95 Del Sol VTEC intermittent fan problem

The heater/AC blower has gotten slightly flakey a few times lately where
it just doesn't turn on with the switch but after trying it several
times it eventually starts and runs fine.

I can see in the Honda manual a few places that could cause this...
underwood relay, the switch itself, the resistor pack, etc.

Is there any track record for the 95 Del Sol/Civic cars as to the most
likely failure point for this?

 

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Have you had problems with rain dripping on the passenger's floor in the
past?

'Curly'

 

Nope. I'm probably going to see about the relay first since the thing
wouldn't run at any speed setting. And it's currently happening so
rarely that it will be tough to narrow down. I just thought maybe one
part or another of that vintage Civic/DelSol might have a track record
of some particular component failing over time. (it's 10 years old but
has only about 60K on it so far)

 

[answering myself here I guess]

I pulled the relay and got it open for a look at the contacts. They were
somewhat burned so I cleaned them up a bit, put the relay back and got
it to not start within minutes. With the switch on and the fan motor not
running I reached over and popped the bottom of the motor with my hand.
It started right up.

So I pulled the blower and eventually got it apart enough to see the
commutator which had a few blacker than the others spots. I cleaned that
all up with a small wire brush/Dremel tool and put it all back together.
We'll see now what happens over some time, but I suspect that was it.
Just a dead-ish spot on that commutator.

And BTW, I got the distinct feeling that Honda did _not_ mean for that
motor to be removed from the plastic housing for service. What a pain in
the arse.

 

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The blower fan / motor on the Gen 1 Odyssey and the Gen 1 CR-V just fall
out on the floor after you unplug them and remove three screws. That's
good you found the 'dead' spot. I wonder about the Dremmel tool though.
:-(

'Curly'

 

The blower assembly removed just like that - three screws. The PIA part
was getting the fan off the shaft and getting the motor out of the
plastic housing such that I could even See the brushes/commutator.

Dremmel tool... couldn't live without it. I used a small cup shaped wire
brush attachment (maybe 3/8" dia.) to clean off the contacts of the
commutator. Works pretty well for that because I don't really want to
remove a lot of metal but rather just get all the oxidized and
non-metallic stuff off there.

 

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I get you. I was picturing the Carbide cut-off wheels. Luv 'em !!

I always use the air hose inside that plastic cover to blow out all the
shed carbon powder. Also end up looking like a bad Al Jolson
impersonator. :-(

Stay safe. 'Curly'