Hey all, I came upon something on accident, and I've decided to try it out for myself, so I will let you know how it does actually work out, but I wanted to post up my findings to possibly benefit others.


So I drive an 02 LX and since the day I got it (used obviously) the heater control has only worked on 3 and 4. I attempted to repair the resistor myself twice, and both times it failed again. first time was about 3 weeks. second repair was a little more crafty and lasted a couple months. Astonished at the cost of a new part (even aftermarket ones from your local neighborhood parts store) I opted to live without it.


After some digging around and looking in local junk yards only to get my hopes up for what turned out to be a resistor out of a car with climate control (WAYYY different.. and much larger) I started looking online and discovered something on accident. The 1999-2004 Odyssey EX with rear heater has a blower resistor that appeared identical to the one in my car... but I couldn't believe the lower price. yes the part number is different, but not by that much, so I took it upon myself to find out what the difference actually was... Here are my findings.





as you can see, they look very much the same physically (mine is partially torn apart here)




The first difference I noticed was that mine(the correct part for 98-02) has a foam-rubber seal on it, and the Odyssey one does not... Nothing some weatherstripping can't solve.




Connectors are identical physically so I only took a pic of one.



So what is the difference other than a seal? Well, I tore mine apart again and made the fried connection work long enough to get some readings... Here's the results.





So as you can see, The pin configuration is the same but the resistance between C and D on the original Accord part is slightly higher. Which makes the resistance between A and D higher as well. other than that, it's pretty much identical.

So in my opinion, the Odyssey one should work fine, if anything, the number 1 setting(highest resistance) will flow a little more air than normal, which doesn't sound so bad to me, because when mine was working, it barely moved any air on setting 1.


Biggest immediate difference between the two, the Price. less than half the cost for the Odyssey part.

Also, on a side note, the Odyssey EX Rear resistor part number, is also the same part number as the blower resistor in a 94-97 Accord.


I plan to put some THIN weatherstripping around the Odyssey EX Rear/94-97 Accord Resistor and install it in my car. Especially considering I got mine online for less than the 39.90 MSRP. Worst case scenario, it stops working again for whatever reason. I don't foresee heat being any sort of issue as it's designed to be cooled by the blower since it's mounted in the direct stream of air. If anything there should be LESS heat overall due to the lower overall resistance when it's on setting 1.



Well, Hopefully this will help someone else save some cash and fix their bad resistor as well. I'll write back in a few months with an update of how it's holding up.


Regards,

~Moddage