heater fan, 03 sharan

[geejayy]

hi guys , ive had the problem with the front heater fan for a while as in it would only work on settings 3 & 4, then only number 4.
now it will only work on setting 4 for he first few seconds of swiching on and its running very slowly & knocking before slowing to a stop.
it wont restart till the ingition has been left off for a while.

do you recon this indicates a dead risistor or duff fan brushes , or maybe both ?
i'm just trying to find out what spares i need & howmuch i need to take to bits.

cheerz in advance, gord.

[justabof]

I'm not certain about your fan specifically, but the symptoms sound like those I've encountered several times with electric motors in general.
I think that the motor shaft bearings (probably bronze bushes) are seizing-up.
If you can get at it, try turning the fan blade by hand to feel for any resistance due to stiffness in the bearings. If it doesn't turn freely, I would have a go at stripping the motor, cleaning the shaft where it passes through the bearings, and oil the bearings well.
Put it back together and you should be in business.
(I'm assuming that the motor is like every other I've had this problem with, including hifi turntables, dishwasher pumps, dehumidifier fans etc. etc.)
Good luck!

[kenney]

If the fan does not run freely it will overheat and destroy the resistor,hence it will only run on 4,until it finally gives up the ghost

[geejayy]

fan removed and checked,rotor turned freely , cleaned old brush residue away and ran some oil onto the bareings bareings seem smooth with just a little play. brushes seem worn judgeing by the amount of dust. test run and it seemed a little improved but still slows and runns jerkilly
i've heard about turning brushes around ? any ideas, is this as simple as swopping left for right or do they need to be turned 180 degrees in their holders?

[kenney]

it is not going to help turning the brushes if they are worn

[geejayy]

new parts on order, i'll post results if good or bad:beerchug:

[geejayy]

solved for £7:biglaugh:

[justabof]

£7 for new brushes - well done to you ( and to VW for supplying new brushes rather than a complete new motor!)

[geejayy]

£7 for new brushes - well done to you ( and to VW for supplying new brushes rather than a complete new motor!)

nothing to do with vw,
being flat broke & trying to repair on a shoestring i typed 'heater/blower fan motor brushes ' into google and found an ebay seller or two , all of them were selling generic brushes which fit most vehicles but , as he said even wth the ones he doesn't list its usually just a job of adapting them by fileing the back of the brushes to fit the carriersthen solder or crimp the braided wire to the small copper coil.

i was so impressed i typed a long winded 'how to' post but aol crashed and i lost it.
its not a difficult job & a bet a work shop would bill ya at least £100.
for fitting a new fan
tis only a qwuick fix and only time will tell how long these brushes last , the ones i took out looked to be carbon & sintered copper whereas the replacements were carbon only and prob may wear faster.

but i get to demist my windscrene again so its all good:beerchug:

[geejayy]

still not 100%, looks like resistor may be shot too,

[geejayy]

now here's a technical question and i hope some one can help me with-
heater/blower fan resistor on the top of them ( part 7m0959263g)
is a thermic fuse , all the spec details have worn off any idea what the ampage & cut out tempreture rateing are??

does any one know?? will it be different for each type of resistor?
when it comes to resistors are all zmo959263 interchangeable or is the suffix letter important?

cheerz in advance , gord.

[geejayy]

resistor tested as aok, the saga continues,:banghead:
fuses, well the ones i can find, look ok,
i guess that leaves ;-
the fan itself,- not fixed:Blush2:.
relay? , cant find one:boggled:,
duff dashboard switch.
or shot wireing somewhere?:dunno:

[roscarbon]

hi geejayy, sounds like you are having fun there :(

I have just bought a 2003 VW Sharan Carat 130 TDI with manual Air Con, and the air con isn't working. I got it regassed by my local mechanic and whilst this made the light come on (AC button light), the air con still isn't working. I noticed also that the fan only works on 3 and 4, and there is a noise (like a stuck flap) coming from inside the dash when ignition turned to 1 before starting vehicle.

Does this sound like same problem you had? I am on a shoestring in a huge way too so appreciate any advice. Also, I have no idea where these resistors and motors are located, any tips on where I can find illustrated instructions for getting the resistor out to replace it and maybe the motor too?

