Hi! I drive a 1992 Chevy Camaro RS and my heater is broken. I wanted some help before I called the service department at a local GM dealership tomorrow so I know what I'm talking about.

My Dad has always fixed my cars for me before (I used to own an '83 mustang convertible GLX and that was no picnic) so this is something new for me. It's hard for us to schedule a time when we're both free so he can look at the camaro for me, so I'm hoping to get this fixed on my own. Let me explain the problem.

One night while driving, my car (toward the front passenger side) started making a loud noise comparable to a large ice chunk being ground up. I pulled over to the side of the road and stopped but the sound continued. (It was very ice and snowy/slushy outside which is why I pulled over immediately.) I then began to trouble shoot and found out when I turned my heat off the noise stopped. I also realized when the heat was on high the noise disappeared. Only when the heat was on the bottom two settings did it make the ice grinding noise.

I tried to generally drive with the heat on high but at times I just couldn't breathe anymore from the heat and had to put it on low and deal with the loud ice grinding noise.

Well, that wasn't smart. I have now burned something up. There is this TERRIBLE burned something smell that is unbearable. I'd rather freeze than smell it!

I've also noticed that when the heater is on high now not only does it just stink up the car even faster with these hideous fumes but it makes that ice grinding noise - whereas it did not do this before.

I have a schematic (thanks Dad) of the heating and ac system (1988 and later V8 engine Throttle Body injection <-- says that at the bottom of the schematic, I don't know what that means) and my Dad's guess was that it burned up the resistor that the low blower switch used to turn the heat on low. (Something about the bearings going bad thus burning up the resistor.)

He surmised that getting a new resistor would probably fix the problem but the bearings would probably burn up the new one eventually. Keep in mind he has not looked at my car but only made guesses based on the information I gave him. (Which is all of the information I am giving you now.)

At the time we did not know my car was now making this noise when the heater was on high. This is a new development. By looking at the schematic (it's too big to attach, but I could e-mail it) I am guessing it has burned up the first resistor and is not working on burning up the 2nd resistor? Beats me, but I know resistors don't make ice grinding noises so I'm puzzled. It did NOT make an ice grinding noise when on high before whatever it was burned up and caused this awful smell, but now it does.

Anyhoo, I'm not sure what else to add here. Feel free to ask question. Any and all help is really really really appreciated. Pardon my lack of intelligence on this subject matter and thanks in advance!

Also, with everyone's help here and my Dad's help, could I possibly fix this on my own? I'm willing to if it's not goign to be too difficult.

 

No heat is a bummer.....

The grinding noise is probably a bad fan motor. The noise is caused by worn out bearings in the motor. The smell is probably from the motor trying towork so hard to spin on bad bearings.

I would replace the motor to begin with (I have never seen a resistor go bad). You can get one at any parts store, probably cheaper than the dealer. The motor is located in a box on the passenger side of the car on the firewall.

Good Luck
Bagz

 

err, what's a firewall?

No matter, I'll ask Dad.

How hard would this be for me to replace on my very own? What would I ask for when going into a parts store?

 

The wire wall is teh back of teh engine compartment right under teh windshield. You would need a 1/4 inch drive socket set (metric) and some extensions.

All you need to ask for is a heater fan motor. once you get the old one out you might have to swap teh "cage" , looks like a hamster wheel from teh old to teh new....

 

Hmmmm, okay. I guess I'll call around and see if I can find someplace that can do this for me. I don't feel like I have enough information to be confident enough to do it on my own. But I will go ahead and replace the fan motor.

Would the resistor still have to be replaced?

 

This may help a bit:



From your description, the noise could easily be the blower motor failing. It isn't going to explode, so if you can stand the noise, you should be able to use it until it either completely fails or you replace it. Replacement is fairly easy, with only four short screws and two wire connections on the blower motor. the resistor is probably O.K., since the blower it apparently trying to run at the lower speeds.

 

yeah, the resistor is ok. When they go bad you'll loose the lower fan speeds. just get that blower fan fixed fast, as everyone pointed out: even you could change it with the advice they just gave you.