Blower gone into overdrive!

[plod]

I'm sure some of you may remember me having fun with the blower in my car packing up
I fitted a 50amp Anderson connector in the place of the offending connector and all was well for ages
Over the last few months it's played up occassionally but not much
Anyway driving along earlier, and the blower went fast even though setting was low
Played around with settings and it goes down marginally, but not a lot

Too dark to look now, but i'm thinking wasn't there a part that plays up attatched to the blower, or do we think maybe I have a short?

[steve_earwig]

It soundr like the control unit has blown up but I guess it could still be a short. Hope it's something simple!

[plod]

I just looked on service box, but couldn't see anything I thought might be it
Anyone put me straight please?

[gumby6371]

Could be the resistor fixed to the blower itself but usually they won't turn on rather than running full tilt. The other option is the speed controller on the centre console.
If it's a D8 with digital controls I have spares for both salvaged from my now departed GLX.

[plod]

Hi Gumby

What's the damage on either of them should I need them?


Seems I had two problems here

Firstly the fact that the heater was fine for ages and started playing up

I've had it off ( oo er misses, ain't I the lucky boy lol ) and the brown plug that goes into the blower (got 4 wires on it - thick live and thick neutral and two other thin wires) and there was movement in the plug - wiggly the plug accentuated the intermittance on the blower. I tried to pry the connectors out the plug, but was worried about damaging them, so using a precision screwdriver, I managed to close the connector up, and upon replugging in, it was much more secure and no more intermittance

Secondly, there must be, as already mentioned, either a problem with the air con controller within the console, or the fan itself
This is where I fall foul, and guess the only way of finding out would be to try replacing one or the other units

Could of done without it, as I noticed a slit on the outside wall of the front nearside the other day, and the front offside is getting low, and had to have two new tyres this morning, and whilst replacing, the guy pointed out the offside CV gaitor is split badly and pissing out grease. The mechanic quoted me £55, and the girl behind the desk quoted me £35, so told them to fit it in next week, as probably not worth struggling and getting dirty for at £35 - at £55 i'd of done it myself

[plod]

Found some of the resistors on eBay for £18.50

I double checked service box in case it wasn't too bad at the stealer ..............................only it was £172!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


There is also a air con control unit on the bay for £9.80 plus £3.95 postage

Maybe the control unit being the cheaper of the two options is the one to try first, especially if the resistor usually causes non working rather than speed issues

[plod]

Just noticed this on the bay advert for the resistor

Signs of a faulty Heater Resistor:



Heating only works intermittently
Heating only works on one setting
Doesnt produce heat on full setting
Low airflow rate even on a high setting
A Confirmed Faulty Resistor

I've already got the blower in the boot, so buying a new resistor is the easiest option at the moment
Shame I ain't got to go into Birmingham, only the outskirts, and being on the tacho, can't afford to lose the time

[plod]

Obviously the difference in price between aftermarket and OE is that great it suggests the previous is of a much lower quality

Now i've found somewhere that will repair your own control module and post it back to you for £30
So do I go with the cheap aftermarket, or get mine repaired

My mate is a whiz with a soldering iron, so do I just see if I can get the parts to repair and get him to repair it for me?

[plod]

Ended up buying one of the aftermarket ones off the bay
Some said delivery in 4-6 days, but found one which said delivery in 2-3
Bought and paid for this morning, and despatched this afternnon
Fingers crossed it comes quickly as was a bit fun this morning with no heat to the screen when it was froze over

[plod]

Ended up buying one of the aftermarket ones off the bay
Some said delivery in 4-6 days, but found one which said delivery in 2-3
Bought and paid for this morning, and despatched this afternnon
Fingers crossed it comes quickly as was a bit fun this morning with no heat to the screen when it was froze over

Next day delivery and replaced resistor and fan back in and working all whilst making tea

[steve_earwig]

It's fixed? That's brilliant!

[marius]

Hi - did you all finish this discussion ? I'd like to join in, because I got a similar problem.

I have a 406 2.1 td 1997 and lefthand drive (is this the D8 ?) with A/C and the type of heater/ventilation control unit in the Haynes service and repair manual in picture 9.3.

My problem is that the heater blower turned itself on to near full blast. I could only slightly reduce the speed by 2 notches on the heater panel, any more reduction in the manual setting on the heater/ventilation control unit had no effect on the heater blower speed.

This is much the same as was indicated in the post made by Plod, that "Heating only works on one setting". This corresponds with some other posts on these pages. So I decided to get a new heater blower motor control module as seen in the picture 9.24b in the Haynes manual. I got one from a web shop in England - they call it a heater blower resistor. I removed the old control module and put on the new one. See attached photo.

After installation I tested it out, now the heater blower doesn't operate at all. I wonder what is the problem. I measured some voltages between the wires going to the 4 pin connector on the heater blower motor assembly, the pins are directly attached to the newly fitted heater blower motor control unit (called heater blower resistor by this web shop where i bought it).

I read off the following dc voltages between wires
8001 (black and thick) and 8002(red and thick):
= 0.0V with ignition key in OFF position
= 12.2V with ignition key in RUN position and engine not running
= 14.1V with engine running

8001 (black and thick) and 8006 (orange and thin):
ramps down to to 0.oV when Fan speed is manually set to not run (zero speed).
ramps up to 12.6V if Fan speed is manually set to 1 notch or more, or ventilation set to either Auto or A/C.

8001 (Bladk and tick) and 8007 (pink skin coloured and thin):
= 0.0 regardless of ventilation setting

8006 (orange and thin) and 8007 (pink skin coloured and thin):
ramps down to 0.0V when Fan is manually set to not run (zero speed).
ramps up to 8.4V when Fan is manually set to 1 notch or more, or ventilation set to either Auto or A/C.

The measurements were all done with the wires disconnected from the pins on the heater blower motor assembly (that is, not connected to the heater blower motor control.

So - my question is if anybody can make head or tail of these symptoms ? I'd like to get some indication as to which unit might be faulty. I should think that a brand new item should work properly, so I don't really expect the new heater blower resistor to be faulty. I also think it is a good indication that the voltage ramps up and down between wires 8006 and 8007. I also don't suspect there is anything wrong with the power supply on wires 8001 and 8002. But there is still something wrong ?!?!

After testing this I replace the new module with the old and reassembled the heater blower motor assembly to the car. Now I'm just back to the original problem - the Fan is on nearly ful blast as soon as I turn the ignition key to Run, and stays like that also with engine running until I turn the ignition key to OFF.

Any ideas or advice anybody ?
Best regards from Marius