Blower only works on position 4

[Stuart W]

My heater blower won't work on positions 1-2-3 any more and 4 is a bit noisy to be using all the time, so does anyone have any idea what the problem is?

I don't suppose it could be something as simple as a fuse? I see from the handbook that the blower has two fuses, but of course the diagrams in the manual are totally different to the fuse layout in the car.

I saw something in another VW forum about a resistor - if that's the problem would a mechanically clueless person like myself be able to replace it?

BTW, someone raised the identical problem a good while ago, but there were no replies:

http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=28557

[Quatrelle]

Could be the variable resistor which slows the fan down for positions 1, 2 and 3.

I read about it somewhere, but can't remember where....:o

[henley_regatta]

I had this happen on my last car (a Volvo). On that, it was a "Resistor pack" that had gone (not a variable resistor; presumably a set of discrete ones).

I paid up and looked big to get it fixed during a service; I don't recall it being too expensive but then at Volvo prices that could be anything under 4 figures so take this with a huge pinch of salt....

[jwturpin]

it's your resistor pack thats gone. Not sure what it looks like in the Passat, or where it's located, however, it normally consists of a big ceramic coated set of resistors, normally two....
One for position 1, one for position 2, and both combined for position 3. Position 4 is direct voltage so no resistor needed.

In my vauxhall, it was £23 + VAT as a part to buy and 30 mins to swap out. Dealer quoted £145 inc VAT and labour.

I then read that its highly unlikely that the resistors would go, more likely the thermal fuse attached to them, indicating the resistor pack had overheated at some point as it blows at 240C

Turns out there's a drainage hole for water draining away from windscreen behind the pollen filter, which gets blocked with leaves and it can make water overflow into cabin and over the fuse causing a short circuit with the resistor, hence overheating.

Now I'm not suggesting this is the case, but I am suggesting your resistor pack has overheated and the thermal fuse has blown.

If this is the case, they are 69p each from Maplins and a quick soldering job sorts the problems out, if you can locate the resistor pack in the first place.

JT

[Stuart W]

Thanks for the replies, particularly JT:D

Don't fancy shelling out £150 or so, so I'll have to do something short of just leaving it at the dealer and asking them to get on with it.

But with the advice received I can hopefully get a much cheaper alternative - forewarned is forearmed!

[james_tiger_woo]

Have you tried an Indy to check it over?

[Quatrelle]

Have you tried an Indy to check it over?

Or a local Bosch agent?

[martin1810]

Remove glovebox, remove metal plate covering blower motor. You should see resistor pack which unplugs. Buy new one and replace. It's often the overheating fuse thats gone so if you can use a soldering iron and a multimeter it will cost very little to repair. Goodluck

[eob]

Common fault on 5 Series BMWs.
Mines went. Fairly cheap/easy to replace.
Not one of your more, @rse clenching failures. ;)

What age is you VW? Still in warranty? If your car is a B6 I'm still suprised at such an early failure. :confused:

[Stuart W]

Remove glovebox, remove metal plate covering blower motor. You should see resistor pack which unplugs. Buy new one and replace. It's often the overheating fuse thats gone so if you can use a soldering iron and a multimeter it will cost very little to repair. Goodluck

Thanks for that Martin, I haven't had a chance to have a proper look yet, but will do soon, although looking at the glovebox and reading past posts on here even getting that out looks a bit tricky. Pity it's not just like my old Mondeo glovebox, which just pulled out.

Luckily the reasonable weather at the moment means I can manage with the thing as it is, but if it was winter time I'd be a bit more hasty about getting it sorted.

[Stuart W]

What age is you VW? Still in warranty? If your car is a B6 I'm still suprised at such an early failure. :confused:

Are you asking me, eob?

The age and mileage is in my signature, although it's now pushing 90,000 miles.

[martin1810]

Glovebox held in by seven bolts. Remove them and insert small screwdriver in slot near bottom to release. Pull out.

