legacy haynes book for 2002 impreza?

[runcyclexcski]

My Impreza is at ~105,000 miles, and it has aquired several minor but
very annoying defects - like, the AC motor is not blowing on the 2nd
setting, the driver door lock is loose, and the sliding cofee cup
holder is stuck inside due to a cofee spill (I intend to drive the car
into the ground, so I was not particlarly nice to it, apart from
engine maintenance). With my old Nissan I could do minor repairs, like
taking off a door panel/the face panel, using a Haynes book with no
trouble. But there seems to be a conspiracy against Imprezas at
Haynes. Would a Legacy book do? Any suggestions?

 

[strchild]

The blower motor troubles sound as though the blower motor resistor module
has lost one of it's resistors inside. Worth pulling and checking, as it
should be a relatively easy fix, unless of course in the '02 Subaru has gone
and made it harder to get at. It's normally above the passenger side foot
area, not far from the bottom of the blower motor housing, connected via a
rubber loom shrouded set of wires.

~Brian

 

[runcyclexcski]

should I look for a loose connection around a resistor? I am not tmuch
of an electrician. A book would be really helpful...

 

[strchild]

Actually, from my experience, the resistor does not resember a "resistor" as
you might picture in electronics. Instead, it's a box, with three resistors
inside, one for each fan setting, with the fourth fan setting being full
blast and having no resistor to "slow" it down. If you can find the
underside of the fan, the cylindrical motor cover should have what looks
like a rubber hose protruding from it, leading to a small, square plastic
device that is installed in the underside of the ductwork for the air
system. That should be your resistor module. To get at all of this, you
may have to remove a piece of moulding or trim that usually covers the
underside of the dash and protects the wiring and passengers' feet from
getting at one another. The resistor plugs into a harness so it's easily
replaceable, but it's probably not cheap. Might check with a wrecking yard
before you go to a dealer, unless $50 isn't too big of a deal. Before you
replace it, of course, if you've a multimeter or something handy, check
resistances on the three different resistors to ensure that is the problem.
Normally, one or more of them simply wear out and break, creating an open
circuit which causes that particular fan setting to fail.

~Brian