Heater fan speed

[niva441]

Hi all

I've been using the Wedge for my commute cross country for the last couple of weeks. It's been great to finally get some proper use out of it.

Fortunately it's only highlighted a couple of relatively minor problems. The heated rear window doesn't work and the heater fan slow speed is missing. Amazingly it doesn't have a problem demisting the screen, the only problem is that after a while the lack of fan boost means my right leg is getting cold.

I took the centre console off at the weekend and discovered that the heated window didn't work because the wire to the relay was disconnected. All I need to do now is work back to the relay, decipher the all black wiring and work out which one of the spare terminals behind the console it should have been connected to.

The heater fan switch is a bit different, unusually the switch itself is fine, I've checked the resistance on both sets of contacts and all is as should be. So I'm now trying to trace a set of black wires up behind the dashboard. I've found 1 terminal on the fan motor body, where do the other wires go to and how far behind the dash do I have to dig?

I'm don't know how is the speed controlled, I'm guessing the 2nd power feed goes from the switch to some point on the fan, or do the feeds from the switch eventually join?

It's an early wedge with all black wiring and the early style heating and ventilation system.

Thanks for your time.

[badredwedge]

Hi Todd, Nice FHC. cant help much but you may want to consider that the heated rear screen has been disabled for a reason maybe a short, battery drain etc

Good luck with your black spaghetti

[wedg1e]

On the early cars the fan motor was only single-speed. To give a slower speed they put a long length of wire in series (it just links two of the switch terminals). So unfortunately the one speed you get probably is the fastest. They were notoriously dire.

[niva441]

Have spent some of the time watching the ammeter (when in queues). The heated window battery drain may well be the reason it was been disconnected, but it would have been nice to have the choice. Afterall I'm my own fool.

Wedg1e you may well be right, the 1st switch position certainly used to have some effect, so perhaps I'm now only getting half speed, not normal and fast.

[NHyde]

Ah how I miss those wonderful BL Princess switches !

Same as on the Scimitar , which built up loads of experience for the later Wedges .

Remove switch from dash , unclip top lever , and you will find two copper rockers mounted on plastic spring loaded pivots.

Clean both sides of copper"bars" and their contact points , make sure the pivots have not melted and I think you may find you have a two speed motor again.

[niva441]

I've checked the terminals with my multimeter and surprisingly they seem fine, although I gave them a quick clean while I had it out.

[NHyde]

Do the contacts make at both positions though , you will get a reading on the meter if just one contact is making . At position one , only one bar is making , at the second position both contacts com in to play .

[niva441]

Yes at stage 1, one set works. Stage 2, both work.

[jon@127]

This is all very interesting.
I have exactly the same problem, fan only works on the high speed setting. I haven't got round to investigating this yet, still finishing the PAS conversion, but I will be taking a look soon.
Todd, please update us when you get it fixed so hopefully I can follow the same route.
Jon

[350zwelgje]

Good thread. My fan worked on both, then only on fast, and now it is on slow mode.... All happing within 5 minutes while driving at freezing temperatures.
Must fix the clutch mechanism first, before thinking of fixing this one as it is still 'working'.

Rob