Octovai heater blower on high only

[Andy1966]

Hi, I hope someone can help.

Octavia '55 plate, the heater blower only works on the highest setting. All the other controls seem to be OK, AC still works...etc. Any ideas on what this might be / how I can fix it.

Grateful for any input.

Andy

[dsr]

Sounds like the controller module's dead. Only way to fix will be to replace. Only real way to diagnose is to remove and test.

:'(

D

[sherlocks VRS]

It will be the heater balast resistor common on skodas very easy on octy 2 to replace, if you look under the glovebox near the pollen filter housing you will see a multi block connector with heavy wires it dissapears into the heater box, all you do is unplug the unit from the heater box and disconect the multi plug, fit a new one and hey presto it will work, just make sure the heater fan motor isnt starting to seize up though, you can check this by removing the glove box and taking the fan out it just twists and comes away ( its a bayonet fitting ) if the fan spins freely its ok. the balast unit is a throw away unit unfortunately, and as far as i am aware dealer only, any probs give us a shout. Phil.

[Browny_37]

I would seriously look at removing the fan unit and giving the coils a blow out with compressed air or some sort of electrical circuit cleaner. Also i would use a lubricant like tri-flo to lube the bearing/bushes. Mine was continously popping thermal resistors until i did so.

Then replace with a new fan resistor module, you can get hold of a Thermal fuse and attach it permanently some how. But you would need to find a better way than just solder, because when its hot outside and you've got the fan on full belt.

More than likely it will do what mine did and melt the solder causing the thermal resistor to slide down the poles and short the actual resistor pack out.

Edited 2 February, 2010 by Browny_37

[dsr]

Then replace with a new fan resistor module, you can get hold of a Thermal fuse and attach it permanently some how. But you would need to find a better way than just solder, because when its hot outside and you've got the fan on full belt.

More than likely it will do what mine did and melt the solder causing the thermal resistor to slide down the poles and short the actual resistor pack out.

It's when it's on low speed that the problems arise. The lower the fan speed, the higher the power dissipated in the module so it gets hotter. Having a motor that is full of muck and taking a lot of current to overcome the extra friction in the bearings also increases the current in the circuit causing more heat dissipation in the module.

Is there enough space to fit one of these :-

Screw Mount Thermal Switch

Most electronic junctions are designed with a max temp of 125 deg. C so if the unit gets hot enough to melt the solder, it's too late :'(

D

[Andy1966]

Thanks. Once I actually found the unit it was the job of 5 minutes to replace the resistor. £32 from skodaspares.com.

[Gearay]

Hi,

I have a Skoda Octavia mk2 2005 1.9tdi. The heater resistor blew about 6 months ago. Bought the resistor from the dealer and replace it. Resistor blew again within 10 minutes with burning smell. Went to the dealer and they would not replace it under the 2 year warrenty as they suspected that there may be a fault in the wiring or electrical parts. This meant a huge bill. so, I pulled out the heator motor to check if it is working. The motor seemed to be fine. Cleaned it with electrical lubricant. After this more serious problem developed and that was as soon as I turned the heater switch to position 3 the 40 amp fuse popped. This happened without the motor not being connected. Even more serious problem developed the car would not start at all. Now I was in serious trouble. However, decided to tow it to an Auto Electrician. He established that the wiring under the dashboard was shorting with the metal which was causing to blow the heater resistor and blow the 40amp fuse. The total cost came to £300 as it took him whole day to investigate and fix the problem. This may not necessarily be in everyones situation but thought it is another area to be looked into. I hope this will be of help.

[Al_Bundy]

Just developed a similar problem.

With engine off but ignition on fan works fine on all settings. Turn engine on and fan doesn't come on on settings 1,2 or 3. However, on setting 4 it comes on fine and can then turn it down to settings 1,2 or 3 which now work fine.

Turn off engine and back to square one. Any ideas?

[Spatchmo]

Hello, my fan stopped working totally so i ordered a second hand one from ebay, when i went to replace it i found that the new one had been broken in the post, as i was fiddling about i tried to turn my old one and free'd it up, low and behold it now works but only on setting 4, like everyone else.

I understand that i have to change the resistor, can anyone tell me what the official part number is and post up a pic of where it is behind the glove box. I've taken my box out and taken the fan out and have put them all back now but i still dont understand quite where the resistor is.

thanks for your help!!

