Topic: possibly dumb question about a switch

[sardonicus]

Okay, just replaced the heater core, and the blower motor, and just as the proverbial brown stuff rolls down hill, the switch in the dash that controls the fan speed im being told requires replacing. When I look for switches and stuff on the oreilly website because thats the closest automotive place to me, i see lots of stuff about switches and was wondering if someone could tell me what exactly im needing to replace so i dont get jumpy and buy the wrong part lol.

[RENOVATIONS]

Is this what you're looking for?

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/BOR0/HS297.oap?year=1976&make=Pontiac&model=Firebird&vi=1250097&keyword=heater+switch&forcedVehicle=true&partType=01938&parentPartType=C0053

[sardonicus]

That is kinda what I was thinking was it, but I haven't removed the old one yet so i had no clue what it was suppose to look like and wanted someone with a clue to kinda confirm what I thought. Thank you!

[jjr]

  There's another switch. The one that goes up and down, which selects fan speed.

  I don't think it's available at OR, but the firebird resto houses have it.

  Joe

[RENOVATIONS]

True...I assumed from the avatar that the car was a '76, which has the left-to-right fan switch.

[ta78w72]

How do you know it's the switch?  The switch is fed by the A/C controller.  I assume you have A/C.  If not, it's probably fed by the heater controller....but I've never really looked at non A/C applications.

[sardonicus]

lol now im really glad i asked, yes it is a 76 , and the switch im talking about is the one that controls fan speed and it does go up and down. the car had AC to begin with but it's not functional right now, don't know how important that is to this problem. So rather than continue to assume the information i've been given is correct I'll just lay out my problem here and see what you guys think. When I toggle the up and down switch in the dash the fan speed does not change.

[sardonicus]

And to correct my previous statement about fan speed not changing, after moving the switch up and down a couple times the fan will now go a little faster when the switch is set to the second to highest setting, but if i go to the highest setting the fan speed goes back to the really slow speed that it's at the rest of the time

[ta78w72]

Your switch is getting power.  Do you have the red wire from the alternator to the high blower relay?  I think you might be missing that.

[sardonicus]

I will check that out and post again.

[RENOVATIONS]

To correct my earlier post/link...here is an original fan switch mounted to the head unit...the one in the link is different; my mistake for not checking first



This is a side-to-side switch for '76.

[sardonicus]

Allrighty, sorry it took so long for me to get back here. To the red wire question, yes i am fairly certain it is there. And heres a picture of the switch im talking about. it does look pretty much just like the one in that picture except it's up and down. if the 76 is suppose to have a different one i wouldn't be surprised if the person i got this from threw this one in there hooked it up and prayed for it to work... this is the same person that told me god kept the bugs out of the paint so anything is possible.

[76ta4spd]

I have a 76 and your A/C controls look just like mine but then again, I find every day that I have a frankenT/A. Previous owners have put lots of different things in there.

James

[ta78w72]

If the red wire is there, and you're not getting the high speed on the blower motor, you're high blower relay is bad or there's a bad connection at somewhere at the high blower relay.

It's possible the switch is bad.  To be sure you'd need to measure for voltage at the switch.  I think there's a connector for the A/C that should be revealed if you pull the glove box.  That's where the A/C controller and blower motor switch connect to the engine compartment.  Check the service manual under the air conditioning section for the color wire for each setting and measure for voltage with the switch on each setting.

I know on the 1977 model year when you move the A/C lever to maximum the blower motor is automatically set to the high setting regardless of the switch position.  I'm not sure if 1976 does that also.  In 1978 they changed the circuit so the switch position is the only thing that controls the blower motor.

Or you could replace the high blower relay just to see if that does the trick.  They aren't very expensive and they do go out.

I've always believed that God keeps the bugs out of the paint.

[sardonicus]

Okay, I went to see if that ac to max did anything for the speed and it didn't, and i tried to turn it off too, which i am almost embarrassed to say I hadn't tried. Can't turn it off either.