This paper proposes an early diagnosis technique for the stator-turn fault (STF) in an interior permanent magnet (IPM)-type brushless DC (BLDC) motor using the impedance parameter. We have analyzed the varying characteristics owing to the STF through various experiments and the finite element method (FEM). As a result, we have presented a simple method for fault detection. This technique can be applied without requiring a fast Fourier transform (FFT) and the calculation of the negative-sequence impedance. The fault detection system works on the basis of the comparison the measured impedance with the database impedance. The variations in the characteristics owing to the STF as well as the proposed technique have been verified through the simulation and experiment.