Interior fan stopped working

[mb450]

Hi all,
The interior fan has stopped working in my 1999 450 (non-ac) today.
It just doesn't respond to the control at all.

Where should I start to find the culprit?
I've heard that the fan controller can overheat and go pop - how common is that?
Is the interior fan run off of it's own fuse?
Where is the actual fan?

Thanks

Matt

[Cider Andy]

The fan's in a housing high up behind the dashboard on the passenger side. Not done it but I know it's a pig to remove!

Controller is an ECU under the dashboard top. They tend to burn the connector to the ECU out; this can be fairly easily substituted. My suspicion is it burns out because of a heavy load from the motor as it seizes.

[mb450]

Thanks Andy - where is the fan and I'll have a look tomorrow and see what condition it's in.

I've just popped the dash off and, as suspected, the ecu had burnt out on the connector. I've opened up the controller and re-soldered the connector to the circuit board and cleaned up the terminals in the connector and added some better heat transfer paste to the bolted chip.

It's working now as a temporary fix for my commute down to plymouth on tuesday, but can anyone tell me where I can get replacement connectors from as the board seems fine except for the connector? I've had a look on the maplin site but can't see anything that looks like it would fit.

[phlap]

Matt, This will sound really stupid, but before dissecting the dash, try a sharp bash on the dash top. Ive had the same problem on both my chims. In one case it was a shorted board which did need replacement but the other was simply a loose connection. A quick bang on the dash top and it was absolutely fine again.