Thanks, hope you get yours fixed

[geejayy]

hi roscarbon,
' sound like a stuck flap'

thats interesting coz i often get that , there is a flap motor of some sort refered to in the heater / blower system but i've not dug that deeply yet. i've put that noise down to central locking problems but the sound could be coming from the dash ( i'm going deaf, motorcycles /rock music and shotguns)
the fan motor is behind the glovebox and the resistor is just to the right of the fan and looks like this when removed from the black plastic air box , front a/c ones sockets are green , rear ones are blue , a/a/c ones from newer sharans are mostly red and a totally different shape (hedgehogs)

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk305/geejay_2008/IMAG0003.jpg

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk305/geejay_2008/IMAG0004-1.jpg

i've lost the link to a good 'how to' for removeing the glove box , i think its on the galaxy owners website mines been in bits for months and i can't remember off hand:Blush2:
but i'll see if i can find it

[roscarbon]

Thanks very much. Stuck flap doesn't sound good, sounds darn expensive and thats worrying!

[roscarbon]

hi everyone. the noise is louder and definitely sounds like a stuck flap. When you start the car, just before starting engine but when key is primed at position two, there is a sound from inside the dash of a flap trying to move but sounds stuck. Does anyone know how easy this is to fix? Is it possible it is caused by a faulty heater blower resister because my resistor is faulty (in process of replacing it at moment).

[roscarbon]

Hi again. Well I had my motor blower resistor fixed and that has got the fans working on 1,2,3 and 4 unlike before when it only worked on 3 and 4. The AC light now comes on as it should on dash when button depressed, HOWEVER, still no cold air.

I had it to garage today, my local mechanic. He found that no voltage is even getting to the compressor. When he manually put voltage to it, he said it made a horrible noise and is obviously fubar. I would not mind that as I will get a recon compressor or a used one somewhere, but he said that won't solve it because that doesn't solve the lack of voltage getting to the compressor unit. I am really gutted because i travel with a disabled lady who has to have air con in this heat and its GOT to work. Does anyone have any ideas as to why no voltage is getting to the compressor even when dash AC light is on?

Any suggestions at all would be HUGELY appreciated. Thanks

[kenney]

the first you need to check is if there is gas in the system,although you stated you had it regassed,you need to check it again,the Sharan has a problem regarding the gas leaking from the top of the condenser

[roscarbon]

yes there is gas, but regardless of that the compressor sounds like a bag of nuts and bolts so must be defective, and there is no voltage to it which is the crucial part of the problem i need help with. thanks for your advice. ringing garage to treble check gas again, but it was checked this morning and was still full

[roscarbon]

p.s. a third check was actually made today when i think about it as the diagnostics would show low pressure in system but it didn't register any faults and did before we regassed her. thanks again

[kenney]

What was the fault reading before the regassing,

[roscarbon]

Thanks Kenney, I took a picture of it as its easier as I still have the print out here.
This was before I had the blower motor resistor repaired14499

[kenney]

If the compressor is faulty,it might have blown a fuse,as the code 00926 suggests, IF the system is empty for gas this will not show up on a diagnostics on these vehicles.Have you deleted the fault? as If a fault has been stored, the Climatronic will be switched off either partially or entirely depending on the severity of the fault.

[roscarbon]

Hi, sorry it doesn't have climatronic, just the old fashioned dials. Does that change anything?
Thanks

[kenney]

no

[roscarbon]

Ok, well in answer to your earlier post I don't honestly know if my mechanic deleted the fault but he did say the car has no faults showing today. Maybe he meant no MORE faults (meaning he is ignoring old ones) although I think not as he said "there are no faults on the car showing whatsoever". I checked every single fuse in the fuse box and I believe he checked them all again himself today.
I am not sure what to do next, he has the car still and i am going to see him first thing in morning. You mentioned Climatronic can be switched off. I didn't think Climatronic existed in all VWs, I thought it was just the ones with digital climate control but mine only has manual AC. Assuming I am wrong there then, is there something I can try to turn it back on?
Thanks very much, really appreciate any help with this.

[kenney]

Air Conditioning and Climatronic is much the same system,AC has manual controls and the Climatronic is electronicaly controlled.Since the compressor is buggered,i would replace it first,to do so he will need to retreive the gas,which will tell him if he has the same amount which he put in,you need to find out what is wrong with the compressor,if something has gone adrift,you may need to flush the system,otherwise particals floating around the system will destroy the new compressor.Once the new compressor is in place and you know the system has the correct amount of gas,then you can start the fault finding

[roscarbon]

Thanks Kenney, very grateful for your help. The problem I have is being in that awful catch 22 of being flat broke and not knowing whether i am opening up a hole deeper than I go! If i replace the compressor (no idea what that will cost but will be looking for a used one ideally to save money) then we will still have this unknown problem to get to grips with. I am trying to dig into why the voltage isn't reaching the compressor now, before replacing the compressor as it will be the same problem I am faced with then. If it was say a grand to fix the 'other' problem then I wouldn't waste money i can't afford on a compressor. Tough choices all round, thanks again

