96 passat heater fan not working

[macerena]

hello all,
i am new to this site and do not have the newest, shinest passat by a long way. the car in question is a 96 passat 1.9gl tdi estate in black magic mettallic with vr6 tailgate spoiler, leather interior and kosei 17" wheels and alpine ice. it is not a pimp car and also not the fastest but it is a good honest good looking sturdy car which is not overtly complicated like many newer car available these days and has been largely reliable throughout the 4 years i have had it.

Now to the nitty gritty. the heater fan motor has packed in but on occasions it decides to work for a short period before stopping again. when i decides to run it will provide both hot or cool air as and when you want. the dealer bless there cotton socks are happy to supply a replacement motor for the princely sum of approx £260ish including vat and i thought highway robbery involved **** Turpin.

Anyway i need some advice or and help in finding a cost effective way to rectify this problem and allow me to have clear demisted windows again,
i await your advice with interest,
macerena

[Turkster]

ebay sell them and so do breakers yards, for a lot less cash than the ********, ooops i mean dealers,

[Huweth]

Can you check that power is being delivered to the fan unit with a multimetre? If there is no power, it isn't the fan. If there is power, just replace it with a used one you know works.
It's probably the motor bushes that have failed. You can replace the bushes, which is cheaper, but you have to modify some from something else like an alternator as you can't buy direct replacements.
Let us know what the fix is.

[Diesel]

Dont know if you have sorted this out but......

If the fan is not working it spossible the bushes in the motor are gone.

easy to fix.

[SteveB-UK]

I recently replaced my heater blower, relatively simple - remove glove box, remove passenger air bag as it really gets in the way, remove old heater blower and re-fit everything.

I bought a new unit (identical to the VW supplied one) from Volkspart 020 8309 6200 it was about £98 including next day delivery.

Just don't switch on the ignition until you've reconnected the air bag otherwise you'll have to clear the air bag fault code that will register.