Heater blower not working

[Tjg12345]

I've a 2014 skoda superb and the heater has stopped working.

Took it to a garage and for £50 he was able to tell me it need a new heater motor and resister. Quoted me £580 for parts and labour.

I've had a look on ebay and I see these parts for between £50 and £100. Am I missing something?

Im not really that useful with these things but tempted to give it a go myself with YouTube videos as guidance.

Any advice from people who have done similar would be greatly appreciated!

[randomeddy]

Just try a new resistor first. Cheap and usually an easy job to replace.

[Tjg12345]

Thanks I will do.

[Drawweight]

I can understand heater motor or resistor but not both.

This used to happen regularly on the vans I used to drive. You could get full blast but not the intermediate settings. It wasn’t the resistor itself but the section of wiring that went into the resistor. So much so you could buy a replacement wiring section on eBay.

An owners club/website would be your best bet for info.

[adf83]

I had a similar thing on my car a few years ago. Climate control display was working and you could vary the fan speed but there was no fan. In my case it was a wire arcing which burnt out the resistor. (They draw a lot of current). Replaced with new one and made good the connection and still working 4 years later.
Do you get a sort of burning/chemical like smell in the car by any chance?

[paintman]

Have a look at youtube & see if you can find one of someone doing the same job as that will give you an idea of how much you might need to remove to get at it.

Does the £580 you were quoted include VAT as the VAT element takes it from £480(ish) which presumably is parts & labour.

Sometimes the blower motor & the resistor are together & sometimes they aren't. Our Pug 307 has a common 307 fault & melts the resistor socket meaning the fan either doesn't work at all or only on a couple of speeds. The motor is accessed via the passenger footwell but the resistor is accessed via the driver's footwell.
Peugeot have a modified loom to supposedly cure the problem - it doesn't - and you need to access both sides to feed the wiring to plug into the motor & it's a bit of a PITA.
A modified plug & short wiring is available (ebay) which does cure the problem & is fitted by cutting off the old socket in the driver's footwell & attaching the new one.

Edited by paintman on Wednesday 22 December 10:02

[StoatInACoat]

Had this on several cars and have replaced the motor (£90) and the resistor (£20) in the past which has fixed it. Is the motor in a particularly difficult place? In my Megane it's buried in the middle of the dash requiring removal of the glovebox and various other bits of trim and I would have charged me quite a lot to change it if I hadn't done it myself.

The Focus work shed had a blown resistor which took about 2 minutes to change and was causing the full blast or nothing effect.

[Byker28i]

Same - I had a blown resistor on our old Nissan Primera. Cheap and easy to replace

[Pothole]

Drawweight said:

I can understand heater motor or resistor but not both.

I've had it happen. Had two old Civics one after the other. The first was just the resistor, the second was both.

[rllmuk]

In VAG stuff the heater matrix can be a cause, just worth checking that's fine too.

[Penelope Stopit]

Has anyone mentioned that a tight and or burnt out motor will often damage the resistor?

[Panamax]

Drawweight said:

I can understand heater motor or resistor but not both.

It's quite normal for a failing blower to cause resistor packs to fail.

Usually you get left with "highest speed fan only" in the initial stages. If you just replace the resistors they'll simply burn out again if there's a problem with the actual blower.

But yes, first fix is to put in a new resistor pack and see if everything works properly. if it does, just carry on unless and until it blows again - signalling the need for a new blower.

Blowers often fail due to water ingress from the air intake at the bottom of the windscreen. Screen water drains get blocked and the water ends up in the blower. Be particularly suspicious if you have damp carpets in the front.

[Tjg12345]

Thanks. I think this could have caused the problem. I will need to see how to clear the drains.