Heater Control Repair
Discussion
Hi all,
As usual with piston heads, nothing like a few piccies and descriptions of people swearing to encourage others to get dirty and repair an annoying part of their beloved cars:
So heres another from me:
Once upon a time i bought a Chimaera, my second in fact, and went about enjoying the noise and pace! For some reason i didnt test it when buying car, but when moving the heater control to blow air on the windscreen.....squuueeeeeeeekkkkk...... "That was petty noisy! ill get some grease in there soon to loosen it up".... i thought with not a care in the world
Then 6 or so weeks later...... squueeeeeekkkkk as usual ("i must get round to that")..... Then, squeeeeek...... Ping! "Oh dammit, looks like im not forced to sort it, its now broken!"
A nice warm weekend quickly followed so i got round to the dreaded dash removal to find the issue.... i didnt know what i worried about, taking the dash off is simple! 3 bolts and lift, easy peasy fellow PH'ers... dont listen to the horror stories.
Oh my god! What a weird design, a simple cable screwed onto a rotary disc to control the heater system! So i set about realising and swearing that to re-attach the offending cable to the bottom disc, i had to remove the whole lot as it was screwed onto the bottom side of the lower disc.... grrrrr!
So i removed the top cable with ease, being careful not to loose all the washers, then unbolted the large central bolt.... hey presto, they're out!
Ow my god, look at the way the little L.E.D's are just glued into the rotary discs! This became more awkward by the minute. Having to undo the clamp that keeps the cable in place
I could now flip the bottom disc upside down to re-attach the cable. Looks like the washer between the cable and disc was missing, hence the tight controller and hi pitched squueeeekkkk noise and hence eventually..... the ping when it flew off inside the dash. With the disc upside down, i had to twist the cable, screw it back to the disc so when i replace it, it would be the right way up.... more fiddly than you can ever imagine!
This is where things get frustrating.... Trying to allign a bottom washer, then a disc attached to a cable and some little fiddly wires hanging out while poking through the slot in the dash, then some spacer washers, then another disc attached to a cable with some little fiddly wires hanging out and poking through the slot in the dash, then another washer and then aligning it all to get the main bolt back down through the centre! What a palaver! How did they do this in the factory??? My well engineered response to this faffing about was placing a screw driver through the centre each time i applied a layer. Washer, then disc... put screwdriver through..... washer...screwdriver..... disc..... you get the picture!
So managed to get it all back together eventually... put some grease in... faffed around for ages getting the right 'tightness' to the main bolt ensuring the controls worked lightly and smoothly... and hey presto..... heater controller fixo!
What a knightmare, but worth it! Good to see under the dash and good to see the poor mounting of all the parts... haphazard build quality isn't the word for these bits out of sight... a shame really considering everything else you can see in the car feels solid as a rock!
Hope this helps someone out there doing that google search, looking for a cure to their broken heater!
As usual with piston heads, nothing like a few piccies and descriptions of people swearing to encourage others to get dirty and repair an annoying part of their beloved cars:
So heres another from me:
Once upon a time i bought a Chimaera, my second in fact, and went about enjoying the noise and pace! For some reason i didnt test it when buying car, but when moving the heater control to blow air on the windscreen.....squuueeeeeeeekkkkk...... "That was petty noisy! ill get some grease in there soon to loosen it up".... i thought with not a care in the world
Then 6 or so weeks later...... squueeeeeekkkkk as usual ("i must get round to that")..... Then, squeeeeek...... Ping! "Oh dammit, looks like im not forced to sort it, its now broken!"
A nice warm weekend quickly followed so i got round to the dreaded dash removal to find the issue.... i didnt know what i worried about, taking the dash off is simple! 3 bolts and lift, easy peasy fellow PH'ers... dont listen to the horror stories.
Oh my god! What a weird design, a simple cable screwed onto a rotary disc to control the heater system! So i set about realising and swearing that to re-attach the offending cable to the bottom disc, i had to remove the whole lot as it was screwed onto the bottom side of the lower disc.... grrrrr!
So i removed the top cable with ease, being careful not to loose all the washers, then unbolted the large central bolt.... hey presto, they're out!
Ow my god, look at the way the little L.E.D's are just glued into the rotary discs! This became more awkward by the minute. Having to undo the clamp that keeps the cable in place
I could now flip the bottom disc upside down to re-attach the cable. Looks like the washer between the cable and disc was missing, hence the tight controller and hi pitched squueeeekkkk noise and hence eventually..... the ping when it flew off inside the dash. With the disc upside down, i had to twist the cable, screw it back to the disc so when i replace it, it would be the right way up.... more fiddly than you can ever imagine!
