Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 19:16:57 -0600
Reply-To: Stan Wilder <wilden1-1@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stan Wilder <wilden1-1@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: Re: heater switch failure prone?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
The quality of the switch shouldn't be in question here.
The switch just simply overloads and draws too many AMPS when the blower
motors get old and the bearings begin to seize up.
I've had several Vanagons and the blower motors for the most part seemed to
start slow then work pretty good after they finally reached specific
switched RPM controlled by the Resistor in the housing.
Some squealed, some rattled, some growled but eventually they all worked.
I agree that the switch might be the weakest link but you need that before a
fire. Possibly a fuse in line could improve and reduce the failure rate of
the switch but the blower motor will need to be replaced to reduce the
current draw.
I've heard people lubricating the oillite bearings after drilling tiny oiler
holes at the right locations.
This seemed to be a fix that lasted several years.
Stan Wilder
Engine Ceramics
214-352-4931
www.engineceramics.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Beierl" <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 6:40 PM
Subject: Re: heater switch failure prone?
> 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"
>
>
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