Heater fan runs when car is shut off, 2006 Tahoe

[Gyrobob]

My Daughter has a 2006 Tahoe 1GNEC13Z16R168237. It has about 150,000 miles.

Yesterday, when she tried to start the car the battery was dead. She got the battery charged up (I think she actually got a new battery under warranty), but to make a long story short,.. the heater fan won't shut off when she shuts off the car, so after a few hours the battery is run down.

She is driving around today with the heater fan unplugged from some place under the dash. A friend with some mechanical ability can't figure out what is causing the problem, but he did at least make the fan motor stop running so she can use the car.

She says the fan speed control works normally. The heater just keeps blowing, though, when she shuts the car off and removes the key.

I am a day's drive away from the car so I can't get to it to actually start troubleshooting. I used to be an A&P mechanic, so if I were there with a manual and a VOM, I could probably solve the problem. I can't get out there anytime soon, so I will try to do this from 500 miles away. She took it to an AutoZone, and they say there are no OBD codes.

She's a single Mom and can't afford, at the moment, to just take the car into the dealer. Hopefully someone here has already had this problem and knows the solution.

Thanks for any help. It's cold in Little Rock. I'd really like to help her fix this.

 

[rockenthebowtie]

Its going to be the HVAC blower motor resistor module.. not sure exactly where the friend disconnected Iit from but if he did it right at the blower motor itself the resistor module is what that same connector he diconnected leads to.. if he follows that lead that about 4 to 6 inches long it will lead him right to it and its bolted down with 2 little 3/32 hex head brass colored screws very easy access and easy to replace dealer part only

 

[Hockman]

The other day my 2005 Suburban did the same thing. My wife and I both looked at each other like we were thinking what the heck! I opened both doors thinking maybe the power was still running the blower motor because our vehicle maintains power to run radio and windows with ignition off for a few minutes after the vehicle has been shut off. Nothing happened. Blower motor kept running for about 30 seconds. So, I started pushing buttons, and something worked and the blower stopped. Mind you, all of this was happening while the keys were out of the ignition and both front doors opened. Now, I cannot get the blower to work at all and just replaced my battery. Makes me kind of wonder if this problem has been going on for some time and drained my battery. I also read somewhere that when the condensate tube drain gets plugged with dirt and debris, then the condensate will build up and flood your floor pan on the passenger side. This has happened a couple of times in this vehicle as well as the rear hvac condensate flooding. One person commented that this condensate flooding can lead to a shorting out of the blower motor and resistor.

I am about to go to the store to pick up a new resistor and blend door actuator. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[Hockman]

you can buy the blower motor resistor at your local parts store as well. Dorman brand though which I am not sure on the quality. Easy enough to replace therefore I buy the cheaper unit.

 

[Hockman]

Blower Resistor

Ok, so my suburban has automatic AC which means I have to buy the blower motor resistor that is about 4 times more expensive than the manual AC resistor. Anyways, I replaced it yesterday and everything is working great.

With regard to the blend door actuator, I opted out on that. After a little more research, I found out that this vehicle has about 4 or 5 different actuators. The easiest one to get to is under the dash pretty much behind the center console and that one appears to be for the temperature control on the drivers side. All other actuators require lengthy removal processes of the dash to varying degrees. My advice is if everything is work ok right now except the recirculate actuator, than leave it alone. If for any reason, you have to get into the dash, replace all of them at the same time. The actuators vary in price, depending on brand and where you buy them, but could be $55 to $150 each. Labor is upwards of 8 to 10 hours to pull the dash. I think that is clear enough. As others have mentioned, make sure you get the right one for the right location. Someone else mentioned that Dorman, which is a popular AM brand for these actuators is not a good brand. I have not looked into this much but given the extensive labor, I would lean to the OEM on this one. In argument though, it appears that these actuators fail by broken gears and other minor failures not the electric motor. With that said, would the OEM perform much better or are these just expected to be a short lived part? Something else, interestingly, Chevy had a known issue on the recirc door closing past the allowable steps for the actuator and would cause an error/fault code and the door would become inoperable. Not sure if this is the case with mine, again, how much effort do I want to put into this issue.

I just find it helpful when people post as much information as possible. I personally find it very irritating when posters whine and cry about their problems and then once the problem is resolved they run away and leave everyone who comes after them needing help hanging with no conclusion. ""personal rant - posting edicate""