Heater fan doesn't.

[w3526602]

Hi,

I'm probably not the first to ask this, but I'm new here. Sorry!

R-reg 306 TD estate. Heater fan worked ... and then it didn't. Come the frosty mornings, that will make the car undrivable. MOT expires mid December, maybe its time to put it on Ebay? Apart from the heater it does everything that is asked of it, which is currently a trip from Kettering to Swansea, and return same day, about 370 miles all round, once a week, with or without a trailer.

A friend has a similar car, also with a dead heater, so I'm hoping it's an easily identified, known fault. I'm not prepared to give it to a garage with an open cheque book on the passenger seat. That happened last year .. two handbrake cables "matured" into £650 ... OK, it did include four new tyres. and an MOT.

Huge fuse box under the dash. Driver's handbook says the ventilation (heater fan?) fuse is No.5. That seems to be a 10A fuse, which is intact.

There are several relays beside the fuses, but no indication if/which one is for the fan. I'm thinking that if somebody can tell me which relay I want, I should be able to "feel" it click as I switch the heater fan off/on. Yes ??? Is it posible to by-pass the relay?

Any advice, comments, (offers?) will be welcome.

HTH

602

[Piggy]

Welcome

It may well be just the fan... About a fiver second hand and a 10 minute job to fit

[w3526602]

Welcome

It may well be just the fan... About a fiver second hand and a 10 minute job to fit

[Niall]

Does your car have air con? Well the button anyway. No 306 has working air con!

[w3526602]

Hi Piggy,

Thanks for prompt reply.

Do you mean it's that easy ... lift the bonnet, hit the heater with a spanner?

At my age (75, subjural haematoma, inguinal hernia, athritic knees, etc) I'm reluctant to lift the bonnet of modern cars, so I assumed the heater blower was deep in the bowels of the dashboard, and beyond my dexterity. Now, if it was a 1959 Land Rover, I'd have no qualms ... see photo.

Maybe the Pug will not have to find a new home after all. I'll take a look after brekky, subject to SWMBO allowing me away from hanging pictures in our new home. And I can find my tools, I think I've brought all of them up from Wales.

Hmmm! If the fan spins on a jump wire direct from battery, that would mean it would run on a "jury" switch, which will take the rush off fixing it quickly, which in turn means I won't need to rig the jury switch, cos the pressure will be off until she has an early MOT and her future is decided. Thanks again.

602

[welshpug]

you wont find the fan under the bonnet.

its behing the glovebox held in with three screws, before you dive in to replace it, access the wires with a multimeter.

ac models work differently, fan will have constant power on ignition, non ac do turn off.

[Eeyore]

Look in the passenger footwell at the bottom of the dash. Its there and its super easy. As others have said it's 3 bolts and drops straight out. Be careful not to snap things... Can't remember what but I remember something is easy to snap!

Most likely is thst its full of leaves and contacts are corroded so it doesn't work. See if you can clean it up. If not get another for for under 10 quid!

[w3526602]

Hi,

Yes it has AC.

Glove box didn't have a key, which was no problem until one day it locked itself. Er ... it now doesn't close, so maybe I need to pull the whole box out anyway.

£10? :ast time I went into a breaker's yard, they wanted £30 for a second hand seat belt. I vowed "never again".

My wife turned the key on her SAAB, spectacularly wrote off the SAAB, my Discovery, and a Transit parked on other side of the road. Went out and bought a new KIA. Seems a sensible idea, but I can't justify a new car for the way I treat them. Difficult to think of any car I'd pay over £200 for anyway.

I'll let you know how I get on later today ... if she lets me.

602

[welshpug]

no need to touch the glovebox, its behind it accessesd from underneath

[Eeyore]

From the underside of the footwell there is a plastic panel that simply pulls off. Then on the left under the dash you will find the blower motor. Note under the dash... not behind it!

[w3526602]

Hi Welshpug,

SWMBO made me empty my trailer .... generator , arc-welder, vices, etc. Them I emptied the back of the estate ... more tools, boxes of nuts and bolts, etc. One more trip to Wales with the trailer should get the garage empty. Anybody want to buy a house?

