Fan only works on higher speeds?

[ap0gee1978]

Yet another Fabia Easter Egg struck, in the form of the fan resistor pack failing on my vRS. So here's how to fix it. Part number is 6Q0 959 263 A. The guy I get parts from at TPS reckons they sell one or two EVERY DAY, and VW have hundreds at the central depot at any given time, so that gives you an idea of how common a problem this fault is!

You'll need a T20 Torx bit, and possibly a flat-head screwdriver depending how small your hands are:

open the passenger door and the glove compartment lid, and push off the D-shaped bit of trim down the side of the dash:

Close the glove compartment lid again, then undo the two screws underneath the dash, just behind where the glove compartment lid hinges down:

Now, use your knee or foot to support the glove compartment unit, open the glove compartment (again!) and undo the three screws along the top edge:

The glove compartment unit will now drop down, and you should disconnect the rubber hose and the wiring for the light. You will now be able to see the fan housing in front of you. The resistor pack is to the right of it:

There doesn't seem to be a set way of getting it out, other than that it should be rotated 45 degrees. Some say disconnect wiring, turn, remove; some say turn, remove, disconnect wiring. My hands were too big for me to be able to remove the wiring first, and I couldn't get it to turn far enough, however as it's only held in by a pair of tabs, I ended up getting it out with the assistance of the aforementioned flat-head screwdriver and then disconnecting the wiring. Should probably only be done that way as a last resort!!! You'll probably find that putting the new one in is best done in the reverse order to how you got it out, although you shouldn't need any extra tools this time around...

The way the resistor pack fails has been discussed on various threads, but in a nutshell one or more loops of resistor wire burns out:

Once the new resistor pack is fitted and connected, give it a quick test and the put your glovebox back. You will need to be careful of the passenger footwell air outlet (marked by the dotted line), and you may find it easiest to do it with the passenger door open to give you a bit more room to manoeuvre:

...and that's it. Hopefully driving your car won't be like starring in a Whitesnake video anymore!

[icito]

well done

good guide

i swop mine year ago(most of vag group cars using same resistor)

i went to local scrapy and took one from audi 100 and one from golf mk3

after some modifications i have working fan in all speeds not just on 4, for less than 3 quid

[fifields]

Hey, great guide . Just did mine. Bought the new resistor on eBay for about £37 posted and took just over half an hour to fit. The job is very easy to do apart from getting the resistor out. I managed to remove the connector first and then after turning it to left it just lifts out, but as you say, you do need small hands and you need to lift it out with the tips of your fingers as it is in an awkward position.

As it turns out, it was only the thermal fuse that has failed so I might replace the fuse and keep the old part as a spare. The fuse is brazed onto the connectors and marked TOD 240C. If it is a 240 degree fuse that might need some high temperature solder to fit it though, and wrap the fuse wires around the lugs for a mechanical joint as well just in case. I found some thermal fuses marked similarly on eBay here: Thermal Fuse Microtemp 240 DEGREES

Does anyone know if that is the correct rating? Seems pretty hot.

I also checked for leaves whilst doing this, using the details in the other guide, but found none and the fan still vibrates quite a lot on the high setting so maybe that helped to increase the load on the high setting and overheat it. If it pops again I guess that i will be looking for a replacement fan, assuming that you can't just replace the bearings.

Steve.

Edited 20 November, 2010 by fifields

[es1981]

Thanks very much for the instructions - I'm about to give them ago.

Was able to get the part for £15 from Deutscheparts.com.

[the mad monk]

maybe just lucky but when i bought mine it was only £13 from a vw dealer

[Jimi182]

I have just replaced the resistor and the fan is working on all four settings. The only thing wrong is I cannot get the resistor to click into place. It's sitting it the right position but its not completely in tight. Would it be ok to leave it like this?

Cheers

[Bron]

Hello, just replaced my restrictor following the great guide above,(thank you).

Just one question, is it normal for it to smell a bit, that hot electric, dust smell?

Thank you.

Bron

[JoshH]

Bumping up this thread as it was brilliant

A few more than 1 loop burnt out on mine lol

[DeedeeSwede]

Hi could this solve my problem, my fan has lately stopped working when the cars really heated up after about a hour in to the journey. I can her the fan going but no air seem to come out of the vents. If I stop for a little while and turn the engine off the fan start working normally on all 4 settings again. Cheers

[Bloitus]

Bumping this thread to share some information...

I had this issue in my 03 VRS and bought a replacement resistor from ebay for £15. I installed the unit and tested my switch which resolved the problem meaning my fan now worked on the lower settings. Alarmingly after a few minutes of the fan running on setting 2, the resistor started to smell and smoke began emanating from it. It was very hot to touch so as soon as i could removed it from the car.

