Dead Heater Fan

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   Ok I'm driving home from work yesterday and I turn the heater fan up and nothing!! There is still heat coming out of the vents but the fan isn't working.  As you all know I'm a real newbie at trying to fix things myself so you will have to explain it in lay persons language.  So what do I do now?  Do I need a whole new heater unit or is this a common thing to break down with an easy fix?

Hugh

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Fiero308 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 01 July 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 107	Post Options Post Reply Quote Fiero308 Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Dead Heater Fan Posted: 24 February 2009 at 11:11am
	Ok I'm driving home from work yesterday and I turn the heater fan up and nothing!! There is still heat coming out of the vents but the fan isn't working. As you all know I'm a real newbie at trying to fix things myself so you will have to explain it in lay persons language. So what do I do now? Do I need a whole new heater unit or is this a common thing to break down with an easy fix? Hugh

Capt Fiero Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Founding Member Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 4039	Post Options Post Reply Quote Capt Fiero Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 24 February 2009 at 1:27pm
	Hugh, turn the heater onto high, with the ignition on, then pop open the front hood and look for the heater blower motor. Hopefully its not buried under your car amp system. It'll look like a black cylinder thing at the firewall about middle of the car. Take something solid like a ratchet handle and smack the motor, if it spins up and runs, then it is the fan motor that is faulty, its about $40 at your local Lordco/Napa. In a normal Fiero its about 30min - 1hr job. However in your car with the layout, it could be a fair bit longer. I'd have to see a pic of your front compartment to tell for sure. OK if it does not spin up when you smack it, it could be the switch, does it work in ANY speed? The Fiero uses a different mode for the low speeds vs high speed. If it does not work in any speed, I would lean more to the motor being bad. Also check the fuse. If the fuse is bad, this can turn into a worst case scenario, as now we have to find out why it blew the fuse and where the short is. Your car being as custom as it is, nothing can be assumed and everything will have to be checked. It could even be something as small as the wire popped off the back of the motor, you did say you just recently had a bunch of stuff re-wired, maybe they tugged when they should have pushed? David
	Capt Fiero 88 Fiero GT 5spd V6 Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd.

Capt Fiero Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Founding Member Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 4039	Post Options Post Reply Quote Capt Fiero Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 24 February 2009 at 1:33pm
	You see the white squirrel cage fan, that is the other side of the blower, you want the motor side, which is on the other side of the squirrel cage. The pic he has of it before he opened it kinda shows the motor, but I could not get the image cleaned up enough to give you a good perspective of it.
	Capt Fiero 88 Fiero GT 5spd V6 Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd.

Fiero308 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 01 July 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 107	Post Options Post Reply Quote Fiero308 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 24 February 2009 at 8:30pm
	thanks a lot for the info guys. The fan does not work at any speed. I probably won't get to this until Saturday so I'll update you guys then. Hugh

Patrick Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 19 April 2008 Location: Vancouver Status: Offline Points: 5	Post Options Post Reply Quote Patrick Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 24 February 2009 at 10:08pm
	Hugh, I don't know the history of your Fiero (prior to the conversion), but if it had been sitting for awhile there might've been critters nesting (or storing food) in the blower area. If the fan was rubbing against any kind of stuff in there (from varmits or trees), this might be enough over time to blow the fuse. Anyway, check the easy things first like the fuse. If it's blown, simply replace it and see how long before it blows again. (Maybe it was just a fluke that it blew.) If the fuse isn't blown, then you've got more digging to do.