Heating blower packed up ... typical

[Expat-Magyar]

Hi all,

Have looked in past threads, but not seen a similar posting. Typically in this weather the heater/blower in my year 2000 Freelander has packed up. No power, apart from the obvious of checking the fuse which is OK (F4 in the fuse box), before I condemn the heater and buy a new one, is there anything else I should be checking?

Thanks, in advance.

 

[howardo]

check the heater blower motor and heater blower motor resistor

 

[chromiumuk]

the switch as well & then see if your getting 12v at the motor/resistor.

 

[Expat-Magyar]

Thanks all, will try, any ideas if there is a diagram handy, Google was not much help and a Haynes manual is not exactly on the doorstep, either that or buy the downloadable one and a printer.

Regards,

 

[dazzerboy]

have got the same problem this morning heater all working yesterday stopped the car turned the heater of got in this morning and heater didnt work didnt even make any noise checked all fuses all ok could the weather have any affect do you think as it worked fine before no noises or anything to say that something was going on the heater or could it be a loose wire someware are these heater things easy to take out have read about resistor or something would that be the problem how do i check these things thanks

 

[cobra andy]

Spooky, the reason I joined this forum was due to the fact that the heater / blower unit packed up this morning on the TD4.

seems a bit of a coincidence that a few have stopped working.

Come on where are the experts.....

 

[dazzerboy]

is there anything that can freeze to stop the heater from working does any one know

 

[dazzerboy]

anyone else had this problem with there heater not working if so what did they do to fix it ?

 

[Doberdog]

Well I have had the same problem, although I in my case I am more concerned about the AC blower (living in Australia). In my case it was obviously a loose wire, because it would go off/on when I hit a bump. Anyway the mechanics did a half-arsed job and I still have problems. I'd like to get in there and solder it in place permanently. Anyone know how to get the covering dash plastic off without damaging anything???

 

[dazzerboy]

all sorted now

 

[Chaser]

anyone else had this problem with there heater not working if so what did they do to fix it ?

?

 

[jimcolyer]

had exactly the same thing the other morning, and all sorted now.

in case you wernt aware, for the blower fan, speeds 1-3 are via the resistor pack and fed from the fusebox inside the cabin, under the steering wheel.

fan speed 4 is fed directly from the 30a fuse in the engine bay fuse box, but if this fuse has blown or is removed, this will only affect speed 4 on the fan, the other three should work correctly (unless there is a fault with the fan that has blown this fuse!)

if all speeds 1-3 dont work, you have a duff fuse, and this needs replacing (plus probable repair to the resistor pack, or wiring that caused the fuse to blow)

anyway.......

my problem was that the fan had failed COMPLETELY, not just 1 or two speeds knackered.

the problem on mine appeared to be the fan had jammed.

This had blown the speed four fuse under the bonnet, but due to the resistor packs, the supply via the three speed resistor pack was still there.

To see if your fan is jammed in the same way, turn your lights on and turn your fan switch on. If you look at the dash clock illumination, this is the easiest way to see the difference.

If the fan has jammed, speeds 1-3 will cause the lights to dim slightly, as the fan is drawing a higher amount of current (do not do this for long, as you can burn out the resistors if left like this for a few minutes or more!)

Turning onto speed four, will probably have already blown the fuse, so when you goto speed four, the lights will increase back to normal brightness, as will turning the switch back off again.

Once i knew the motor was duff, i removed the motor from the housing (you can JUST about do this from the drivers side footwell!!!), and cleaned it all out, plenty of oil and compressed air.

To remove it, just unplug the two pin connector (black and green wire) and remove the three philips screws and pull the fan out. You can only see two of the three screws, but you can "feel" the third one, so removing and re-fitting is literally a 5 minute job each way.

While the fan was out, I also cleaned out the crap that has gathered inside (sweet papers, dust, crap and grit) that may be the cause of the jam, but mine appeared to be sh1t jammed in the motor brushes.

Good luck....

 

[jimcolyer]

oh, by the way, id better just say hello and all the usual new member type stuff.

come to think of it, most new members seem to be joining because of problems, but i thought id break the mould by solving one

anyway, hello from snowy hampshire!

we have just bought a 2001 FL 3door, as my wife keeps horses, so a little better suited to the back roads than her old skoda fabia...

JIM

 

[Chaser]

Hi Jim, :welcome2:

Good of you to post your information on your heater fix, it should prove to be useful to others with similar problems.

It's a shame dazzerboy has omitted to offer any explanation of how he resolved his issue and something regular contributors may remember next time he asks for help.

 

[cobra andy]

Jim, excellent post matey, just been out and pulled the fan motor out.
Checked voltage at the 2 pin plug and all is well there, so now Ive got the motor out, its not jammed ???
Can you take these apart ?
There are 2 screws on the back of the motor casing but it doesnt appear that easy, any help ? much appreciated.
Also for my info where is the resistor pack located ?

 

[dazzerboy]

mine was just a loose connection where it plugs in drivers side footwell after checking all fuses decided to look for the heater motor and came across the loose connection

 

[peterw8952]

Hi all
Looks like Ive today joined the FAN club too! my one went off whilst on number 4 setting and no fiddling with the control whist trying to see through the screen in a snow storm would make it work. 10 miles on and it came back on for about 2mins before going off
twice more before getting home. Its just to dark and cold to get under the dash tonight
will take a look Sunday (got a some good pointers thanks you all and I will post my finding asap) MUST BE LINKED TO THIS COLD WEATHER??????

 

[Doberdog]

Thanks for closing off dazzerboy. I get the feeling from everyone's posts that I shouldn't have to remove any dash covers etc... to get to the likely area of any loose wires - right? Just check the fuses under the steering wheel, and wiring around the driver's footwell(?). Please jump in if I am off track.

As a reminder, my problem was an intermittently not working fan on all settings (not just 1-3 or 4), likely due to loose connection somewhere.

 

[cobra andy]

Right its all sorted and back up and running.

Thouht about it a bit more this morning, went out and checked that there was voltage at the plug, yep still there I wasnt dreaming !
laid the motor on the floor pushed the plug in firmly, turned the blower switch and hey presto, it works.
It would seem to have been a dodgy connection with the plug into the bottom of the motor.

Having reassembled it all I can see why.
On the auto there is a foot rest in the left hand side of the drivers footwell, right above this, literally an inch, is the wire from the motor, its obvious that the wire has been nudged by feet on the footrest and come loose.
Going to tape the wire out of the way and to the back of the motor casing to prevent it happening again.

Cheers to those that offered advise, location, removal etc.

 

[dazzerboy]

peter the connection block is in the drivers side footwell near the clutch pedal or foot rest if auto not under the dash very easy to find dont need to remove any covers just put the blower on then fiddle about with the conection block and see if it works