I contacted the seller who has offered a full refund, which was good of them, however feel i should share this experience with the community.

2 lessons learned...You get what you pay for and if you do buy cheap, make sure you test it properly before fitting it in the housing!

Edited 4 June, 2013 by Bloitus

[fordfan]

I was under the impression that the resistor needed to be in its housing as the fan directs cooling air over it, using it outside the housing could quite easily burn it out.

[Bloitus]

I was under the impression that the resistor needed to be in its housing as the fan directs cooling air over it, using it outside the housing could quite easily burn it out.

Hi fordfan, I agree having airflow over the resistor would help cool it a little however on fan setting 1 there is such low airflow when the resistor is at it's warmest, i can't imagine it being too effective when compared with it being in an open environment.

Even so, I wouldn't expect the resistor to start to produce a rather nasty acrid burning smell within 30 seconds and start to produce smoke within 2 minutes.

Using a small hand held fan would be a suitable substitute to having it in the housing while testing in my opinion if you were worried about it being cooled during testing.

As you can understand i just wanted to share my experience incase anyone else runs into the same issue.

[aixlad]

Great write up, which I used today to replace the heater fan resistor on my vRS.  Went to dealers this morning who wanted £45 inc. VAT, but finally settled for GSF who had one for £32.  The symptoms were that the fan only worked on setting 4, and 1, 2 & 3 positions were dead.  Took about 30 minutes to replace, but quite a tight space to work in.  The assembly fits like a bayonet light bulb; a 1/8th turn anti-clockwise releases it, then you have to raise it high enough to extract it from its mounting.....seems like it'll never come out at first!  Replacing is easy enough, then turn it 1/8th clockwise and it's in.  I now have all fan speeds working correctly.  My vRS, which I bought new in November 2004, now has 125,000 miles on the clock and this is the first replacement of this part, so hopefully I won't have to replace it again.   

[italiastar]

Speed 1 on our 2004 has just stopped working - -all other settings are ok - does this sound like a resistor problem, or something else, please.

[MattH]

Yes. Resistor needs replacing.

[avie rose]

Hey there,

looking for some advice on replacement of this part. I ordered on of amazon which I fitted following the this post (great by the way!!) but it only lasted a week before it blew again. The replacement was from beytter and cost £12. I have since found other makes on bestpartstore.co.uk which are from Febi Bilstine, Hella, or Vemo.

Any ideas which ones would be better than others?

[MattH]

This is the one I bought.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BRAND-NEW-HEATER-BLOWER-RESISTOR-SKODA-FABIA-COMBI-ROOMSTER-HR3-/110956729925?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Model%3AFabia&hash=item19d5895645

[germap]

brilliant, thanks guys

[Dark_Hero]

I'm in the process of replacing mine. I got it to rotate into position at last but it isn't sitting completely flush at the back. Do you know if it will be ok

[MattH]

No keep going though and you will get on in the end. It makes a seal when on correctly.

[carlos-666]

good write up on this ,what a ball ache of a job this turned out to be .fat fingers will NOT go into this space ,,not for the want of trying ,.

I still had a result ,I thought I would change the resistor and pollen filter while I was down that way ,,,once I had removed the pollen filter  iknew this was going to b tricky ,,as I looked inside the housing for the pollen filter ,I could see the resistor ,there was evidently no f****ng way my my fat hands were going in that space .

and luckily I could see that is wasn't at fault so I put the car back together and hey presto ,,fan works on all 4 speeds ,and blow dries my hair as well  judging from this pollen filter ,this is the cause ,,,this time .

Edited 3 February, 2014 by carlos-666

[vRS19TD]

This is the one I bought.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BRAND-NEW-HEATER-BLOWER-RESISTOR-SKODA-FABIA-COMBI-ROOMSTER-HR3-/110956729925?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Model%3AFabia&hash=item19d5895645

Did that one work for you?? Always a bit put off buying these sort of things from eBay.

[Dark_Hero]

I'll try again next weekend, no air escaped when I tested it and it seemed to work ok

[MattH]

Did that one work for you?? Always a bit put off buying these sort of things from eBay.

Yea is fine. Touch wood haha.

[@Lee]

Great write up but I don't want to change one of those again in a hurry

Time taken; 40 minutes.

Glove box removal: 2 minutes

Resistor removal: 2 minutes

Replacing resistor: 34 minutes (including much swearing, changing position to get to it properly etc etc)

Glove box replacement: 2 minutes.

 

Ball ache extreme getting it to seat properly.