1997 jeep grand cherokee blower motor resistor location

Wow, it's been a while since I've updated this thread, but I haven't been doing too much with this one since it's just the DD. With that being said, the To-Do List for this one is (getting) long.

About a month ago the Blower Motor Resistor (BMR) gave out. I finally got around to fixing it today. It took all of 15 minutes. Here's the write-up on that for you guys. It's REALLY easy, and believe it or not, the stealership actually had the best price for the Blower Motor Resistor in my local area (North Jersey) - $58.00, I had auto parts stores quote me north of $70

You'll need:
Screwdriver
Quarter Inch Drive Ratchet
Quarter Inch Extension
5/16" socket

The BMR is located behind and under the glovebox. You need to remove both the glovebox and the kick panel underneath it - and the small light too. They're both held in by screws. You could probably get by with just removing the kick panel, but if you remove both you'll have a bit of extra space. The kick panel is held in place by two screws, get a lamp down there so that you can see them, since everything is black it all blends in.

This is what you'll be working with:

The BMR is the white part that is somewhat diamond shaped, and it has a harness with four wires running to it. It's held in place with 2 5/16" bolts. Remove both of them, and it'll pop right out.

Once it's out, remove the harness, it's held in place with a red bracket. The red bracket doesn't fully come out, just pull it back and then remove the harness from the BMR. Plug the new BMR in, and reverse the previous steps to button everything up.

Here's a picture showing the Old BMR versus the New BMR.

Awesome Write-Up!!!
:thumbsup:

Thanks, I couldn't find anything good on the web before I did this except some crappy pictures of diagrams which weren't helpful, so I figured I'd make something more realistic.

could this cause my blower to only run defrost. no matter what setting i switch too, it only blows defrost. i can change the temp and fan speed...but not the location.

Probably not, your issue is more likely the settings (middle) knob, not the actual blower motor control knob (left knob). I would recommend switching out that panel (the one that has the three knobs on it), and this should take care of it. I had the same issue.

If you don't want to replace the whole panel (not difficult), you could just replace that backside of that middle knob.

sounds like a visit to the "yard" is in my future. thanks.

My heater worked great. Got in it, drove 1 mile with it working. Parked came back out. Fan does not blow at all, on any settings. It is a 94 grand cherokee....is this a BMR issue? If so, is it located in the same area?

could this cause my blower to only run defrost. no matter what setting i switch too, it only blows defrost. i can change the temp and fan speed...but not the location.

That could also be a vacuum leak issue (that little bomb shapped canister on the passenger side behind the front bumper).

My heater worked great. Got in it, drove 1 mile with it working. Parked came back out. Fan does not blow at all, on any settings. It is a 94 grand cherokee....is this a BMR issue? If so, is it located in the same area?

Typically you'll know when the BMR starts to go bad because it will actually burn out, and you'll wonder "what is that smell?" I would go with vacuum leak, but before you drive yourself nuts looking for that, I'd also change the switch panel - it's always the easiest and cheapest 1st step to troubleshooting this.

2000XJ do your heated seats still work? I'm havin a little trouble with mine. Do you know anything about how they are controlled? I have the feeling the switches control some sort of timer or computer circuit, but not sure where its located.

2000XJ do your heated seats still work? I'm havin a little trouble with mine. Do you know anything about how they are controlled? I have the feeling the switches control some sort of timer or computer circuit, but not sure where its located.

Found the control console for the heat, under the passenger seat. So disregard that last post lol.
BTW nice write up!:thumbsup:

Probably not, your issue is more likely the settings (middle) knob, not the actual blower motor control knob (left knob). I would recommend switching out that panel (the one that has the three knobs on it), and this should take care of it. I had the same issue.

If you don't want to replace the whole panel (not difficult), you could just replace that backside of that middle knob.

ok...this has gone on long enough. went the the yard and bought a temperature control module (3 knob) and plugged it in...nothing changed. i still did not have control over where the air came out, could change temp and speed...but that's it. returned for a small 20% restocking fee. so it cost me like $8 to find out what is not causing the problem. please help.

Crawl under the steering column and look up at the side of the heater/AC box and check your vacuum connectors and lines. Make sure they are not broken.

hey new here and i have a question for you guru's. i am having a hell of a time trying to figure out why the blower motor consistently turns off and on a consecutive amount of time only on the 4th speed( its a 00 jeep cherokee sport 4.0L) i have replaced the blower 3x replaced the resistor 3x and have swapped the relay behind the glove box and even jumped a wire to run the same relay location without the relay and i have replaced the head control, has anyone ran into this before? cause like i said it will run perfectly fine on 1.2.3 but as soon as you throw into the 4th speed about after a minute it starts cycling the blower motor on and off and this is while its in the a/c blend cycle mode like making it come out on the fastest setting but will seem to work on the 4th speed on any other setting on the selector. any help would be seriously appreciated. thanks

Dave, just wanted to thank you for your write-up of this procedure. I've been suffering this mild annoyance (having the blower on at full blast or not at all) for years now, and had no idea the solution was so straightforward until I read your post. I picked up the replacement BMR yesterday and just finished the swap out, and it worked like a charm! Thanks so very much!

I seam to be having a issue with my blower motor. not sure if it's the BMR that has failed or the A/C & Heater Controller Unit. think it might be the BMR as setting 1 2 and 4 worked but not 3 however now none of the settings are working. I did notice a stink a few months back with might have been the BMR burning out money is very tight and I have had the heat switch in the off position for a few weeks.

edit
OK I swear my jeep has gremlins in it's electrical system as the blower motor is working again. diffidently have a bad BMR as setting 3 is dead. my airbag light was also staying light. had to slid the passenger seat forward and back and tap on it and low and behold the airbag light went off and the blower came back to life. gerr I hate gremlins.

The BMR is not a bank-breaker, it's a relatively inexpensive piece.

Extremely useful post

Thank you, this post really helped me.