Air conditioning / fan not working

[gmw9666]

Hi all,
Just picked up my new 5.0 chim, after a 3 year gap.......Boy I forgot how much I love these.
Anyway, the car is perfect, but with just one problem.....I can seem to get the fans working.
The car is fitted with air con......which I assume will be out of gas so wasn't expecting it to work........when I turn the dial to hot, hot air comes out and when I turn it to cool, cool air comes out but I cannot get the fan to vary in speed at all?
Suggestion?
G

[Goaty Bill]

If memory serves, and it may not because it was back when I bought mine....
I believe the dealer said something like; "you don't want to bother with aircon in a Chimaera. There are four settings; on/off hot/cold." He did very specifically say; "it's not BMW/Mercedes climate control".

I await being shot down in flames, however he was remarkably knowledgeable and honest (for a salesman ).

[gmw9666]

Not that bothered about the air con, the problem is the lack of fan control, ie the fans don't increase in speed when you turn the knob

[Cider Andy]

There are two controls to the air conditioning system. First, to switch it on, turn the temperature dial fully to 'cold': you'll hear a microswitch operate at the end of the dial's travel. This switches the system on. Second, there's a switch similar to the window switches, on the driver's side of the transmission tunnel trim. This operates a motor which opens and closes the recirculation flap, located to the left of the battery box in the passenger footwell. You'll hear the motor run as the flap opens/closes. If the air con system is charged and working correctly you'll see the clutch on the front of the compressor pull in (the compressor's mounted adjacent the alternator). The engine fans will also operate for a few seconds every minute or so, irrespective of engine temperature.

Does the heater fan work at all? You'll probably know to push the rotary switch in to turn the fan on and off? If the rotary switch has no effect on fan speed, I would guess it's been bypassed at the ECU. The ECU is under the dashboard top and the connector can have a tendency to burn out and need rewiring.

[Cider Andy]

Air con, if it's working (mine has an elusive leak and depressurizes over a couple of weeks), is really good, even in very hot weather with the roof down. And people often forget the other benefit of air con: it's demisting ability. That makes it very useful even in winter.

[gmw9666]

Not getting any fan action, there is a waft that gets hot / cold as I move the temp dial but not variance in fan speed, you mentioned an ecu bypass? That a big job?