This is where things get frustrating.... Trying to allign a bottom washer, then a disc attached to a cable and some little fiddly wires hanging out while poking through the slot in the dash, then some spacer washers, then another disc attached to a cable with some little fiddly wires hanging out and poking through the slot in the dash, then another washer and then aligning it all to get the main bolt back down through the centre! What a palaver! How did they do this in the factory??? My well engineered response to this faffing about was placing a screw driver through the centre each time i applied a layer. Washer, then disc... put screwdriver through..... washer...screwdriver..... disc..... you get the picture!
So managed to get it all back together eventually... put some grease in... faffed around for ages getting the right 'tightness' to the main bolt ensuring the controls worked lightly and smoothly... and hey presto..... heater controller fixo!
What a knightmare, but worth it! Good to see under the dash and good to see the poor mounting of all the parts... haphazard build quality isn't the word for these bits out of sight... a shame really considering everything else you can see in the car feels solid as a rock!
Hope this helps someone out there doing that google search, looking for a cure to their broken heater!
First of all thanks for a well documented report on the repair well done. Secondly this is actually what I respect about these cars, things break and with a bit of patience and head scratching you were able to get it fixed. A lot of modern cars have similar hvac related problems that require a dash removal and replacement of an expensive "blend door motor" or plastic servo of some sort and clearing of codes etc. the repair you have made will probably never give trouble again more than can be said of the modern biodegradable plastic piece of sh-t. Long live TVR,
Hi Angelfish909, I'm not 100% sure of what your issue is. Are you saying the blower fan isn't working or that it's just blowing hot. The heat could just be what is generated by the car in general from the engine and gear box. The fans had me stumped for a while until I read the you pressed the button in to turn them on and turn then turn it to run faster or slower.
wseed said:
Hi Angelfish909, I'm not 100% sure of what your issue is. Are you saying the blower fan isn't working or that it's just blowing hot. The heat could just be what is generated by the car in general from the engine and gear box. The fans had me stumped for a while until I read the you pressed the button in to turn them on and turn then turn it to run faster or slower.
That is true on a later car with a rotary alloy fan knob. The 430 will have a different arrangement.Hello mate, what year is yours? The blower works on all three settings but the two large wheels for direction and tempurate seem to make no difference, although I have learnt that the small vents to the right of the steering column and ambient vents? The chap who had it before me said he had set the blower to the windscreen as something (whether it was a cable or servo) whichever way he set it manually behind the dash :S. I may message him, or as my dad said just take it apart and you'll soon know. But I was curious really as when the electronic bits start to come in.
I can only speak about later cars.
I have had my blower fail four times.
First time it was the power terminal on the heater control box burnt out. I bypassed it.
Second time the heater control box failed internally. Sent to Paul Smith to repair.
Third time the switch failed. As above.
Fourth time there was a fault in the wiring under the carpet to the left of the passenger's left leg. Mat Smith tested and found this, and repaired it.
And the blower itself can fail.
I have had my blower fail four times.
First time it was the power terminal on the heater control box burnt out. I bypassed it.
Second time the heater control box failed internally. Sent to Paul Smith to repair.
Third time the switch failed. As above.
Fourth time there was a fault in the wiring under the carpet to the left of the passenger's left leg. Mat Smith tested and found this, and repaired it.
And the blower itself can fail.
It's good to hear the blower is working on all speeds as a failure here can be a real pain.
The controls are quite straight forward. They just push and pull a solid wire in a bowden style cable outer.
At the other end of the wire will either be a water valve for the heat or a flap control to direct the airflow up to the screen or down to the vents.
Your problem will be that the wire has come off one or other end so a quite straight forward mechanical repair.
Steve
The controls are quite straight forward. They just push and pull a solid wire in a bowden style cable outer.
At the other end of the wire will either be a water valve for the heat or a flap control to direct the airflow up to the screen or down to the vents.
Your problem will be that the wire has come off one or other end so a quite straight forward mechanical repair.
Steve
anglefish909 said:
Ok thanks, out of interest what car do you have?
Mine is a 1999 Chimaera, so the newer rotary fan speed single knob. It has a control box, which is a black box about the size of a fag packet and twice as thick, located at the back of the upper dash immediately behind the controls. So not the same layout as a 430. Hi anglefish909.
Its as Steve_D said. a simple pull / push system with solid wires.
When turning the dials, do it slowly as the wire needs to slide through the out sheath which has it's own resistance
.
I have a 1993 430 that i am doing a body off resto at this moment. You can click on the name of the person to see their profile.
Its as Steve_D said. a simple pull / push system with solid wires.
When turning the dials, do it slowly as the wire needs to slide through the out sheath which has it's own resistance
. I have a 1993 430 that i am doing a body off resto at this moment. You can click on the name of the person to see their profile.
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