2011 Chevrolet Malibu Blower Motor Issue

malibutrouble

My 2011 chevrolet Malibu is sitting at about 89k miles. A few days ago, we got some snow and I noticed my heat wouldnt come on at all during that day. The next day, the heat worked all day. Monday morning, nothing. I decided it was the blower motor. Afterall, who wants to pay a $100 diagnostics fee? After plugging the blower motor with a multimeter, all came back good. I connected the connecter back to the blower motor and pushed it in snug and on came the fan and has worked since! Now, my heat works great but...I cant switch from heat to A/C, I cant turn the direction of the air (its stuck on face and feet, or face at least), and i cant get any of my climate control buttons to work. Blown blower control switch...Right? I planned on stopping by an auto parts store on my way home from work tomorrow to pick up the needed part. All I need is help on what part Im looking for exactly and where that said part is located in the vehicle. Blower control switch or something else? Where is the blower control switch?

Can anyone get me a diagram of the interior fuse box as well? The back of the panel shows absolutley nothing. It doesnt tell me where or what any of the fuses are.

Also, when I turn the car off, I get air and no heat! Convienent for Chevrolet owners in the winter, huh? *face palm*

malibutrouble

Looking at it, I found that my blower motor may be bad. When it would go out, I would just wiggle the connections wires a little and it would come back on. Last night it stopped and I wiggled the wires and absolutley nothing happened. I knocked on the motor itself a little and it came back on but, sounded like it had something caught in it. Almost like a playing card in a bicycle spoke.

Before I looked into the prices of a new blower motor, I was figuring about $40-$50. Boy was I WRONG! $100 for these simple looking things!

Is it safe to run the blower motor at limited speeds for a limited time? I just need a week and I can get the part. I know these things take a lot of electricity and Id rather not catch the car on fire and add to my current problem. Haha. Im not an electrician, nor a firefighter.

malibutrouble

I found the blower motor at a local auto parts store! Ive replaced the motor and its back to working like a dream.

This motor come as an all-in-one deal and was already pre-assembled. All I had to do was cut the old motor out and bolt the new one in. It didnt come with a gasket though. The instructions just said to torque it down to 15 in lbs. I screwed it in pretty tight! No gasket shouldnt be a problem?