heater control

[banjolucknicker]

Hi

noticed a little nuance from my beloved car recently. It's a '97 Chimaera and has the silver push button heater control. When I press the button to activate the heaters and crank it to full power I get a decent gush of hot air for about 30 secs, then it cuts out.

Is this a fuse issue? Is there a transducer than kicks in?

Wanted to ask on here first before I go looking around in Steve Heaths 'bible'

What with the weather getting colder but my desire for top down motoring unquenchable, I want to get this fixed before I freeze my preverbials.....

[T_Pot]

Do you have to replace the fuse each time> if not, cant see it being the fuse ? it is very comman for the motors to stick, maybe yours is starting to get tight and needs some wd40


other than that, sorry no idea mate

[WokingWedger]

My fan motor (97 Chim)squeals on start up. But if I stop it and start it again it is ok. Sounds like the bearings could do with some lube.

Are they cintered sleeve brgs ? And where the hell is the fan motor ?

[dogbucket]

Could be the fan control module under the dash which can burn out, exchange units are available or people have repaired the faulty components inside iirc. Although I dont know how you test your one before committing to buy something, maybe open it up and have a look.

[blueyonder]

My heater fan doesn't come on....wondered if it could be just a fuse...is there a fuse for the heater motor, if so is it easy to access the fuse box to check? Isn't the fuse box located on the battery behind the passenger footwell? If it's not a fuse and if the motor is seized and needs some WD40 or lube, does anyone know where the heater motor is located to try this?

When I turn the heater fan swith on there is no noise or anything which leads me to think it might just be the fuse. Hopefully it is a fuse and not something more terminal like a knackered motor! Does anyone have any suggestions what else it could be?

Cheers

[paulathome]

I would suspect the motor controller which is mounted under the dash in the middle of the car.
You will need to remove the dash top to get at it. It is normally the main connector which I think is an 8 way jobby which melts due to the fact that it is not rated high enough for the current the fan draws.
When mine failed I cut the connector off and used spade connectors instead and the fan has been fine ever since.
Hope this helps.
Cheers.
Paul

[scotty_d]

i had same problem as above here a couple of pics of my repair did not take long i just cut de-soldered the old pin out and fitted it with this by-bass heavy cable works fine.

Edited by scotty_d on Saturday 10th January 15:56

[blueyonder]

Thanks guys...not sure if I trust myself to have a go at this without breaking something! How easy is it to lift the top of the dash off to access the motor controller? Can this repair be done without the need for soldering (don't have a solder iron )?

Paulathome...did you need to solder the new spade connectors?

Can't see any reference to a fuse for the heater motor in the bible so it must be the same problem you guys have had!

[QBee]

Scotty -d I have this same problem right now. This is exactly what my terminal block looks like. Where did you solder te two ends of the bypass cable? Is there any way of rescuing the connection itself?

[QBee]

QBee said:

Scotty -d I have this same problem right now. This is exactly what my terminal block looks like. Where did you solder te two ends of the bypass cable? Is there any way of rescuing the connection itself?

It's ok, Bassfiend posted some photos and I dd my first ever bit of soldering......and it actually worked!

[Bassfiend229hp]

QBee said:

It's ok, Bassfiend posted some photos

No I didn't - I posted some hopefully encouraging bks though...

QBee said:

and I dd my first ever bit of soldering......and it actually worked!

I'm proud of ya!!!!

[QBee]

Ooops!!! Scotty, apologies - it was your excellent pic that inspired me, right down to te colour of the wire. Thanks!!