All kinds of confusion with fan/blower/a/c on 77 Regal

Hopefully, I can make sense about what is going on.(didn't sleep much last night) I lost my high speed on the blower (I have the "conventional" A/C heat controls, not climate Control system) about 2 weeks ago. No fan at all in Max A/C, and of course no high speed in the normal position. Ok... Only time I can recall an issue like this , was on a 1973 Caprice we had in the 80s, and there was a Fuse under the hood, near the windshield washer that we had to replace a time or two. Friend who had a 77 Cutlass said to look for a relay on the passenger side. a search I did here a few days ago, found a post that had a link to a blower motor relay on rockauto, and what it looked like. Cool, I'll grab one...well, Saturday, A/C was working fine when I got to a car cruise, but after going to Kroger (and not shutting the A/C off before starting car, as usually do ) I suddenly had NO fan at all, not even in vent position. Compressor wasn't engaged either.
So, I start car Sunday, and....A/C and fan now work! When I stopped at another supermarket (I like to eat), I turned A/C off, and it worked just fine when I started the car this time too. So, as an experiment, I shut car off with A/C still in Normal, and when I started the car, I had no fan/ Compressor "action" Hmmm....shut off, started again, same thing. Waited a few minutes, started car, put a/c on, and there it was working again! So, drove home, but thought I smelled....something. Not sure what. Not Sure if it was something outside (Normal doesn't give you recycled air of course) put it back on down the road, and just as I was getting home, smelled same smell. Shut a/c off again. With car running, opened the hood, no smell there. Turned A/C back on in driveway, same vague, not quite electrical stench. But it has to be, right? But, things are still working.
I have a bad shoulder right now, so hard to get down on the floor (and for a big midsize, not much room in front of the seat) Got down there, and somehow, was able to take a decent photo of the fusebox.

Ok, never ever seen a fuse with that red on the one end of the Gauses fuse, should I worry? and 2, the heater/A/C one when you enlarge the pic, almost looks like a break in the center, but as I have said many times above, working, at least some of the time.
Felt around fusebox, and the blower motor, blower motor was hot, but not super hot. Haven't heard squealing like others going bad, but no doubt original. Could I be smelling something from it? I don't want to burn up a wiring harness, just not sure where to start, other than replacing that relay.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

So, my only experience with something similar is with a 2005 Dodge Ram...The AC blower would work sometimes and not work other times. Intermittent fan issues. Sometimes work when starting truck, sometimes not. It was very random. I replaced the blower resistor, checked the relay, tried a different relay. Checked continuity (and ohm meter) for the actual fan switch and fuse. Essentially, it was the blower motor that was bad. A new motor solved the problem. As motors start to go bad, they can have a wonky internal impedance that creates too much of a load and doesn't turn on. Its hard to detect with a meter because it's almost zero ohms and as you spin the motor, you see the meter go up in ohms a bit and back to zero. The smell could be the beginnings of the insulation of the windings starting to burn off and short together.

Now for the fuse, Typically, black is the color for it being burnt for too much current flowing before being blown. Red could just be an accidentally paint overspray or perhaps a way the manufacture or someone before you marks 10A fuses. Don't know.

 

thanks guys. No, I stupidly ordered the relay from Amazon, wanting to get it sooner, and....it's bracket going the wrong way :/ Now that I have it off, I can see the part number, and yet, that top one on rockauto, is the one I need. I temporarily installed it, and no difference. (and man did I have trouble getting the plug off of it, in fact a neighbor with more arm strength than me finally got them apart)
I replaced the fuse (it looked to have a split, but it was just the narrow angle I was seeing of it) no more on and off of the fan working, just off...

I ordered a blower motor, too but I am wondering how am I going to remove it, with the cage, with that damn A/C line in the way!

Also, can you see those things under the blower motor? (1 looks like a Condenser of some sort?) what is that (and the thing next to it) exactly? Can't seem to find the name of it, but found the thing above on the A/C line,(Switch control compressor shut off) I guess they too can go bad, but wouldn't cause the fan to stop working too, right?
I have a meter, but honestly, I have been pretty lucky with my buicks in the past, and really never had to check a whole lot of devices (I haven't even replaced anything in the 5 years of owning this car except a battery)

Oh yeah, I forgot, am I going to have to remove that A/C line (and lose the freon) that's right in front of the blower , to get the blower, AND the cage out? Was always a piece of cake to get the blowers out of the full sized Buicks

 

Well, I had forgotten I had heard the blower chirp, when I was going uphill, I just assume it would be a good idea to replace it....

 

Not sure about the 1977 model in particular, but in many cars there is also a blower motor resistor that changes the speeds of the fan. This is usually tucked into the fan box on the engine side of the firewall. If this item is burning out, the smell of it will feed directly into the ventilation system.

Good news, it's easy to pull out and test with your meter, and your nose.

 

Larry, I do have that very book, thanks! I really don't like the layout compared to the books we had on our 68 and 69 Buicks. I could have missed something, but so far I don't see.....hmmm, I was wrong, they do have it! Of course, I have been looking though the A/C system (what the heck is Custom-Aire Conditioning anyways?) the main A/C chapter is 125 pages. Kept looking at the diagrams....seems there are a few troubleshooting sections, spread within the Heater A/C sections. (but not in the index in back) Here is the one for heater control

Max, that really sounds like what I should tackle before the blower even, thanks!
Oh, IF I do put this new blower in (I seem to recall that we drilled a small hole in the "nipple" of the blower motor to put oil in, many years ago) Does this seem odd? This being that big ol' hole in the case. I couldn't feel one on the old blower. Just seems like a great place for dirt and water to get in.

 

Ok, I got the resistor out (I truly couldn't see where it was , for some reason(lighting, and where I was standing I guess) and of course it rang distant bells as something I have replaced, in the very same location . Took it out (oops, didn't upload those photos) sadly, no smell, and it didn't look that bad.(attached photos at the bottom of this post) I can still replace it of course (my cheap little multimeter doesn't seem to work anymore) I hear it's pretty smart to just keep replacing parts without knowing which one is bad :/ Ok What exactly is that Diagonal (sp_) relay looking thing with the thick wire coming out of it?(bottom large image with the plug off of it)

No mention in the diagram of what it is. I assume it then becomes part of the Compressor harness? So probably not the issue for the fan issue. Man, it's hot and humid here in the ATL, gotta fix this soon

 

From the picture, the resistor looks ok. As long as the wires/windings of the resistor aren’t broken or cracked. Measure with Ohm meter for sure. My bet is still the motor since your problem is intermittent. If the resistor was bad, you would have low and not high or vise Versa. If the relay was bad, it wouldn’t work at all. Can’t rule out a loose connection somewhere either but I think you said going over bumps didn’t make a difference while driving.

 

Clean the ground for the blower motor. Reconnect it, turn the key to on and fan on and wiggle the connections. I’ve had several that looked ok but would flake out intermittently due to iffy contact.
Patrick

 

Also, get a meter! Troubleshooting electronics blind and firing the parts cannon repeatedly isn't the best approach. But you know that.