2001 Chrysler Sebring Blower Resistor

The vent and the A/C only seem to work when the fan is on the high setting. A little Googling points to the blower resistor as being the likely culprit. I pull out the glove box to see if I can locate this animal. I find one electrical connector plugged into some dohickey mounted in the duct work, but it only has two wires. I sign up for a weeks worth of Mitchell on-line repair manuals ($12) and it tells me to remove the "hush panel". It doesn't tell me where the hush panel is, or how to remove it, just get 'er done. I do a little poking around and there is a soft panel under the dashboard between the dashboard and the firewall above the footwell. I suspect we are dealing with the passenger side, that's usually where you find the heater. I feel around and there is a nut that I unscrew with my fingers. The panel is now loose, but it doesn't want to come out. I wrestle with it a bit and with a little bending I manage to extract it. It doesn't seem any the worse for wear.

Oh, look! Wires! And there is a big fat connector with five wires plugged into duct work. All we have to do is get this sucker out. Tugging doesn't work. A little flashlight and mirror work and I discover there is a red locking tab on the back side of the connector. I tug on it, it doesn't want to move. Look for advice on how to undo this expletive, Google returns nothing, E Auto Repair returns nothing. More flashlight and mirror work. Oh, look! A screw head! Try the quarter inch nut driver, too small. My 5/16 nutdriver is missing, so I pull out the quarter inch square drive set. Put a 5/16" socket on the mini breaker bar and use it like a nutdriver. Surprisingly the screws come out. They weren't that tight. And they were two of them in diagonally opposite positions.

The resistor comes out, a flat, black panel about two inches square, still connected to the wiring harness. Now I can get a grip on the locking tab and it slides up about 1/8" and clicks. Tug on the connector. Nothing. Resort to trying to force the connector apart using pliers. No luck. Tug on the red locking clip, it comes completely out. Oh look, there is one of those devil hook & slot latches. I slide my pocket knife between the hook and the slot to separate them. I still have to use the pliers to separate the connector, but at least now it comes apart. I swear the guys who design these things go to a school run by the devil.

Update: see Part 2 & Part 3.

Update January 2017 replaced missing pictures.