Vehicle Heater Problems

[chrisisoutrunning]

I'm hoping to get a little bit of advice on how to deal with a slight predicament that I'm in right now. I went out to my truck (1998 Chevy S-10) after work last night only to find my heater not blowing out any air. So I was forced to drive home looking through an approximately 9" wide hole in my windshield that I managed to scraped clean. I don't hear a fan running at all, no matter where I have the fan speed dial set at between 1 and 4. I checked the fuses last night and all of them appeared to be fine. I went to the dealership this morning hoping they could look at it today, but they said they wouldn't be able to until Friday, so I left, took it back to my apartment and got a ride to work with my fiancee.

 

The advice I need isn't so much on what the problem may be, but anything along those lines would be appreciated, because my dad use to be a mechanic and can probably fix whatever needs to be done. But I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to drive from Waukesha to west central Wisconsin tomorrow afternoon without completely freezing the inside of the windshield over with condensation from my breath. Am I going to have to drive almost three hours with one of my windows part way down? Any other home remedies that may help me out here?

 

The alternative to driving my own vehicle home is riding with my fiancee, coming back to Waukesha on Christmas Day so she can go to work on the 26th (no choice), and only seeing my family for about a 24 hour time period.

[DatHoser]

I'm sure the brain trust here will have better ideas, but my first thought was a portable heater that you can plug in to the cigarette lighter - maybe somehow aimed at the windshield. Might be too expensive of a short-term solution.

[bball123h]

Sounds like a blower motor. A quick google search should show you where it is located, and the part is probably around $50 at your favorite car part store. They're not too difficult if you are somewhat mechanically inclined.

 

Edit: Before you go through that process, check your fuses. If that blew, that would be a really simple fix.

[chrisisoutrunning]

Checked the fuses last night, at least anything that had the word Heating or HVAC in the owners manual. Still didn't work when exchanged with spares. All also appeared fine to the eye.

 

Mechanically inclined, not so much, that's why I'm hoping to get it home. I could change it if I really needed to, but it wouldn't be the prettiest sight in the world.

[mothershipconnection]

That's a 95% chance of being a blower motor, IMO. That, or a problem with the switch or resistor, but motors are the most likely of those things to fail because it's cheap moving parts.

 

I used one of those plug-in heaters when my blower went out and I didn't wanna fix it in 0 degree winter, but it was like 20bucks. If you're gonna fix it, may as well replace the blower.

 

Actually, if you just have the heater on with no blower, it'll warm up a tad after a long time, so you'll hopefully be good on that long trip.