I've got a 1995 850 wagon and the heater fan switch only works on high (3 and 4), and not at all on 1 or 2. I have the manual climate control, and I'm just curious where to start looking at resolving this problem. Where to look, what to look for, etc. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

Your blower motor resistor is probably shot.

 

Is that something that fixable on my own?

 

I suppose it is something you can fix yourself. A friend of mine fixed it on his 94 Saab 9000CSE, and the systems are very similar. He told me his fan would only work in high speed. There is a variable resistor with a heat spreader on top which varies the amount of current that the fan receives. Less resistance -> more current -> more speed. The resistor is known to go bad after 10-15 years, depending on use. He got a replacement resistor for $10, swapped them, added some thermal paste on the heat spreader. It´s been six months now and the fan has been working fine.

I understand there could also be other causes to your problem, I am just shooting in the dark.

 

I wonder where he got such a cheap resistor. I was just pricing them out online and the ones I can find are about 80 bucks. Maybe I can find a used one for cheaper? Who knows how long that would last then. I don't even know if it is worth it for that money...

 

He took the blower out of the car. We removed the heat spreader and cleaned the thermal paste. With a magnifying glass we were able to read the part number on the electronic component. Then we found several mentions of it in Saab forums.

The resistor you are seeing quoted online has several parts, not only the tiny component that regulates the current. The same goes for the Saab blower motor resistor, which costs about 100 online.

Sorry if my explanation is not clear. English is only my third language.

 

im having the same problem on my 95 850 wagon how do i know if its the resistor or the blower and if its the resistor how do i change it

 

help!

 

If you're having the same symptoms (blower only works on high speed setting) then you likely have the same issue. I remember seeing a utube on how to change this on an 850; google is your friend...

 

The blower motor is exactly that, an electric motor. It either works or it doesn't (Ok there is a minute chance you have something intermittent).
If the motor works then the fuse, wiring and motor are good. If it doesn't work on all speeds or only works on one speed it's the resistor because that's the whole purpose of the resistor. It uses different valued resistors to use up some of the current before it gets to the motor so the motor will spin at a different speed.

correction
The manual control has two fuses, one for high and another for 1, 2 and 3. You would need to check the fuse for the lower speeds first to make sure it's good than you'd be left with it being a bad blower motor resistor. I have ECC so I only have one fuse.

 

Don't forget, the 850's have one fuse for fan speeds 1,2 and 3 and a seperate fuse for speed 4 so I would check the fuses first.

 

Thank you.