944 Heater Blower

[bob944]

After a long run, my blower, on cold temp, seemed to just stop. I could only get a fan on highest 4 setting. Next day I checked fuses, which were ok. The blower then seemed to be working ok. Any ideas why this happened? Does fan cut out if worked too hard?

[Thom]

bob944 said:

I could only get a fan on highest 4 setting.

That's a classic. Dust makes its way to the solenoid and eventually contacts don't work regularly.

1) Raise the hood
2) Try to get access to below the plastic cover protecting the ventilation system. No need to remove it completely, the rubber in front should be fine.
3) When lifting the plastic cover you should be able to see on top of the ventilation box a rectangular plate fixed with a pair of screws (located somewhere near the zone circled in red on the pic below)



4) Unscrew said rectangular plate. Be careful not to break the plastic cover (it gets stiff with age and can break like thin glass)
5) Gently pull it off
6) Clean the solenoid and all the contacts with dry cloth, there is usually a lot of dust in there.
7) See if it works. Cleaning the solenoid and the contacts proved enough on my S2.

>> Edited by Thom on Tuesday 1st June 21:24

[andys2]

Hey Thom, where did you get that strut brace??

[Thom]

CarGraphic group buy. We bought three, it cost us €200 each.

[AJLintern]

Hey Thom, why's that S2 got the battery in the front - are LHD cars different?

[Thom]

Well, I don't think it could be possible to find anything more normal than a LHD 944 ()
On RHD cars they put it in the boot to make room for the steering shaft I guess ?

[AJLintern]

I thought it was to improve weight distribution So why didn't they just swap the position with the fuse box?
Do you find the starter turns slowly? I was told by a chap at work that if the battery is mounted in the back with a long cable to the starter, it needs a higher rating...

[Thom]

AJLintern said:

Do you find the starter turns slowly? I was told by a chap at work that if the battery is mounted in the back with a long cable to the starter, it needs a higher rating...

Depends on what you call "slowly".
On all S2s I know the starter makes the crankshaft turn about 5 times before the engine starts up (less when the engine is hot). As far as I know it is normal.

[raftom]

Thom said:

On all S2s I know the starter makes the crankshaft turn about 5 times before the engine starts up (less when the engine is hot). As far as I know it is normal.

Really? So that's why they sound like a tractor at start. I presume its the same for turbos, no?

I've already heard that McLaren F1's would do several turns before firing just to get oil circulating all
over the place, but I was thinking it was something exotic and not wide spread.

Now I can brag about it and stop fiding excuses to my mates about it being a poor starter.

>> Edited by raftom on Wednesday 2nd June 12:32

[Thom]

Turbos start more quickly.
I guess it's down to the S2 engine being so big for a 4 cylinder. There is another camshaft to make turn too, which means more effort is required to start the thing. On the whole and in my experience the 3.0 is quite more rough and makes more vibrations than the turbo engine, at least when idling.

edited to make sense

>> Edited by Thom on Wednesday 2nd June 18:53