[toneil461]

Stuart, dead easy to replace the resistor. You dont have to remove the glovebox. Under the glovebox area (below dash) you will find a material type cover that his held by two screw type fixings., remove fixings using your fingers and remove cover. You'll find your pollen filter is located under this cover . look upwards and you'll see the resistor fitted in it's housing it'll have about 3 wires/connector going to it. The resistor slides out from the housing. Romove wires etc and refit new unit. The resistor DOES fail I have changed them before on Passats
Hope this helps! Terry..

[Stuart W]

Thanks, guys - I'll hopefully get to it next week, and if I can't get at it without removing the glovebox I'll revert to Martin's advice :o

[Stuart W]

Sorted now - as Toneil says you just remove the cover under the glovebox and take it from there - you don't even need any tools, although you might need a lamp or torch.

The resistor cost around £35 - if I'd known it was going to be so easy I might have tried to get one from a breakers and saved a couple of pounds, but it's done now.

But thanks for all the help :beerchug:

[toneil461]

Well done Stuart! all ready now for Winter.
Terry..

[Gerry T]

Just had the same problem on my 2006 2.0TDI Passat. The resistor cost £30 ands a few pence from a main dealer. It is easy to get at and does not involve dismantling the glove box.
Access is gained from the passenger footwell. Remove the 2 plastic screws holding up the foam cover (this also gives access to the pollen filter). You will see a black plastic electrical connector with four wires that goes into a white plastic holder. Squeeze the ends of the black plug to release the locks and pull out. At one end of the white socket is a lug that when squeezed will allow the socket to be slid to one side and removed. The white socket is the resistor unit. Replacement is the opposite of removal. Takes ten minutes tops.
Unfortunately for me the new resistor pack lasted four days before the same fault appeared. Have contacted my dealer today by email and await a reply incase they supplied a faulty part or there is an underlying fault that caused it to blow so soon. Can't think what though.
Pity there isn't a Haynes manual for this model yet. The previous model Passat is different from this one.

[damomac]

Hi all,

My 2005 1.9TDI has just developed this fault.

What is the correct name of this resistor and I'm guessing any VW dealership should stock it ?

Many thanks.

[martin1810]

VW call it a "series resistor" the part number should be 1K0 959 263A and cost approx £30.00.

[damomac]

Thanks for that Martin ! :beerchug:

[damomac]

Hi all,

Some feedback on this. I managed to fit the series resitor in less than 10 minutes. I didn't have to remove the glovebox and it was a type of foam/rubber cover which is located between the bottom of the glovebox and the passenger side carpet or directly above a tall passengers feet.

No tools were needed.

The part was €48.10 from my local VW Dealer here in the Rip Off Republic of Ireland.

Hope this helps anyone else with a similar problem and thanks again to everyone here.

[Gerry T]

I have since repaired the fault for 69pence. The thermal fuse had blown. I bought one from my local Maplin store (got the guy to read the rating printed on it as my eyesight not so good). Then cut the old one off and soldered new part in. Took 30 mins from removing the resitor unit to replacing it in working order. Has now been working to two weeks perfectly.

[damomac]

Hi Gerry,

Would you have any idea of the Maplin part number of that thermal relay ? My replacement part from VW has failed after 1 week and my local VW garage will not replace it as they reckon something else is and they want to book the car in to investigate further.

I called into my local Maplin store in Dundalk but they were unable to read the ratings from the "new" blown series resistor.

I'll try another Maplin store in the next few days.

[jwturpin]

Hi Gerry,

Would you have any idea of the Maplin part number of that thermal relay ? My replacement part from VW has failed after 1 week and my local VW garage will not replace it as they reckon something else is and they want to book the car in to investigate further.

I called into my local Maplin store in Dundalk but they were unable to read the ratings from the "new" blown series resistor.

I'll try another Maplin store in the next few days.

unfortunately, i can't remember as i threw the old part away. However, they said they only needed the thermal rating. A thermresistor is just like an ordinary one, just with a thermal rating rather than an ohms rating.
Ask for a 240C rated, should suffice.

