Fan question

[Haynesie]

hey everyone,

Was working on my car today when I heard something hit the floor. It turned out to be what looked like a piece of ceramic material that fell off the fan unit. I looked in the web and it appears that two of the wires coming of the fan wiring attach to this item and then attach to the actual fan motor. The fan to my knowledge is stock.

My question is, what does this thing do and do I need it to run my fan or can I bypass it someway.

Thanks in advance.
Jason

 

[Haynesie]

attached is an image on the web of what I'm referring to if it helps.

 

[No disintegrations]

Thats the resistor for the low fan speed. It drains off some power to allow the fan to spin at a slower speed. It doesn't affect high speed iirc.

 

[1986 Buick GX1]

Thats the resistor for the low fan speed. It drains off some power to allow the fan to spin at a slower speed. It doesn't affect high speed iirc.

You remember correctly.
The high speed feed wire connects to the same end of the resistor as the fan supply wire, not going through the resistor at all and straight to the fan.
The low speed feed wire connects to the other end of the resistor, power goes through the resistor (reducing the voltage) to the fan supply wire on the other end, spinning the fan slower.

Sorry, battery died and didn't save the fix.
To bypass the resistor, in you're case where the resistor fell out.
The high speed wire will more than likely be connected to the fan wire with a screw and a piece of broken resistor (the right side of the resistor in the photo above).
The low speed wire will be by itself and have a screw in the end with a piece of broken resistor (the left side of the resistor in the photo above).

Remove the high speed wire from the fan wire and tape off or heat shrink and tuck it away.
Attach the low speed wire to the fan wire, tape or heat shrink and done.

Because both the low speed and high speed wires are 12v, the fan will now run on high speed, but turn on earlier at the low temp setting.

**Apon further review, If running A/C, both low speed and high speed wires should be connected to the fan supply wire as I believe the A/C turns the fan on through the high speed wire.
I hope this helps.

**Note: added the last part about the A/C turning the fan on.

 

[earlbrown]

Yep, bypass the hell out it and don't look back.

 

[1986 Buick GX1]

Added the last part about the A/C turning the fan on.

 

[Haynesie]

Thanks! you all are awesome...I figured it was something along those lines