Fan heater stopped working
Fan heater stopped working
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Discussion

james12345

Original Poster:

619 posts

266 months

Monday 6th February 2012
quotequote all
Hoping for a bit of inspiration from you all. First off, the search function appears to be down, which is why I'm now posting. I've been using the Chimaera for the commute the last few days as I didn't fancy getting the motorbike out in all this inclement weather - too much risk of ice!

Anyway, was lovely and warm and toasty for the first few days, then halfway home on Friday evening, I noticed that the fan for the heater in the car had stopped blowing. Thought I'd have a look at it over the weekend, but promptly forgot.

So I went out to the work car park at lunchtime, fully expecting it to be in need of a new fuse - hunted through the owners handbook, tracked down the 15A heater fuse, and all looked intact. I even tried swapping with another 15A fuse, and it still doesn't work.

Does anyone know of any problems with the fan? Is there another fuse hidden inline somewhere, or do the switches have a tendency to go? It's a 96 4.0, semi face lift, if that helps. I'm wondering if I'll need the dash top off and the multimeter, but to be honest, my garage has no light (or heat!) so can't see this being done until the weekend - it was a chilly drive in this morning.

Just to add - the heat is still coming from the heater matrix, just not being blown - makes for fun when the front window steams a little.

Mark.

11,104 posts

306 months

Monday 6th February 2012
quotequote all
Is it all positions? Mine has packed up on position 2, 1 and 3 work fine. Guessing you've tried it but worth the ask.

james12345

Original Poster:

619 posts

266 months

Monday 6th February 2012
quotequote all
It doesn't have positions - it's a potentiometer type, I believe - the dial for the fan pushes in to turn on / off, and rotates to set the speed of the fan, totally freely and doesn't have set positions.

Mark.

11,104 posts

306 months

Monday 6th February 2012
quotequote all
Ah,OK, I wasn't sure if the semi-facelift had the newer dash or not.

Mine's a '96 pre-facelift so old fashioned smile

LordGrover

34,186 posts

242 months

Monday 6th February 2012
quotequote all
Scarf, bobble hat and gloves. Man up.

Mark.

11,104 posts

306 months

Monday 6th February 2012
quotequote all
LordGrover said:
...bobble hat...
Only a griff driver would suggest that.

wink

Badmutha

658 posts

223 months

Monday 6th February 2012
quotequote all
It could be one of the spade connectors to the switch has come off; this happened to me.

james12345

Original Poster:

619 posts

266 months

Monday 6th February 2012
quotequote all
Oh well - dash top off it is then. Was thinking I'd have to, as apart from the fuse, there's not a lot else it can be!

As for a bobble hat.....

Cider Andy

1,889 posts

255 months

Tuesday 7th February 2012
quotequote all
The heater fan has a speed control ECU under the dash top. The connector to this can overheat and burn out. It's easy enough to bypass the connector if you're handy with a soldering iron.

I think the reason the connector starts to burn is because the fan motor is starting to seize. Replacing the fan motor is a very awkward job but there are good write-ups on here.

james12345

Original Poster:

619 posts

266 months

Tuesday 7th February 2012
quotequote all
Cheers for that - somewhere to look when I have the dash top off at the weekend!