[Gerry T]

unfortunately, i can't remember as i threw the old part away. However, they said they only needed the thermal rating. A thermresistor is just like an ordinary one, just with a thermal rating rather than an ohms rating.
Ask for a 240C rated, should suffice.
The Maplin code is RA23A (240 deg C rating). This was the rating advised by the sales person in my local Maplin store as that was he claimed was written on the new component that failed. He did seem to be very confident although it did seem a bit high to me at the time and I suspect the lowest rated one will suffice such as the RA14Q (93deg C).
The VW dealer is probably right is suggesting that there may be another fault that needs investigating prior to replacing with another new component. A standard response from a good electrician. I had exactly the same thoughts but my dealer (in Bristol) failed to respond to a simple email to even suggest that. However, my logic on fitting the new part myself was this:-
The blower works fine on speed 4 thus showing that the motor is okay and is not faulty. (An ammeter would prove this but not tried.) Note the main fuse has never blown. If the fuse in the fuse panel had blown then I would agree immediately that there was a fault causing it.
There was no evidence of overheating (discolouration or singeing) on the component at all.
I think that the thermal fuse was incorrectly rated for temperature or current and the fault, which seems to happen to a lot of people, is a result of that or a bad batch of thermal fuses.
After replacing the thermal fuse with a component with sufficient "nuisance" margin my repair has worked reliably since. Now approx two months.
A tip on affecting a good soldered joint would be to use a needle file or emery cloth to clean the joint area really well prior to soldering. Don't remove all of the original component's wire tails (just expose the copper) as these seem to have been spot welded to the steel prongs and soldering to steel is not readily achievable (I had a dry joint on my first attempt).
Hope this helps. Do let me know how you get on.

[damomac]

Hi Gerry,

Well last week I purchased 2 of those items from Maplin, using the exact code. I removed the old resistor and then used a Dremel tool to clean the contacts on both sides. The joints looked ok but when I plugged the part back into the Passat, the fans didn't work and the resistor pack got extremely hot. I had to cool it down in a puddle of water ! :) No shortage of these in Ireland right now.

Anyway, as my DIY plan has failed, I'm gonna try and track down a 2nd hand resistor pack from a scrap yard and see what happens then.

Thanks for the info.

[damomac]

Well I'm back again and probably a bit wiser too. I got hold of a 2nd hand resistor pack and popped it into my car. Switched on the ignition, fan to 1, 2, 3 and 4. Nothing on 1, 2 but 3 and 4 were ok. When I switched it back off 2 worked but not 1.

I did all this a 2nd time and eventually got all 4 positions spinning but only when turning the switch anti-clockwise.

I also noticed that the resistor pack got quite hot for the 30 seconds or so it was plugged in so I'm guessing it's my fan motor that busted. I would normally leave this set to position 1 anytime I'min the car to keep the airflow going.

Any other hints on this ? Are these motors hard to get at ?

[martin1810]

I don't know if anyone is interested but I would be happy to replace the thermal fuse for people. I would need someone to send me a spare broken one to start the ball rolling. That way a broken one could be on it's way to me whilst a repaired one is on the way back. Given post cost and price of fuse I should think the job would cost less than £5, which is a lot better than £30 for a new one. PM me if you want to help start the ball rolling.

(This is an offer to help so if the MODS think it's a money making enterprise, just delete the post.)

[martin1810]

Well I'm back again and probably a bit wiser too. I got hold of a 2nd hand resistor pack and popped it into my car. Switched on the ignition, fan to 1, 2, 3 and 4. Nothing on 1, 2 but 3 and 4 were ok. When I switched it back off 2 worked but not 1.

I did all this a 2nd time and eventually got all 4 positions spinning but only when turning the switch anti-clockwise.

