Fabia III fan only working on setting 4, so a bit of research turned up the resistor failure as a common problem.

Purchased an after market replacement for £18 on that well known online company named after a south American river, and swapped out the failed part.

Set off and after 10 minutes noted that hot, electrical odour in the cabin reminiscent of hot Bakelite plugs (showing my age).

Smell persists over fan settings 1, 2 and 3 but not 4, which makes sense given that the power for 4 is fed directly to the fan motor without going via the resistor.

Considering swapping the cheap aftermarket resistor for the more expensive OEM in the hope that solves the issue.

Anyone had similar experience or thoughts on the matter?

Edited 18 January18 Jan by Rab-k

Could be just the protective coating heating up hence the bakelite smell or its a poor copy. Any burning bakelite smell is not good but hopefully will disapear. The OEM one is a fair price compared to aftermarket. Not sure what make you got but think Febi do one Febi 34370 OEM 6Q0 959 263 Check the old one for oem part number

Alasdair

Possibly the thing hasn't remained in the correct installed position, such that its hot bit is leaning on plastic housing?

Maybe remove the pollen filter and check that the (switch off) fan motor is "free enough" to rotate - if it has become "a bit stiff/tight" to rotate that could indicate a motor bush/bearing issue - and that might just be what caused the previous load to expire - just a thought, nothing more.

2 hours ago, Alasdair1 said:

Could be just the protective coating heating up hence the bakelite smell

I'd suggest this is the reason - we had exactly the same for a while after I replaced the fan resistor in our Fabia with a pattern part. It disappeared after a week or so.

Thanks for all the suggestions...

On a gut feeling I opted to replace it with the OEM resistor - £97 from the stealer.☹️

However, so far so good... 🤞 no unpleasant fishy/Bakelite odour. Provided no repeat of the smell, it'll be the 1st time an aftermarket part has let me down.

It may be the case that the odour would dissipate after a week or so, but I'm not the main driver and I didn't want to risk it cooking up or frying the connector plug as well as itself.

Thanks again 👍

(Image: the offending part which failed)

£97, flipping 'eck. Glad you're sorted but I think the OEM part is Mahle/Behr, they're £30-£40 on eBay etc.

I wouldnt be happy either. It could have been the coating but last thing you want is a burning smell anywhere near a car especially in it. Glad you got it sorted

Alasdair

Thanks for reporting back with the conclusion.

The thing looks a bit rough in your photo.

Gawd knows what cheap chemicals and oil stuffs are used with these cheap parts (or very expensive ones) but you'd want to get rid of the fumes in the wide open fresh air at least, outside an enclosure like a car cabin.

£30-40 is high enough but £97 perhaps shows why VW have these things break.

febi don't seem to always be as good as they once were with all their parts which seem to be the same made parts others sell under other brand names but that might be the case with Mahle as far as I (don't ) know - but (rightly or wrongly) I'd be happier those brand names than anything off Amazon (I'd sooner go eBay UK anyway).

Edited 21 January21 Jan by nta16

Thanks again for all the comments.

Car has been Glasgow to Aberdeen and back over past 2 days and not a whiff from that direction, so I'll put it down to excessive protective coating or just cheap/nasty on the aftermarket - for which I obtained a refund 😀