Tamora help: ventilation fan - he no worky

[bertbert]

My ventilation van has stopped. Twiddling the knob to turn it on/off/up/down has no effect, the light stays off and no air comes through. Chilly this morning.

Anyone got any pointers to what it might be?

Thanks
Bert

PS can anyone explain why everything breaks at the same time?
TVR - no fan
Rover 25 wouldnt start (serves me right really)
Cateringvan - oil now outside the engine not inside
Radical - chassis broke
New distribution circuit breaker box thing in the house - set itself on fire (fun - not)
Freezer turned off (related to above)
PC died
Dyson washing machine dead

[David Godfrey]

I had the same issue (fan issue) could be the power cables going to the "box" on the under side of the dash in the pasenger footwell behind the carpet, on mine I cleaned the contacts and added alittle solder to the connections before plugging back in and its been fine since. Let me know if you can't find it and when I get home I will take a photo which should better help locate it.

The other issues are how to they say "sods law"!

[hollowpockets]

i had to have this fixed, its the heater control unit under the passenger side of the dash, its hiding up there somewhere, pull it down and unplug the wire from the unit (has two black capacitors on it) the plug has 6 pins, on my one the plug overheated and melted which blew the capacitors, i had to scrape the melted plastic off the metal pins and sent the unit away to automedon who for a small fee, replaced the capacitors.

the test to see if the problem is the capaitors is - once you have the unit out, press lightly on the top of the two black capacitors, the tops should be solid, if the pop in, they knackered.

[NickT]

Mine melted as well. TVR Power have managed to find a new connector but currently there are no pins to slot into the connector so I am runniing without any internal fans When I disconnected the heater amplifier the fans still worked when I wiggled the wires to make a decent connection. I chopped the wires though as it looked like there was going to be a short.

Here is the heater amplifier:



And the connector:

[lukesr]

Mine stops working sometimes and i have found a great solution. I give the dash a firm smack and then it starts going again.

[David Godfrey]

NickT said:

And the connector:

wow - mine was just on the conectors on the board - that wired conector looks properly cooked!

[NickT]

Yep... it added a nice smell to the car as well! I used to have to get the passenger to kick the footwell when the fans stopped working due to a loose connection, I guess this made it even looser!

[targarama]

So what would prevent the cooking in the first place? Is this a bad connection causing arcing?

[bertbert]

one of the things that can do this is getting wet through condensation or just water ingres.

Thanks for the replies peeps, I'll be having a look. Is there a specific fuse as well that might have gone?

bert

[David Godfrey]

targarama said:

So what would prevent the cooking in the first place? Is this a bad connection causing arcing?

it's aparently a common fault (bad wires ends generally) when I called my local indy and asked what could cause this issue.

[justyr]

I posted on this topic a while back if you wanna go search the archive.
The problem I believe is due to the max current spec of the ground wire that goes to the controller box.
Basically it's too thin/too crap a wire. Typical TVR I'm afraid. What's more, there are too few contacts handling the current on the box itself. Probably was OK on the prototype and then they changed wire quality to save money or something.

Anyway, the fix is to change wire and add another pin pair going into the box.
The workaround is probably to use only lower fan speeds if you are running it for an extended period.

J

[targarama]

justyr said:

I posted on this topic a while back if you wanna go search the archive.
The problem I believe is due to the max current spec of the ground wire that goes to the controller box.
Basically it's too thin/too crap a wire. Typical TVR I'm afraid. What's more, there are too few contacts handling the current on the box itself. Probably was OK on the prototype and then they changed wire quality to save money or something.

Anyway, the fix is to change wire and add another pin pair going into the box.
The workaround is probably to use only lower fan speeds if you are running it for an extended period.

J

Interesting. I usually only run my fans at 1/3 to 1/2 speed. Doesn't seem to make much difference having it on faster, except for extra cooling with the aircon on at the start of a hot journey.

[NickT]

The initial problems may have been through damp from when the car was sat for nearly a year outside the garage while the engine was being sorted. The connection on a wire must have come or had a bad connection and a quick initial fix was a cable tie to hold the wires in a certain possition, it soon got worse though until it came to me having to chop the cables off all together. I don't think I can go to the extent of re-wiring the car completely! I just hope to be able to have fans back soon!

[gary_de_tam]

Fello owners,

I have always been interested to know if it is ever
possible to get any cool air from this ventilation
system due to it's design and air box location.

Once the car is hot - so are u !!!! ambiant temperature
regardless and the onboard temp. sensor must be on the
manifold I recon...(LOL)

thx, gt.

[targarama]

gary_de_tam said:

Fello owners,

I have always been interested to know if it is ever
possible to get any cool air from this ventilation
system due to it's design and air box location.

Once the car is hot - so are u !!!! ambiant temperature
regardless and the onboard temp. sensor must be on the
manifold I recon...(LOL)

thx, gt.

When it is hot, shut the warm air vents off completely and turn on the aircon. This exits through the three other vents. i.e separate vents to the warm/hot air.

[gary_de_tam]

NO aircon i am afraid, for my sins....
heard it aint that great anyway.

but have been told, cold air will only exit
via the driver level vents ? and these blow
warm air when car has been driven for a bit.
I have footwell and screen level vents closed
as these produce hot air by nature..

[targarama]

gary_de_tam said:

NO aircon i am afraid, for my sins....
heard it aint that great anyway.

but have been told, cold air will only exit
via the driver level vents ? and these blow
warm air when car has been driven for a bit.
I have footwell and screen level vents closed
as these produce hot air by nature..

Oh the words of a non-aircon model owner (sorry! ).

Anyway, the aircon stays cold and exits the vent on the LH side of the dash and the one by the left of the steering wheel it is a separate 'enclosed' system. It also exits into the passenger footwell under the glovebox. I wish there was a further vent into the drivers' footwell, this would help ensure extra chilliness down there. It works OK, but isn't as good as a 'real' modern car. I have a new Fiat Panda 100HP and the aircon on that could freeze a Polar Bear in 10 seconds.

[gary_de_tam]

not an issue normally really, only when sitting in
traffic when it is bl**dy hot.....

i'd luv a retro to develop a propa system for it !
then I would consider paying the 3k I was quoted
for the factory system !!

[bertbert]

found the unit. There is no sign of anyoverheating or corrosion on the conections, but the ends of the capacitors are dished out and can easily be pushed in. Looks like that's it. Off to RG it goes to be sorted.
Bert