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Astra H heater fan not working. Not the usual problems...

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8.9K views 1 reply 1 participant last post by  RTID75  
R
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
My fan has been intermittent in autumn / winter for a while. I'm damp conditions occasionally it didn't work at all. Usually, within minutes or hours it would start to work again. In summer it has always been fine.

On Thursday, on turning the fan up to 4 it stopped working and hasn't worked since.

I've had a look today and I've got a really odd problem - I have power to and from the resistor on all speeds (checked with a multimeter), when I switch to off position the power disappears as it should. I know the fan motor works as I've tried it over the battery and also tested a new fan motor - not working connected to resistor, working connected to battery. I've also tried three resistors - one of them brand new.

Why on earth when I plug the motor in to the resistor does it not work? REALLY confused and ****** of with it now!

Thanks to anyone who might be able to help! :)
 
R
#2 · (Edited)
I'm not an electrician, but I have a decent amateur level of knowledge.

It dawned on me on Monday that power coming out of the resistor and a fan that is proven to work only meant one thing - a duff earth.

Now, not knowing where the earth wire went, I gave up at that point and booked the car in at work. The lad looking at it knew exactly where the fan earthed, which was right in front of me the whole time just under the right hand side of the airbag.

For whatever reason, the nut holding the earth lead down was almost completely off, leaving the earth lead barely touching metal at all. This on off contact had meant the last half an inch of the lead was burnt out, the plastic covering burnt off.

So, the end was chopped, a new loop connector crimped on and the whole things done up tight. Fixed! :)

Here's a tip - don't take your fan motor out then do 3 hours of night driving in about 6 degrees. I found out the hard way Tuesday night on my drive up to Doncaster then back that with the fan motor out the cold outside air comes straight into the car. Not fun! :lol:
 
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