Heater Blower not working
Discussion
Last time I was out in the car I noticed the unmistakeable smell of something electrical getting hot. I've now realised that the heater blower has stopped working.
All the fuses are OK, but The Bible mentions resistors that control the blower speed, though it doesn't say where they are. I don't want to do a load of work to get access to the blower motor (which I understand is a pig of a job), only to find that the resistors are under the dash top near the control knob.
Can anyone tell me where the resistors are and/or if they've had the same problem, what the cause was?
Thanks in anticipation.
All the fuses are OK, but The Bible mentions resistors that control the blower speed, though it doesn't say where they are. I don't want to do a load of work to get access to the blower motor (which I understand is a pig of a job), only to find that the resistors are under the dash top near the control knob.
Can anyone tell me where the resistors are and/or if they've had the same problem, what the cause was?
Thanks in anticipation.
unfortunately the resister pack is on the motor itself, This is a pita to remove as its riveted and glued into the passenger inner wing. There have been a few threads on the removal and are quite useful. but ensure you have the new parts or be prepared to wait for parts as its not the sort of thing you do just to have a look.
I have removed mine twice now andthis is how i did it.
I removed the passenger seat and removed the battery and moved all the harness out of the way, Disconnect the blower motor plug, i then found all the rivets and drilled them out then got a scraper and ran it round the panel to free it off then you have to be brave when its all loose by pulling it out of the wing with some force, and moving it about as it only just fits and will get caught up on the side of the motor. once it is out you can test the resister pack and the motor itself, It may just be siezed and require freeing off and cleaning and lubricating, but as i say make sure its working properly and will be reliable as you wont want to do it again in a hurry.
Good luck and hope this has helped.
I have removed mine twice now andthis is how i did it.
I removed the passenger seat and removed the battery and moved all the harness out of the way, Disconnect the blower motor plug, i then found all the rivets and drilled them out then got a scraper and ran it round the panel to free it off then you have to be brave when its all loose by pulling it out of the wing with some force, and moving it about as it only just fits and will get caught up on the side of the motor. once it is out you can test the resister pack and the motor itself, It may just be siezed and require freeing off and cleaning and lubricating, but as i say make sure its working properly and will be reliable as you wont want to do it again in a hurry.
Good luck and hope this has helped.
Does your heater motor do anything useful on speeds 1 and 2?
Mine is obviously running as you can hear it but you only really feel a "blow" from the vents on full bore ... this is why I'm cutting my heater switch hole smaller to just fit an "On / Off" switch instead of the rotary switch...
Mine is obviously running as you can hear it but you only really feel a "blow" from the vents on full bore ... this is why I'm cutting my heater switch hole smaller to just fit an "On / Off" switch instead of the rotary switch...
Thanks very much for the info Jamie. Sounds like I need to set some time aside for this one!
One thing that's puzzling me is that it's normal to have several resistors as there's usually one for each speed, but with the rotary knob on the Chimaera I'd have thought there would be a single variable resistor instead.
One thing that's puzzling me is that it's normal to have several resistors as there's usually one for each speed, but with the rotary knob on the Chimaera I'd have thought there would be a single variable resistor instead.
My 97 has a control box under the dash for blower speed and is variable. It was replaced by the previous owner when it went faulty.
I am sure somebody knows more, but I am guessing early cars have selectable fixed speed with resistors and facelift cars have variable speed via the control box?
If so the control box (although not cheap I imagine) is alot easier to get to..
look at this for a cheap possible fix
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I am sure somebody knows more, but I am guessing early cars have selectable fixed speed with resistors and facelift cars have variable speed via the control box?
If so the control box (although not cheap I imagine) is alot easier to get to..
look at this for a cheap possible fix
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Edited by dogbucket on Saturday 11th May 18:31
Just a quick update:
I took the top off the dashboard & dug out the Heater Control Unit. One of the terminals has got hot enough to melt the surrounding connector (almost melted the two halves of the connector together). I'm going to follow the solution mentioned in an older thread, which is to bypass the overheated terminal by soldering a wire directly onto the PCB, then use spade connectors to join it into the wiring harness. I'm hoping that nothing on the PCB has blown!
ETA: It works! Admittedly the blower sounds a bit rough at low speed, so it may be on the way out, but for the moment it's all working for less than a quid. Thanks again for the advice; this is what PH is all about.
I took the top off the dashboard & dug out the Heater Control Unit. One of the terminals has got hot enough to melt the surrounding connector (almost melted the two halves of the connector together). I'm going to follow the solution mentioned in an older thread, which is to bypass the overheated terminal by soldering a wire directly onto the PCB, then use spade connectors to join it into the wiring harness. I'm hoping that nothing on the PCB has blown!
ETA: It works! Admittedly the blower sounds a bit rough at low speed, so it may be on the way out, but for the moment it's all working for less than a quid. Thanks again for the advice; this is what PH is all about.
Edited by S7Paul on Monday 13th May 21:49
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