Hey everyone, I'm a new member here but not a new member to the modification scene. I recently purchase an 06 Xterra and had a couple issues I am trying to resolve (beyond bad fuel mileage ) In any case one of the issues was the Nissan Blower Motor and Resistor.

As with everyone else I had a blown resistor since I only had setting 1 and 4 working. After inspection it seemed there was with what looks to have been a water intrusion issue after the resin on the resistor gave out (which I believe to be an overcurrent issue from the blower motor).

In any case I was about to replace the blower motor as well because it too was acting up and not turning on intermittently but for some nagging reason my head kept telling me not to. So I whipped out the tools and took apart the blower motor and case. After inspection I realised that just above the harness connector (when the motor is removed from the plastic housing) there are 2 pieces of wire protruding from the connector and touching the metal case. At first I was stunned because it looked to be a short across the positive and negative terminals but then I realised that they are using the case as an electrical connector for the internal starting capacitors. These capacitors also drain high frequency bursts of electricity from the arching process. They also help reduce electricity that is produced back into the system once the armature in the motor starts freewheeling.

In any case, once the starting capacitors have no connections due to the rust the motor requires a high starting current potentially killing the resistor over time.

Now for the fix.

Once you remove the motor from the plastic housing, which requires you to remove the torx screw on the side and pull upwards on the fan blade assembly. It's friction fit at that point and is a chore to pull out but comes slowly. Just pull up on one side of the fan blades at a time alternating until it comes up. Once the motor is out you will notice that above the plastic connector there are 2 wires sticking out of the case. One wire is connected directly to the capacitor touching the case and the other wire is a wire touching the negative post and motor brush. Those 2 wires should be electrically connected. With the rust that builds up on the case they no longer are connected. A little solder and a piece of wire will get the job done. Hope that helps some of you out from spending $50 to $100

Nice job on the investigation and solution!

Thanks. Glad I can help. I know that all these small problems causing us to spend $50 here and $100 there can add up and is what kills us. Hopefully this resolved the motor / resistor issue for good. Knock on wood I haven't had any recurring issues after the fix.