I have a 1995 850 Turbo Wagon, currently without the function of the blower (a/c still leaks from vents, so compressor works, but no fan to blow cold air in the cabin.) From reading on this site, I gather that the blower motor and its resistor are the most common problems when the blower motor quits working and you get the blinking lights from the ECC module. (This post sounds very much like my problem, though restarting the car no longer fixes it for us: http://ww.volvoforums.com/m_32206/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm) Our mechanic has traced and tested each component of the system by swapping out parts with another 850, and says he can't track down the problem. He tested the blower motor outside of the car and said it was getting power, though I am not sure he tested to see how many AMPS it was drawing. He also told us the error code was consistently 4-1-9. Does this error code match with the common diagnosis of blower motor and resistor being bad? Can one test the blower motor to see how many amps its drawing? How does one know the resistor is bad too, or is that just a likely assumption with electrical problems that have dragged on and on? Thanks in advancewe live in Texas and without air conditioning, we think we might die in our car.

 

4-1-9 ....... ECC Power Stage Emitting Faulty Diagnostic Signal

The power stage is often called the blower resistor. The 4-1-9 code means that the power stage is unable to communicate and it is likely bad. A bad power stage results in either no fan operation or a blower fan that will not shut off.

...Lee

 

This summer my 6 year old daughter's cat got into my 850 and I did not notice he was in there. I closed all the doors and left for a barbecue. The car was in the sun, and it was the hottest day of the whole summer, something like 42C (107F).

When I came back the cat was dead inside the car. Poor animal! My kids never found out, we told them he had run away.

Getting rid of the smell in the car was not a minor problem.

 

Ozark Lee, would you go ahead and replace the blower motor or just the resistor? I guess I'm asking if the resistor can go bad on its own (we did have a bad voltage regulator for some time that wreaked random electrical havoc on the car) or is the resistor is almost always taken "out" by a blower motor that is drawing too many amps, too much current, bad bearings, etc. (axelm, yikes!) Thanks much

 

If the blower was making noise before it quit then yes, change the blower as well. If it was relatively quiet with no bearing squeaks I would give just try changing the power stage. Both are expensive -a bad blower will take out the power stage due to overcurrent draw so it is a judgment call.


...Lee

 

Thanks much Ozark Lee, I appreciate ya. I'm going to try the power stage first (maybe I can find one at a junk yard?) and then see where we are. Hopefully its easy to find, I gather its behind the blower motor.

 

The power stage is inset into the main air duct directly to the left (as you are looking at it) from the blower motor. It looks like connectors plugged into the air duct. As I recall there is only one Torx screw that holds it in place. When you pull it out of the duct it will simply look like aluminum heat sink fins. If you are handy with a soldering iron some folks have fixed their own. I have not yet tried this since my only 850 with ECC works fine. Here is the link to the thread:

http://www.brickboard.com/AWD/volvo/...al_update.html

Best of luck with it.

...Lee

 

We just replaced the power stage with a new part...still blinking lites on the ECC unit. Don't think I'm able to pull error codes at home, but maybe back to the mechanic to get the error codes is the next step. Blower motor almost certainly bad? Any suggestions?

 

You can test the blower motor by shorting the blue wire on the blower to ground (Make sure it is a good ground) - this will work key off and it won't freak out the rest of the unit. It should fire up and run full speed ifthe blower motoris good. If it does not run check fuse #5. If fuse #5 is good and the fan does not run with the blue wire shorted to ground then the blower is bad.

If it does run OK and you have a new power stage start checking the Yellow/Brown, Violet/White, and Gray/Red wires for continuity back to the ECC Control head. If that all checks out then the problem is in the control head itself. There are usually a bunch of the controllers on eBay and they tend to go off for under $100.00.

Best of luck,

...Lee



...Lee

 

Lee, it works! We checked everything you suggested, the blower motor is good, there is continuity. We were just about to look into a new ECC head when we realized we'd plugged something in backwards going from the ECC unit to the resistor the first time. D'oh! So when we corrected our mistake, all was well. Thanks for your thorough and helpful advice!

 

Well that's just ruined my faith in Volvo connectors.

I thought they were designed to prevent just that sort of thing happening.

 

I presumed the same.

The fact that you were able to do that is surprising. They are supposed to be a one to one connector and there should not be two that are the same. But if there is, at least now you know which is which .

Definately something to keep an eye open for for others attempting this type of repair.

Sorry[&o] it happened but glad that you were able to figure it out and also that you posted your solution for others to learn from.