[kenney]

i understand,the only advise i can give is to remove the gas and note the amount taken out,if there is not enough gas the air conditioner pressure switch,will register this (without showing a fault)it will feed the info to the control unit which in turn will not send power to the air conditioner magnetic coupling on the compressor

[roscarbon]

Kenney, were you born a genius or did you have to study for it? :D :D :D
The problem is far from fixed, but we are now making ground THANKS TO YOU.

This morning I took your comments (printed) to my mechanic and he said it made sense and that he doesn't know an awful lot about how the VW AC system works. So he plugged in the AC machine and it slowly discharged, measuring only 9 grams of gas out of the system. So, thanks very much for recommending doing this as we would not have done so without your advice. I would assume you agree with my mechanic that there must therefore be a leak in the condenser. I have one ordered and being fitted today. The compressor still may be knackered but no point going any further without a sealed system.

A question for you now comes up, my mechanic said that the noise the compressor made was "awful" - BUT he said it is possible that it sounded like that because the system was empty of gas. Do you think thats a possible? Would be GREAT if i didn't have to replace the compressor and obviously we will find out soon enough once we have a charged sealed gas system and condenser.

Next step after that will be a used compressor to see if the voltage does return once the system is charged. Thanks so much.

[kenney]

You are jumping the gun a bit here,i said there was a problem with the the condenser leaking on the Sharan,but that does not mean it is leaking on yours,however the problem does seem to be the lack of gas.regarding the compressor check the nut on the front of the magnetic coupling they can loosen,and the compressor then sounds terrible.The normal procedure to find the leak(if it is a minor leak) is to fill tracing liqued with the gas,start the system and let the pressure build up,but here you may have a problem if the compressor is duff.The compressor will not rotate if there is no gas in the system therefor it will not be noisy

[roscarbon]

Thanks, not jumping the gun too much, as I am not assuming anything yet just being VERY hopeful due to lack of cash! Will update shortly .Thanks again

[roscarbon]

just replied but lost it all. The general gist of it was as follows...

THANK YOU VERY VERY VERY MUCH KENNEY.
We traced a small leak from condensor, found it leaked at the top where you suggested and replaced it. Compressor working fine and AC nice and cold :)

Small fly in ointment...

Water leak into front passenger footwell. I believe this is probably a broken or disconnected water drain from the AC system. The hessian material under the dash in passenger footwell is wet and dripped down. I have taken glovebox off and pulled hessian stuff away, found a drip coming from black plastic box which is all clipped together securely and i can't remove it. Broken two clips already! I can take pictures if it helps explain where i mean. Do you have any ideas for how to fix this leak or get the plastic covers off under there?

Once again, THANK YOU, pure genius!!!!!

[kenney]

i think the black box you are refering to is the air condtioning housing,which can not be seperated,without taking out the complete unit.The question is does it leak when it rains or just when you use the AC.the drain i think you can access from the engine compartment bulkhead

[roscarbon]

Thanks Kenney, in answer to your question, no its not when it rains, its when the AC is used. It drips around a table spoon full per half hour into the passenger footwell.

[geejayy]

resistor tested as aok, the saga continues,:banghead:
fuses, well the ones i can find, look ok,
i guess that leaves ;-
the fan itself,- not fixed:Blush2:.
relay? , cant find one:boggled:,
duff dashboard switch.
or shot wireing somewhere?:dunno:

problem sort of solved,- short out in the fuse box from what the mechanic said after he serviced the motor and took a look yesty,fuse looked ok but it was on the back of the board.
possibly due to trying to run an identical fan and resistor from a scrapped mk1 galaxy, problem is that the fan itsself was a mm or 2 deeper and rubbed the houseing b4 grinding to a halt.
original fan/motor refitted & fan now works at all 4 speeds:D
but there don't seem to be much air being pushed out, if its enough to demist the window that 'll do me for another winter, if not i guess i'll be scratchingmy head for another year or so.

glad to hear roscarbon's a/c problem is on the mend, re water drip into passenger footwell
has the pollen filter been changed recently? check old posts i seeem to remember something about a blocked filter/drain holes causing damp in foot wells & misted windows

as an example- http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?2347-Water-leak-into-front-passenger-footwell&highlight=sharan+water+leak+passenger+footwell