1986 Accord LX Blower and Radio not working, fuses checked and good.

[cncking]

Hey all,

The problem started on a rather cold day, when you turn on the blower motor, the radio shuts off, and the blower does not work. After messing with it and getting them to work, I was fine for the night. Now, both the radio and blower motor do not turn on, and all the fuses are good. I have checked for corrosion and good grounds, and I believe that they are solid.

What gives?

[cncking]

Hey all,

The problem started on a rather cold day, when you turn on the blower motor, the radio shuts off, and the blower does not work. After messing with it and getting them to work, I was fine for the night. Now, both the radio and blower motor do not turn on, and all the fuses are good. I have checked for corrosion and good grounds, and I believe that they are solid.

What gives?

I have figured out a trick to get it working, if I were to turn the blower on before starting the car, it works, and continues to work through turning it off and back on. No longer affects the radio. However, if I were to start the car without the blower on, the problem still occurs. The same way. Radio will work fine, the second that the blower is put into low, the radio shuts off for a random amount of time, and will only turn on if I turn off the blower and wait for a while. The wait for the radio to receive power is random, and again, the radio will only receive power if I turn the blower back off. If I were to try turning it (the blower) on and leave it on, the radio will never receive power throughout the duration of the ride. BUT... If I were to shut the car off, turn on the blower, start the car, it works. Freaking strange issue.

On a second note, I occasionaly have the battery light turn on, even though the alternator and battery pass testing at numerous auto parts stores around here, and testing with my multi-meter shows a charge voltage near 15V

[dieselgus]

I am thinking your ignition switch is starting to get iffy on the accessory circuit. Drop your underdash panel and column shroud to get access to the switch. Get out your meter and see what the blue/white wire is up to when the blower shuts off. If that checks out, download the electrical troubleshooting manual and look at page 192 for the blower circuit.

As for the radio, I believe it is the yellow at the key that supplies the accessory circuit.

Is there anything else not working? Like the lights on chime?

[cncking]

I am thinking your ignition switch is starting to get iffy on the accessory circuit. Drop your underdash panel and column shroud to get access to the switch. Get out your meter and see what the blue/white wire is up to when the blower shuts off. If that checks out, download the electrical troubleshooting manual and look at page 192 for the blower circuit.

As for the radio, I believe it is the yellow at the key that supplies the accessory circuit.

Is there anything else not working? Like the lights on chime?

I have not really paid attention to the lights and chime, but I do know that when the blower and radio are out, the lights that come on when the door is opened do work. I work overnights, and I know that the lights in the car were working when I was last checking fuses. I have to get some time to do the testing that you requested. The only other odd thing that goes on that I have noticed, is that when you turn on the rear defroster, it does work, but the light on the switch does not light up. This occurs at the same time as the blower motor not wanting to work, also, when I start the car with the blower on, the light on the rear defroster switch works. I also believe that the lights on the heater controls shut off when this happens.

What is the common/shared circuit that these two devices share? Can it be as simple as replacing the ignition switch?

[Dr_Snooz]

Sounds like a bad ground to me. I'd guess that the blower is grounding through the stereo. The blower is a fairly high draw device, so you stand a good chance of cooking your stereo this way.

[dieselgus]

With the lights and such it does indeed point to an iffy ground. Can't remember where the ground point is offhand. I want to say under the dash to the left of the steering column on the metal brace by the junction. block. Chime box, and a few other things grounded there as well (hence why I asked about the chimes. I had moved a few things around under there and noticed the chime and blower weren't working on my car one day and sure enough, I forgot to tighten up the bolt. whoopsie)