72 Bus Heater fan not working Trouble shooting ??'s

[[email protected]]

Ever since I got this bus the blower fan for heat in the engine comparment has been inop. Its getting cold so I checked it out, found the rear fuse was gone so I replaced that and nothing seems wrong in the fuse box. Still the fan makes no movement. I see that there are several relays in the wiring diagrams for the fan and I'm just wondering if there is A better way to trouble shoot this without replaceing the fan and relays. Thanks it's getting cold in portland.
shawn
ps still looking for a turn signal switch for my 72

[psteve]

Try to turn the fan by hand to see if it is free. I would hook the pos(+) to the battery to check the fan operation. I am in vancouver WA. I use my gas heater. I am such a wimp. I must be getting old.
psteve

[BluBus]

The motor might be burnt out. Mine was on my 74 Rivera I got the whole unit off eBay. I am now worried the same thing might happen because the current motor runs hot (you can burn yourself on it) Bus Depot use to sell the motor but I don't think they do any more. Anyone Know where to get these.

Test the motor by directly connecting it to the battery.

[Rich]

If you haven't done so already, check that the wire is connected to the fan switch, which is the left, red heater lever. The fan should kick on once you pull the lever about 3/4ths of the way down.
Rich
'72 Westy

[Randy in Maine]

I agree with all of that stuff above plus pull that fan out and clean all of the crud out of the fan motor and blades with WD-40 or something similar.

Good electrical connections are money well spent, since it might keep you warm.

[Amskeptic]

The heater blower relay is powered up from D+ at the voltage regulator when the engine is running. The "hot wire" for the motor comes from the starter solenoid hot terminal. It's fuse is located adjacent to the right carburetor linkage. While engine is idling, ground the brown/white wire from the relay with a jumper to any bare metal, if the fan powers up, it is a problem in the brown/white wire all the way up to the switch on the heater lever. Check for 12 vts red wire at relay all the way back through the fuse to the starter terminal. If you have 12 vts yellow/black to motor, your motor is at fault, but only after you have ascertained that it's brown wire is nicely grounded. The motor is easy to rebuild if you have the proper metal housing, I cannot speak for the cheesy plastic ones on the inferior later buses.
Colin

[Amskeptic]

[Bob D.]

[[email protected]]

Sweet info, I'm going to try out the wires tomorrow that colin pointed out.
thanks for all the help
samba rocks
shawn

[[email protected]]

Its was a bad ground and fuse. Now its blowin, just need the pass side heat tube to connect the other side of the fan.
shawn

[Bob D.]

Not sure this is the ideal thread to post this in, but wanted to share this while I was thinking of it. I grabbed this post from some RV board discussion about VW bus heaters. The author's email address no longer worked, so this is all I know. Sounds like a good idea, though, and these fans are often available really cheap on Porsche boards from guys converting to track cars:

>I've got a 1974 bus that originally came with a small squirrel cage >blower above the engine. I removed that and installed a auxillary heater >blower out of a 1990 model C-2 Porsche. Mounted it on the left side of >the engine compartment with a specially made bracket that attached to >the original mounting points on the blower. This blower is like a leaf >blower and will provide LOTS of hot air, after the engine is warmed up, >onto the front windshield even when sitting at a light at idle.

FWIW.
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