I have a 2004 Crossfire, something has caused my air conditioning fan to run wide open and my stock radio will not play. Is there something that both attach to?

 

Does the fan turn off? How long have you had the car? The radio may have a blown fuse.

 

The fan only turns off when I unhook it. I have removed the glovebox and the center console but I have not found loose wires.

 

There is a resistor mounted on the back of the heater fan, maybe that has gone haywire.
also the speed selector on the AC control on the dash can and does go haywire.

 

Thank you for your response, I have an idea the AC control has gone out, when I check the voltage on the center wire, it does not change as I turn the selector. I did unhook the battery and it works fine from the unhooked position, even with the fan unhooked the battery still goes dead even with the fan unhooked. I am not sure what that means.

 

Center wire where?

Ok, the 'fan resistor' is a common failure item. It is notorious for failing, it can cause the blower to run when everything is "off" and it can cause the blower to NOT run at all, or to vary in speed - etc. I'd just change it and see if that takes care of this. Describing to you how to test it is not worth the effort, as it costs less than $30. So let's do that.

Order one:
https://www.carparts.com/details/Mer...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

If you get under the dash on the passenger side, you can take the covers off, and dig down into the HVAC area and find the 'resistor' mounted near the blower motor, real easy fix! There is a thread here on how to do it but I can't seem to find it.

The radio not playing brings up more questions:
Does the radio face light up?
Does it display any text or station information?
Do you hear ANY "pop" or other noise in the speakers when you turn it on?

The only thing common to the two is this: If the drains below the windshield clog up, water can back up and flow down in the HVAC cavity, which can compromise the blower motor resistor, it then can flow down to the floor, and flood the sound system amplifier, under the passenger's feet. If this has happened, the fix is easy: You need a new amp and some new wiring, this is an easy fix - just takes money. If this IS the issue, it will be a great time for a sound system upgrade!

 

Thanks for the reply, is the resister the thing the three plug connecter goes? I did find a lot of leaves and water when I took the cover for the fan down.

 

Finding all that water/trash at the fan is a huge CLUE to another problem. Find the post (DIY) for checking/cleaning the drain tubes for the cowl area (below the wipers). That water that pizzaguy mentions gets there from those plugged drains and it overflows into the cavity where the fan is, and all sorts of problems (like pizzaguy said) happens. The longer you wait, the higher the cost to fix!... Good luck getting those drains checked/cleaned and fixing your issues!


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Thanks for the response, I do understand the water was not supposed to be there. Do you have any recommendations of how to clean out the drains?

 

I managed to get the drains working, I have a 2004 and I only found three drains and a hole supposed to carry the water to the passengers side. I hope that is all. Something is still pulling by battery down, it is not the fan, that is unhooked and it is not the AC clutch, I know that is in the release run mode. I still have a major drain on the battery.

 

I was hoping to run into someone who could tell me what is draining my battery. I realize no one can see my car, but I am hoping someone will have some kind of experience.

 

Did you disconnect your alarm siren, Try pulling fuse #9 and see what happens.

 

OK, I will try that, this has been such an awesome car!

 

Pulling the number 9 fuse did not help the Battery drain. I pulled it and charged the battery, came back an hour later and the car would not start. Any other ideas

 

Checking for the cause of battery drain has been discussed many times before on this forum.
Put ‘Battery Drain’ in search and you will find out how to do it.

 

I have 39 years of experience in a shop that did automotive electronics as well as wide are LMR radio systems. i then went on to work for Kenwood (then JVCKenwood) as a field tech and later R&D engineer.

How does that tell me what is wrong with your car? The ONLY way to find what is going on, is to measure the current flow at the battery and go track down where it is going. It is a fundamentally simply procedure that works in most cases (tho I did have an SRT in Georgia that had a fault in the main B+ lead to the chassis that the owner didn't want to spend the money to trace - they sold the car instead.)

My procedure is on this site somewhere, if I can find it I[ll link to it. I also have it on my PC here at home, but my Word license is corrupt and Word wont let me copy or even open the text....

 

Found it:

Remove key from ignition.
Pop the hood.
Verify all lights are off, any accessories plugged into the cigarette lighter are unplugged.
Close doors and trunk.
Raise hood.
Disconnect the battery ground cable and insert a digital multi meter in series with the battery post and ground cable, configure the meter for current measurement.
.... You should see current flow of at least a fraction of an amp up to 2 amps.
... If you see NO current, you have the meter configured wrong, or the internal meter fuse is blown.
... Once you get a current reading, WAIT THREE MINUTES.
(It takes time, upon power up, for all modules to hibernate, the reading you get is meaningless until all have hibernated - two minutes may be enough, but make it three minutes.)

After three minutes, the current reading must be .055amp (55 milliamps) or less. Mine is 19mA or so (about .019 amp)

If you have a lot of current, start pulling fuses in the big box next to the battery. SOMETIMES, pulling a fuse will make the current go UP - that is because you "wook up" a module somewhere, wait 3 minutes again. After three minutes, the current you see is the real current, if it is over 55mA, keep going.

Eventually, you will pull a fuse that makes the current go down. IF you can't find a fuse that does that, go to the little cigarette-box-sized box next to the battery, open it.
Inside are three bolt-in fuses. One 50amp fuse powers the engine fan. One 50amp fuse powers the brake controller. The 200 amp fuse powers the entire car.
Start pulling the 50's. If neither does it, pull the 200 amp. If that 200 amp one does it, we have work to do.

If the 200amp does not do it, yank the big fat red cable from the back of the alternator. If THAT does it, have the alternator rebuilt.

THAT is how you diagnose this.

 

A post by Pizzaguy on the battery drain problem as a PDF.

 

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Pizzaguy knows his stuff. Read his tutorial carefully a couple times before you actually do it (unless you catch on a lot quicker than I might be able to). You probably will find the cause before you get to the " If that 200 amp one does it, we have work to do " step. Please let us know how the progress goes, this will save you GOBS of $ for sure!


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This is the kind of stuff I've done for a living since 1982.