It'll be getting cold here in Minnesota soon, I've started to use the heater in my '90 ES250. I noticed that the fan now seems to only work on the higher two settings. Is there a separate fuse or resistor for the lower speed settings?

 

I’m not going to be a lot of help, but I do a lot of reading and what I have found is there are two electronic components controlling the fan speed, the Blower Resistor and Power Transistor, both located immediatly behind the glove box and my guess is the Power Transistor. Lexus uses a power transistor to drive the blower motor at various speeds except full speed, then there is a relay that bypasses the transistor to supply full voltage for full speed.

MOST of the problems are fixed by replacing the Power Transistor.

There’ll be others posting here because while this isn’t a “common” problem, there are a fair number of these instances online and Clublexus) to read about and what fixed them.

I bet someone here can come up with some more help.

Cheers

 

And BTW, if my readings are correct, they’re both located behind the glove box.

 

There is a resistor under the blower motor RH side under the glove box remove the plastic kick plate to see it. IIRC replacements are expensive you can repair yours by using kanthal wire make a coil solder it in.

 

Is this it?

https://www.partsgeek.com/95cw459-le...-resistor.html

 

Listing says it is.

 

Thanks folks, I'll look into it when I park the car for the winter.

 

“Park the car for the winter”. Being from South Georgia, that’s one I’ve never heard. Your car looks great, btw and maybe that’s probably why.

I found a a great read from Clublexus about your problem, but on a different model. Same year range, though and the information and pictures added should help you. It’s all behind the glove compartment. To make sure you’re pulling the right plug or component, try to cross-reference the p/n vs online info.

Reading tells me the Power Resistor is the most likely faulty component. You can pull it and measure it and it’s supposed to be 3.4 Ohms. It’s a coiled wire resistor that uses wound wire instead of carbon for precision’s sake. They cost $35 and I gave you a link in a previous comment to the Genuine Denso part. If the Power Resistor doesn’t fix it, and it probably will, the Power Transistor is about all that’s left to blame it on. They’re also located on the pictures in the Clublexus thread I mentioned above. They’re like $100 a pop and I do not have the Denso p/n.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...fan-speed.html

Good luck

 

Yes, Minnesota winters are hard on both people and cars. They dump tons of salt on the roads which just destroys cars over time. I also park our Subaru for the winter too.

 

I saw one of those (nice condition) on the road around here this summer - brought back memories (of the period - I didn't have one). Those had some fans!