Date:         Tue, 28 Dec 2004 19:40:15 -0500
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: heater switch failure prone?
Comments: To: Michael Knight <vwdormer@HOTMAIL.COM>
Comments: cc: felder@KNOLOGY.NET
In-Reply-To:  <BAY22-F22F538228BF2081979FB30CD990@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 14:45 12/27/2004, Michael Knight wrote:
>>From: Jim Felder
>>When it gave out was after I was warming the car in the driveway a few
>>days ago. The switch operated just fine, but when I can out later it
>>felt ver hard to move, and not has two postions, off and medium, and
>>it's not really easy to get it into either of them.

That's because the heat generated by poor contact inside the switch has
melted the switch body and allowed the contact spring to shove the fixed
contact out the rear of the switch.  Strange people like myself have been
known to repair such switches, but it hardly makes sense.

The way to prevent both the melted-switch syndrome and the melted
fuse-cover syndrome, not to mention the long-drive-in-the-rain-fuse-blowing
syndrome, is to add a separate circuit fused with 16 amps to power just the
blower high speed.  Run that to the 30 terminal of a relay, then remove the
high-speed wire from the switch and attach it to the 87 terminal.  Run a
small wire from the switch to the 85 terminal and from the 86 terminal to
ground.  That relieves both switch and circuit of the twelve amps the
blower draws on high speed.



>Okay well mine seems to switch into the positions fine but no fan. I gues I
>could chase the wires at the back of the switch to see if I am getting any
>juice. If not I guess I will be looking for a fan and pulling the dash to
>replace. Anyone have anu better ideas?

Erm...trace out the diagram and then follow it with your voltmeter.  Having
all three speeds fail suggests supply to the switch or the switch itself or
the ground, all of which are outside the heater box.  It *could* be the
motor, or wiring inside the box, but likelier not.

david

--
David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage," '85 GL "Poor Relation"