It’s 20 degrees out, you hop in your car, fire it up, hit the heater switch, and you hear a couple of faint whirs and a whisper of air. Then nothing. Your blower motor has stopped working. Frick 

Little known fact: The blower motor will never go out when it is 72 degrees and sunny outside.

So, you need to replace your blower motor. Before you dig in, there are a couple more things you might consider changing at the same time.

One is the blower motor resistor if your car is equipped with one. The blower motor resistor regulates the amount of voltage, therefore the speed, of your blower motor. A bad blower motor can ruin your resistor, and a bad resistor can also ruin your blower motor. So while not necessary, it can be a good idea to change them both together, especially when you consider how difficult it can be to change a blower motor. It often makes sense to replace them both while you are in there to prevent having to take everything apart a second time. Also, check the pigtail(plug) on the resistor for any signs of overheating. If they look burnt or melted, you can replace the pigtail with a new one on most applications.

 Second, the cabin air filter. One of my favorite pranks is to take the straw out of a friend's drink, fold it over, and staple it closed before putting it back in the cup. As you can imagine, it makes it impossible to suck anything through it. The cabin air filter filters the incoming air before your blower motor distributes it around the cabin. If that filter is plugged or restricted, it can act just like that straw and cause your blower motor to overheat and burn out. Not all cars have cabin air filters, but the majority of them do, so take a look to make sure it is clean. (NOT like the picture!) After you change the cabin air filter, you will likely notice that the blower motor is moving much more air than it had been.

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