged drain line) and I replaced the passenger cabin air filter at the same time.

Shortly after the A/C dripping was fixed the squealing of the fan started to happen more frequently and not just when I was steering. The one day while the fan was on low speed and the climate control set to vent I smelled an electrical burning smell coming out of the vents. I turned off the fan for the remainder of the drive. When I tried to turn the fan on later Speed 1 (what the fan was set to when the burning smell came out) did not work. However speeds 2-5 worked ok. Soon though the burning smell came back and all speeds of the fan ceased to work.

Answer 1

Thanks for the great description of symptoms.
I have seen this many times.
It is definitely your blower motor that is the problem.
Just change the motor and all will be fine.

Answer 2

From your description of number 1 speed not working and the burning smell, I would say it's a bad blower resistor which controls all the low speeds in conjunction with the fan switch. High speed is usually on a separate relay. Possibly test the motor first to verify that it's working ok...run a power jumper wire directly to it.

Answer 3

id replace fan relay and if smell continues ide repace fan motor but because fan speed 1and34 is relay but burning smell could be from both

Answer 4

Check the blower speed resistors.

Answer 5

fan switch or relay is going bad

Answer 6

your blower motor is bad