I also noticed that the resistor pack got quite hot for the 30 seconds or so it was plugged in so I'm guessing it's my fan motor that busted. I would normally leave this set to position 1 anytime I'min the car to keep the airflow going.

Any other hints on this ? Are these motors hard to get at ?

From memory the motor isn't too bad once you take out the glovebox. I wonder if it could be a switch fault. (If the contacts are damaged inside it)

[damomac]

Hi Martin, I'll check the switch later and I guess the next step for me is to try and track down a 2nd hand blower motor at the weekend.

Yesterday evening, with no resistor pack installed, blower position 4 was working fine as normal but after about 90 seconds of usage it suddenly stopped.

Turned out the 40 AMP fuse blew. Got a 30 AMP replacement and blower position 4 is back working again.

[martin1810]

Hi damomac...That sounds like a motor fault. Might be worth taking it out and seeing if you can get to the brushes. It wouldn't be that hard to cut down some brushes and solder them in, assuming you can get to them.

[damomac]

I'm back after installing a new blower motor. Unfortunately and fustratingly, same symptons exist here.

I now guess that by process of elimination, this has to be the switch.

Is there any guides available on how to test and remove the switch ?

[damomac]

I finally got this problem fixed after giving it to my local VW / Audi Specialist.

This was after I had replaced both the switch and the motor. It turned out that some wire was damaged and they had to run new wires from the switch down to the resistor. Thankfully all this was done prior to the cold winter kicking in.

I hope this helps someone.

[sudhirbph]

Hi,
here is my story,
my blower was working only on position 4 for last 4 months. no issues with 4rth position till now. just a bit louder and gets too hot quickly.
so after reading this thread, i decided to do some diy starting with pulling the resistor pack out. i have checked the thermal fuse with multimeter and it was blown (1 not 0 ohm on the display)
so i bought a fuse, tried soldering it to the resistor after cutting the old one off leaving a bit of contacts of the old one so it is easy to solder.
soldering is a very tough job on these. i would say dont bother as it has to sit horizontally on the vertical tips of the resistor it wont stay easily and the more u try, you blow the fuse again due to over heating from solder tip.
so after blowing another fuse trying to solder, i bought 2nd fuse and sort of bent the ends tightly onto the tips of resistor so it wont move.
checked the connectivity now, showed 0 ohm. with all the excitement, plugged it into car (left it to hang in the air in the foot well) and turned the car on then flicked through all the positions.
All 1,2,3,4 positions worked fine.;)
was too excited again thinking i saved myself a lot of money, turned the car off and thought of pushing the resistor back into its housing.
i nearly burnt my hand off:aargh4::aargh4::aargh4::aargh4::aargh4:
the resistor was sooo hot!!!!! i ran the motor only for less than a minute!!!:aargh4::aargh4:
let the resistor cool a lil bit and tried all positions again..all worked..but the resistor is getting soo hot that second time i could smell something burning.

IS THIS BECAUSE I DID NOT PUSH THE RESISTOR PACK INTO ITS HOUSING before turing the blower on?? OR HAVE I DAMAGED THE RESISTOR PACK TRYING TO SOLDER IT?? DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE IF THE RESISTOR PACK IN HANGING IN THE FOOT WELL OR PUSHED INTO ITS HOUSING.

AM SCARED TO PUSH IT BACK INTO THE HOUSING AND TURN BLOWER ON..JUST IN CASE IT OVER HEATS AND BURNS SOMETHING INSIDE!!!

any ideas please help.
i may buy a new resistor pack and if that over heats too..then have to book it into ********.

[damomac]

Hi there,

Some of this sound similar to my past problems. My first resistor pack blew so I purchased a new one from VW. This lasted 1 week so I decided that it was worth attempting to repair it by soldering in a new thermal fuse. When this DIY repaired resistor pack was installed, the blower fans did initially work but I smelled something burning, as soon as I touched the resistor pack, it almost burned my fingers. For once I was happy for it to be raining in Ireland as I was quickly able to cool the resistor pack in a puddle of water.