[khiz11]

It will be the heater balast resistor common on skodas very easy on octy 2 to replace, if you look under the glovebox near the pollen filter housing you will see a multi block connector with heavy wires it dissapears into the heater box, all you do is unplug the unit from the heater box and disconect the multi plug, fit a new one and hey presto it will work, just make sure the heater fan motor isnt starting to seize up though, you can check this by removing the glove box and taking the fan out it just twists and comes away ( its a bayonet fitting ) if the fan spins freely its ok. the balast unit is a throw away unit unfortunately, and as far as i am aware dealer only, any probs give us a shout. Phil.

hi I have a skoda Octavia 1.9 tdi the blower not working. I have replace the resistor exactly like you said. but I kant seem to find the fan motor under the glove. have you anymore details or pics where it is thanks

[khiz11]

Hi,

I have a Skoda Octavia mk2 2005 1.9tdi. The heater resistor blew about 6 months ago. Bought the resistor from the dealer and replace it. Resistor blew again within 10 minutes with burning smell. Went to the dealer and they would not replace it under the 2 year warrenty as they suspected that there may be a fault in the wiring or electrical parts. This meant a huge bill. so, I pulled out the heator motor to check if it is working. The motor seemed to be fine. Cleaned it with electrical lubricant. After this more serious problem developed and that was as soon as I turned the heater switch to position 3 the 40 amp fuse popped. This happened without the motor not being connected. Even more serious problem developed the car would not start at all. Now I was in serious trouble. However, decided to tow it to an Auto Electrician. He established that the wiring under the dashboard was shorting with the metal which was causing to blow the heater resistor and blow the 40amp fuse. The total cost came to £300 as it took him whole day to investigate and fix the problem. This may not necessarily be in everyones situation but thought it is another area to be looked into. I hope this will be of help.

could you tell me where the motor is

[khiz11]

has anyone got any pictures where the fan blower motor is. somewhere under the glove.

[nickguzzi]

I removed the glove box, and there it was.  Simple job.

I found the commutator gaps full of detritus.  A quick clean was all I needed.  A drop of lube on the fan bearings while you've got it out and jobs a gudun.

[mr_roggger]

Evening,

 

This morning the front 'screen in my '06 Octavia (with climatronic) took an age to demist and something just didn't sound quite right about the fan...not powerful enough perhaps...

A few miles into my journey when I took it off of 'screen demist back into auto the fan packed up totally!

 

After reading on here about fault codes and fixes over lunch I ran the diagnostics and sure enough got 4f9 03h. 4f9 is a VAG climatronic fan or control unit fault code (anyone know what the display on the right - 03h - means - this clearly isn't a hex code?) Whilst running the diagnostics I had the engine off and whilst playing with the fan speed manually I could occasionally hear it try and spin-up...

Anyway, after seeing the price of these units I was feeling decidedly annoyed with the car...grumble grumble grumble...so I decided to clean it to make me love it again....which worked as always!

Whilst I was vacuuming the passenger foot well I took off the foam trim panel that covers the fan and gave it a good whack. (Not) to my amazement, when I tried the fan again it now works perfectly delivering the full power I would expect on speed 7 to the front 'screen.

 

I have just decided to have a look in my warranty manual (warranty offered for a couple of hundred quid with a used car from a main dealer...expires at the end of February) and annoyingly the damn heater fan is covered! Wish I hadn't whacked it now and got a new one fitted when my car goes into the dealer later this week to cover my (non-warranty) tailgate release button repair.

 

From the looks of things the heater fan seems to be a weak point on a lot of VAG vehicles. I am thinking I will tell them it is intermittent and see if they can negotiate a new one with the warranty providers any way. I suspect my current one will fail again before long.

 

And why I said (not) amazed above is because I had the exact same problem on my '88 mk2 Golf fan a few years ago! That tended rust the main bearing causing the fan to fall down and scrape against its housing....rust was from water getting in through the windscreen wiper blanking hole directly above it...I hope my Octavia isn;t leaking water in there too! Also that Golf had a resistor pack which also failed to work on speeds 1-2, only working on 3 (least resistance), just like many peoples cars on here without climatronic (albeit speed 4 these days). I've not had this problem on other manufacturers’ cars, but I would have thought that in 25 years VAG would have improved things!

[Anddenton]

Evening,

  Also that Golf had a resistor pack which also failed to work on speeds 1-2, only working on 3 (least resistance), just like many peoples cars on here without climatronic (albeit speed 4 these days). I've not had this problem on other manufacturers’ cars, but I would have thought that in 25 years VAG would have improved things!

Resistor pack failed on wife's 2005 A class Merc, easy fix but is apparently a common fault on the A class. Local Merc dealer had them in stock which says everything really.