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Help, please--non-Toyota auto--no response on alt.autos.gm

I posted this on alt.autos.gm more than a day ago and have not received a response yet. I am hoping that I am overlooking something easy or obvious. I know there are some folks on this board with great minds and excellent troubleshooting techniques (not to mention knowledge) so I was thinking maybe someone here would have my miracle tip...

I have a 94 Geo Metro that had a bad switch for the interior (ventilation) fan last year. The switch had broken the clasps that held it on and come apart. I glued it, and it worked well for a year, when the glue I used (wrong kind) dissolved, probably from the grease and leftover WD-40 I had used to clean the old switch.

This time I decided to replace the "lever assembly 8.849" (M part #

30007398 (which includes the blower switch and the receptacle for it including new clasps so I don't have to glue it in again) and it went in easily. The fan now works, but somehow in all the digging around to get to it, I hosed a cable or something somewhere, because the A/C no longer comes on.

I checked the fuses (There wasn't one for AC, but there was one labeled ACC, which I thought was accessory, so I checked all of them.) They are all fine. Even the ones under the hood. There is a little light inside the pushbutton that turns the AC on or off, that stays dark too.

One BIG clue is that the little bulb which lights up the lever control panel when the headlights are turned on is also not coming on, and its cable joins the one from the AC switch. Apparently the circuit those two things are on is open. I did find a couple plastic connector plugs along the cable, but they seemed to be very tightly connected. I could not get them apart, so I tried pushing them together (connected) firmly, they didn't budge either way so I more or less doubt it was a case of accidentally unplugging the cable when I was removing the lever assembly.

I thought a relay might be bad, but that shouldn't stop the control panel light from coming on, it wouldn't be on a relay as it comes on with the headlights.

I am at a loss as to what to check next. I can't follow that cable very far back towards the firewall without disassembling the whole dash, and I'm not sure I want to do that, it's beyond my experience and I don't want to risk breaking something else.

Any ideas on what I should check next?

Reply to
Ernie Sty
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First see if there is power coming to the switch. If there is no power to the switch, then you have to check further back in the circuit. Check the relays, fusible links, and circuit breakers under the hood.

Reply to
Ray O

Do you know for sure that what you did caused the AC to stop working? In other words, do you know for a fact that it was working prior to your last repair?

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Reply to
qslim

That's a good point! I do in fact know that it was working because I used it just before. However if I was doing this for someone else and they claimed it was working before, they could be lying and scamming me for a free repair.

Reply to
Ernie Sty

Thanks!

Reply to
Ernie Sty

By chance is this related to the blower fan motor control?

My AC only operates if you first start the fan. When the fan is off, the AC button will not light.

It occurred to me that perhaps you had somehow disconnected the fan power, or some inter-lock system.

Good luck with this difficult electrical issue, and please advise on your progress (that way we all learn).

- Jack

Reply to
Ralph

See my reply to Ray O. O don't think there's much to learn though. :-)

Reply to
Ernie Sty

Geesh. I took Electronics I and II in my junior and senior year in high school. If I learned anything in that class, it was what the teacher (Joe Baker, a really cool instructor, I hope he's doing well) drilled into our heads: 90% of the time in an electronic or electrical device, the problem is the switch. It's a great rule of thumb, if one follows it!

What threw me off was the little light that lights up the control panel when the headlights come on. It should always come on with the headlights whether or not the AC is on, and it was the only thing on the same cable as the AC switch but would not come on with the headlights.

After reading your suggestion, I disconnected the plug in order to remove the AC on/off button and tested the contacts on the end coming from the firewall. I measured 13.something volts on the two outside wires. It must be the switch. But why doesn't the little control panel light come on? I can see the filament is good. I wiggled it. It came on.

So the switch is bad. I could see where a solder blob had come unstuck from the tiny circuit board in the switch. I'm trying to re-solder it but it's damned difficult because it's so tiny. If I can get it to work for a while that's good because it's getting really hot and muggy here, and my wife, who drives the car, is starting to want a new one. I've ordered a new switch anyway because even if my repair works I don't trust it to hold for long.

Reply to
Ernie Sty

It's good to hear you have it worked out.

The things that messes a lot of people up with automotive switches is that they have lights in them so it is easy to assume that if the switch lights up, then the switch is good. That assumption may not be valid, depending on how the light get its power.

Reply to
Ray O

Thanks for the results - glad you've tracked it down. It is good that your high school teacher's advice still helps you. By the way, if you buy a new switch, will it have the same defective soldering? I have found that if I need to 'remanufacture' a part that wasn't built right, it's risky to buy a new one - it might be just like the old one!

- Jack

the tiny circuit board in the switch. I'm trying to re-solder it but it's damned difficult because it's so tiny. If I can get it to work for a while that's good because it's getting really hot and muggy here, and my wife, who drives the car, is starting to want a new one. I've ordered a new switch anyway because even if my repair works I don't trust it to hold for long. "

Reply to
Ralph

Reply to
Ernie Sty

Thanks! Makes good sense.

Reply to
Ernie Sty

You may be right. I'm going to cancel the order and keep the repaired switch (which I tested and it works fine.) IF it breaks again, then I can try getting a new one--fifty FREAKIN' dollars for thirty-five cents worth of switch. That's online (with shipping.)

The dealer would probably want over a hundred, though, so online is much cheaper even with shipping. I get repairs I can't do myself done at that dealership, because though their prices are sky-high, I've never had a problem or any reason to suspect that they ripped me off, unlike the other places I've been to. I think they have a good rep too, because despite their higher prices than other dealership mechanics in the area, they're always jammed with work.

Reply to
Ernie Sty

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