SWMBO found my workshop manual in one of the packing boxes. It says unclip bottom panel. Also says removing glove box will give better access. I had a quick grope under the dash, couldn't feel anything to unclip. I guess it's going to be a sheet of ply on the gravel, for me to lay/kneel on. Gone are the days when I could lay on my back, do a sit-up, and use the momentum to take me to a standing position. Oh well, no pain, no gain.

And now we are expecting visitors ... the friend with the other dead heater fan. I'd suggest that he does his first, then tell me how, but he's in his nineties.

Tomorrow!

602

[w3526602]

Hi,

I'm getting too old to go lying half in half out of the passenger's footwell. It hurts.

I gave the panel under the glove box a tug, and it came out clean. I tried to find how the glove box was held in, but lack of space, darkness, creaky bones, and spectacles combined to make it impossible. When you are wearing specs, there is no point in moving your eyes to compensate for your face being at the wrong angle, you just look around the lenses. So, as the box was sort of broken already ... "It came away in my hand, Sir!" At least it no longer sits on the passenger's knees. But I still can't see how the hinges are held to the dash ... unless it's those two pop-rivets ???

And I'm not agile enough to get at the screws holding the heater motor in, and I can only sort of see two screws anyway.

So Plan B is to take the final trip to South Wales, with trailer, on Sunday, to clear what's left in the garage. Then leave everything alone till she goes through an early MOT in November.

In the mean time, I found out why the bonnet was reluctant to shut .... the secondary catch was bent forward and prevented the bonnet dropping all the way. Two hours to find, five seconds to fix.

I also looked at the end of the clutch cable, cos it's been creaky ever since I had the car. The "top-hat " thingy pulled easily out of the fork, but didn't want to go right home again, so its sticking out about 1/4". For some reason, the clutch pedal is much smoother. How did that happen? Maybe I should mention that I haven't driven the car today. Fingers crossed that it doesn't slip.

Now if I could just sort out the starting. Cold start requires a slow count of 10 AFTER the lamp goes out, then starts perfectly. Hot start needs to wait till lamp goes out, then starts perfectly. ???

602

[WiNgNuTz]

Whereabouts in the country are you mate? Maybe there will be a member somewhere nearby that would consider helping out for beer tokens.

[Toms306]

The glovebox is awkward to remove, especially if you want to keep it, though it seems you're past that point now lol. The hinges are screwed onto the crossbar, but the screws are almost impossible to get to.

The motor isn't really difficult to remove though, just laying in footwell that's the issue there.


Oh and I think you're probably the oldest member here, unless you get your mate to join up!

[Eeyore]

yeh where are you based? Im sure someone will be willing to help!

[w3526602]

Oh and I think you're probably the oldest member here, unless you get your mate to join up!
]

Hi Toms,

My mate is to busy.

Laying on the floor is no longer easy. If the Pug passes her MOT, I might ask for help, happy to pay Mate's Rates. Which reminds me of an advert that appeared in Motor Sport magazine, probably circa 1958.

HELP. Popsie (vintage 1935) seeks tall dark handsome gent to help her and her MG Midget, This poor girl can scarecly control herself, let alone twelve screaming horses. Wine and song provided.

Contact adress was a Box No. Doh!

602

[Eeyore]

This doesnt help us know where you are so one of us can come and do it for you!

[w3526602]

This doesnt help us know where you are so one of us can come and do it for you!

Hi,

Burton Latimer (NN15 5PF) about two hoots and a holler from Kettering. House is still in disaray, as we have more stuff than will fit, dog (30kg) [/i]threw a wobbly the day after we moved in ... epeliptic fit - rigid and shaking, foaming at mouth, bit his tongue, lost control of "functions". Vet has had about £200 so far. Must not be excited, so cannot be left home alone, nor get in the car. Closely followed by SWMBO taking a tumble, crippled for a couple of weeks still hobbling, closely followed by back-boiler failing to light up - £2000 for a new combi, followed two days later by finding that the damp wall was due to the WC cistern down-pipe leaking every flush (£70), and while I was clearing up I found a finger sized hole at floor level in the pipe sticking out the floor that the U-bend pokes into. Plumber can't come till next Tuesday. Today, I looked to see why one trailer lamp isn't working .. all rusted inside .. so I will be driving down to Swansea solo, and it won't[i] be my last trip.