From advice on here, I replaced the switch and then the motor itself. Neither of these solved the problem so I gve up and got my local mechanic to have a go. He found it useful to have a motor and switch to test with and eventually he determined that there must have been some wire shorted out in the loom so he installed some new cabling between the switch, motor and resistor pack. All's been fine since so I'm a happy camper.

Hope this helps !

P.S. If you are looking for a replacment switch and blower motor, give me a shout as I still have the originals here and left the new models installed in the car.

[planktonian]

I've got the same problem, don't know if the mods allow this (I'm not advertising for them!) but just found this on EBay: Heater Blower Resistor 1K0959263A VW Golf Caddy Eos Passat Touran Jetta Scirocco | eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heater-Blower-Resistor-1K0959263A-VW-Golf-Caddy-Eos-Passat-Touran-Jetta-Scirocco-/370625832332?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item564b05658c)

[planktonian]

just realised this is an old thread but might help anyone searching for the same problem

[Frelon]

Yes, had the same thing happen with my B6 about six weeks ago. The local VW dealer carried out a temporary repair (as other posters have done) whilst waiting the new part to arrive.

A week later all fixed.......now the same thing has happened, no speeds 1 -3 but 4 works OK. Have not used the car for three of those six weeks!

Back to VW then but searching like mad for the temporary fix resistor that they gave me until then!!

[Frelon]

OK, found the old resistor that the garage gave me after the last repair, but it did not work, so really was the failed resistor not the temporary fix! Must get to Maplins for a new thermal fuse in case this happens again!

Car into VW today and they replaced the resistance saying it must have been a faulty one. No charge as repairs are guaranteed for two years. So a result.

[Frelon]

Latest update is that the last replacement resistor blew again, so seems that the blower motor is failing and creating too much resistance. New motor on order.


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[Frelon]

New blower motor solved the problem......


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[davjeff]

Good - very helpful, just one question: how much of a job is it to take the glovebox out (Passat saloon 2006)? I can see 4 torx screws, but there are some electrical fittings built into it - airbag selection switch. etc. Can these be unplugged at the back fairly easily? A bit of re-assurance would be appreciated! Thanks.

[planktonian]

Good - very helpful, just one question: how much of a job is it to take the glovebox out (Passat saloon 2006)? I can see 4 torx screws, but there are some electrical fittings built into it - airbag selection switch. etc. Can these be unplugged at the back fairly easily? A bit of re-assurance would be appreciated! Thanks.

Motor should come out without removing glove box. First disconnect wire connector then you just twist it (can't remember whether clockwise or anti). Mine was very stiff, felt like it could break but then just snapped free. Check martin 1810's comment here:
Please Help how to remove the glovebox on a 2006 passat (http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?102130-how-to-remove-the-glovebox-on-a-2006-passat)

[RichardSEL]

23473

[davjeff]

Remove glovebox, remove metal plate covering blower motor. You should see resistor pack which unplugs. Buy new one and replace. It's often the overheating fuse thats gone so if you can use a soldering iron and a multimeter it will cost very little to repair. Goodluck

For the Passat 2006 140 tdi, no need to remove the glovebox. Take out the soft insulated cover in the bottom of the passenger footwell behind the glovebox - it's held with two thumbturn screws - no need even of a screwdriver. You will then see the multiplug connected to the resistor pack, pull it out, then slide the pack 4mm to the left, and take it out. IMPORTANT - DON'T SOLDER THE NEW FUSE - THE HEAT WILL DESTROY IT. Cut the old one away carefully, and clean the two spiked teminals. I cut the spades off two crimped connectors, and slipped one over each spike. I then bent the new fuse tails at 90 degrees, and dropped them into the connectors, before crimping tightly. It's working fine so far, you need a RA14Q ceramic fuse from Maplin's - 85p. VW quoted me £40.48 for a new resistor pack.

The whole job took me just 40 minutes, including replacing the footwell panel - a piece of cake!