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Fan blower not working on 1

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Fan blower not working on 1

Had this problem since i've owned the car, noticed the plastic cowling was melted and from a few futher investigations realised the blower was not working on setting 1 and was heating the resistor up so much that it was melting the cover and have basically not used this setting since, 2,3 are fine. Got a new cover now and a 2nd hand resistor but looks a pain to get the wiring throught without moving a couple of bits so before I do this does anyone know or had experience of this being the route of the problem or could it be the fan switch inside or even the fan motor causing resistance. I have in the past lubed up the fan bearings and moving parts so it does move very freely. Also is there anyway of testing that this resistor is working correctly? tbh it looks in poorer shape than mine but does not have slightly melted wires which mine does.

Any info greatly received.

Dan

1983 Cabby Gti All White Edition

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Just a bit of an update.

Managed to get the new, well second hand resistor and it's wiring loom fitted, plus took the fan switch that controls speed on the dash to bits and cleaned that all out and no improvement.

1983 Cabby Gti All White Edition

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Still really confused, checked all wiring all ok, cleaned up contacts on blower motor although was unable to get the motor out. (if anyone knows how to get it out without dropping the lot from inside would be appreciated). Haynes manual useless as only tells you how to remove the whole lot from inside.
So basically scratching my head now.

Any advice?
Dan

1983 Cabby Gti All White Edition

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possibly the fan motor bearings are a bit dry and the voltage on the slow setting isnt enough to get it going? on my cabrio i gave up trying to remove the motor and instead set it on full and sprayed silicone lube at each end till the motor started running nicely. trouble is that will spray silicone lube all over your interior, mine was stripped out at the time :lol:

apparently its possible to remove it from the top but i never figured out how

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Yeah tried wd 40 previously incase anything was starting to seize up, run it for a bit on no3, then silicone lube and run again on no 3 but didn't change and have repeated this time after resistor change with no improvement.

Just wondering though how much the fan should move without power if you put your hand in and give it a spin? ie would it do a 1/4 revolution or just keep spinning like a bike wheel?

Mine will do about half to 3/4 turn with a flick but if a correctly working one spins more then I've found my problem.

1983 Cabby Gti All White Edition

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The blowers didn't work on no.3 on my tintop, that was the switch at fault though. I removed the switch and stripped it down to find the terminal for no.3 had got hot and melted the switch casing slightly and the terminal had moved backwards, I heated the terminal up on the gas hob and pushed it back to where it should be and so far it works as it should but that was at the end of the winter prob not been used as much since. Make sure your earths are good too.

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Have you bought a new switch off evay yet? The genuine ones are £5

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Nah the switch is fine from what I can see.

1983 Cabby Gti All White Edition

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Hi,

just wondering if you have tried anything else or figured out what the problem was? My fan does either not start at all or will start for a little bit and then turn off again. Changed the switch but to no effect. Not sure what to do next.

1992 1.8 Golf Cabrio

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daydreamer2105 said

Hi,

just wondering if you have tried anything else or figured out what the problem was? My fan does either not start at all or will start for a little bit and then turn off again. Changed the switch but to no effect. Not sure what to do next.
Not had much result tbh. I'm currently running the fan flat out on number 3 to see if that frees the motor up a bit but as I only use the car on nice dry days its only been done a couple of times so far, so can't really see any improvement yet.

Just reading your post, do you get problems of it cutting out on setting 1 and 2? From a bit of research the resistor I replaced is just used for these settings but setting 3 does not. So if you are having probs on just those settings it could be the resistor.

1983 Cabby Gti All White Edition

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Hi,

what happens is that if I turn on the fan (it doesn't matter which setting) it comes on for 2 mins or so and then stops. sometimes it does not come on at all (again regardless of the setting).

I better sort this out before the real winter starts! Any other ideas what I should check next?

Hope you get yours sorted as well, sorry I am not much help with this stuff. I am only new to the trade ;-)

1992 1.8 Golf Cabrio

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look in the how-to guides as i put a how to remove the heater blower motor guide step by step up.
took about an hour.

dan

here for a good time, not a long time

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My fan was "whistling" so I used the excellent "How to Guide" and removed the blower from the top.  Has anyone ever managed to separate the impeller from the motor successfully and without causing damage to either part???  

I lubed mine and now its lovely and silent but to change the brushes on the motor it appears you would need to separate the two as the brushes wont pass the plastic surrounding the motor.  Just asking for future reference - it's running beautifully quietly now though!!!

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Does anyone have the wiring diagram for the fresh air fan as I would like to check that first?

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Sean Kerlin said

Does anyone have the wiring diagram for the fresh air fan as I would like to check that first?

year and model would be nice to know as well as if it is a/c equipped or not.

What do Divorces, Great Coffee, and Car Electrics all have in common?

They all start with GOOD Grounds.

Where are my DIY Links?

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1987 Golf MK1 Cabriolet 1.8, 8v without air-conditioning.  

I have just bought the car and the fan does not work on any speed setting

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Screen Shot 2018-08-03 at 8.01.38 AM.png

Ok, Quick test of the switch using a paper clip held in pliers. REmove the switch from the connector.
Key on and in the Run position.


If you jumper from the bk/r to any of the other 3 wires your fan should spin.  if it doesn't the you are lookinf at the Fuse, motor or the ground being bad. Check the ground prior to Yanking out the blower motor.

I have had the ground wires burn up on 4 of my last 4 Cabbies, the caveat is that I have a/c.



Yes it is a horrible picture but you get the idea…that burned up ground wire connection caused it to not work on any speed.

If the Fan spins when you jumper it, it's a bad switch.

What do Divorces, Great Coffee, and Car Electrics all have in common?

They all start with GOOD Grounds.

Where are my DIY Links?

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I will test the switch as you set out above. I will also check the earth and that will give me a few answers. 

Thank you Briano1234

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I have tested the switch and it is working correctly.  I can also hear the load on the engine when I turn the fan on so the fan must be seized.

Is it easy to remove the fan?

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I've had the same issue for nine years with mine. Today I get round to look at it. The resistor pack at the front of the fan motor has resistance values printed on them. 1.4 ohms for the left hand side connections and 0.7ohms for the right hand side. Left hand side is speed 1 and I'm getting resistance values in excess of 3megohms. (I.e. as good as an open circuit) and I'm getting 0.7ohms on speed 2 right hand side connections. 
I'm going to replace the resistor and I'd wager this is the speed 1 problem. 
It's part of the loom so I'll cut and solder locally. 
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