Whatever, if anybody wants a cup of Nescafe Gold instant, they are welcome to drop in. We even have sugar in the house, cos the plumber wanted it, and I can buy some more milk. We take it black, and I have yogourt on my muesilli.

Hey! I like this club. I have so far regarded the Pug as something mundane that was blue AND French, but while the clutch pedal stayed high, it was a pleasure to drive. Unfortunately the "top-hat" feels like it has slipped back to where it was before I fiddled with it, making gear changing "reluctant".

602

[Mattcheese31]

Yeah as said, it's easy enough but you do have to lie half in half out the footwell which is a little uncomfortable for me and I'm not quite 40 lol, get a young whippersnapper on the case, only 10 minute job then lol

[Jonahinoz]

Hi Matt,

I'm still not happy that I have identified the correct fuse. It rating does not agree with anything that the book says it should be. I will try to post a piccy of the array tomorrow.

There seems to be no reference to Heater Fan in the boks, are they calling it Ventilation?

The Haynes book agrees with my thoughts ... the relay should click. If it doesn't, it's probably dead. None of mine click .. but I can't identify which relay it is. ???

602

[pug306driver]

love the sky hooks.......you building a carnival special with the landy, as in back to front?

[Jonahinoz]

Hi,

From the picture, can anybody identify the heater fan RELAY, pretty please? The upper green relay on left clunks enthusiastically when ignition is turned on.
Both Fuse 5 (10 Amp) and Fuse 21 (30 Amp) are intact.

602

[Mattcheese31]

I'll check handbook later but in all honesty it's probably the fan, they are known to die, changed mine a couple of times, it's honestly a ten minute job if you can lay down there in the footwell

[Niall]

Too be honest, you haven't even got to lay in the footwell. Its tricky but you can do it all by feel. Worst bit is getting the plug out of the fan as its up behind the panel below the glove box.

[Jonahinoz]

Too be honest, you haven't even got to lay in the footwell. Its tricky but you can do it all by feel. Worst bit is getting the plug out of the fan as its up behind the panel below the glove box.

Hi both,

It's not that I don't believe you. I want to drive 400 miles on Sunday, leaving about 5AM.
If my screen is frosty, I ain't going.

If its' s a relay, I can fix it tomorrow. If it's the fan motor, all I can do is put it back. I have no idea where to find a breaker' s yard, haven't visited one in twenty years. SWMBO is unlikely to smile if I suggest buying a new one.. Which leaves Ebay, which takes time.

602

[Niall]

Right well off the top of my head, its one of the green relays and they are all identical in operation. The green ones are just standard 5 pin relays. Swap them about and see if the heater starts working again. If so, go and buy your self a relay which can be had from most places.

[Seb_Ryan]

My heater fan stopped working.. Was seized solid, good soak in wd40 and slowly spinning it helped.

Only problem is you get a smell of wd40 for a few days lol

[Jonahinoz]

Right well off the top of my head, its one of the green relays and they are all identical in operation.

Hi Niall.

Many thanks. Working from that, I know that the higher of the green relays in the bottom left corner is working, but off the ignition switch. If I replace it with one of the other green relays. either it will click (good relay) or it won't click (bad relay).

If one is bad, put the original top left relay back where it was, buy a new relay to replace the dud. If both relays are good, kick the dog.

602

[Piggy]

Its very likely to be the fan. As others have said.

[Jonahinoz]

Its very likely to be the fan. As others have said.

Hi Piggy,

I don't wish to know that!

I moved the lower left relay into the slot above, switch on engine. There was a click ... not as loud as the original. Dashboard lit up, so looked OK. Did the same with the relay in top row. Same result. OK, I was wrong but worth doing.

About these £5 heater motors. Where? All those on Ebay are much more expensive, some are the best part of £200.

Lets hope we have a frost free weekend.

602