Dash blower rebuild with (cheap) Jeep resistor - w/PICS

[FredHunter]

Looking for some tips on how to be sure these flappers don't fall out. When I removed the heater box these were sitting on the dash. Today, after adding new foam to them, I installed them and when moving the box around they either fell out of place on one side or both. Obviously I don't want these flappers to fall out after all is re-installed.

So my main idea is to install the flappers and get a heat gun and dowel and just heat up the little tabs that are in the box and just give them a little pressure to be able to close the gap just enough so they don't fall out and still swing freely.

Your thoughts?

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73 Bay Window Bus
83.5 Vanagon Westfalia w/ Tiico 2.0L

[trihartsfield]

Working on this upgrade. Can anyone tell me the positive and negative terminals on this fan?

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1971 Transporter-SOLD
1982 Westy Will grow up into a TDI

[BigPapaV]

[Zeitgeist 13]

[eyeroll]...this isn't my van.

I've done this mod before and had no issues, but this one is a little confusing.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[4Gears4Tires]

Oh no! He's going to have to act quick before a Subaru motor materializes in his engine bay!
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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[vanis13]

[Zeitgeist 13]

I just got done rebuilding a Vanagon heater box, with foam flaps, a new core and blower plus this mod. I wired up the blower the same as the OP, but when I test with a five pole switch, I get four distinct speeds, but no off...as in, the off position is the lowest speed. Has anyone had a similar situation. I haven't had time to dive into the diagnostics, (it's been a long day), so I'm hoping someone has some experiential insights.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[table]

For anyone doing this mod in the future, I just wanted to point out that the device circled in yellow is a thermal fuse.

So whichever resistors you choose for your speeds, it is prudent to wire the lower speeds through the thermal fuse. That way if the resistors heat up too much when you're running on low speed their heat will blow the thermal fuse instead of melting your air handling box and causing other badness.

[dhaavers]

IIRC, I used 14AWG because I had it on hand, but your Bentley spec looks like 16AWG.
Either works, but a little bit larger is better than anything smaller...

- Dave
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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[bajaleo]

I now have 4 fan speeds also! Much thanks to Dave for starting this thread, and for everyone else who shared their experience.

I located my resistor on the passenger side like Markswagen does because I'm adding a BMW brake booster. I bought the OEM Jeep resistor and also the ebay resistor to get the plug that came with it.

One more question I have. Before I button the heater box back up, is there a consensus on replacing the wiring, such as the brown ground wire and the yellow power wire to the motor?

How about the wiring between the switch and the resistor? And what gauge should I use if I do?

Happy New Year everyone.
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Leo in San Juan Capistrano
1984 Wolfie Westy, Subaru EJ22 powered.

[4Gears4Tires]

You can use a jump pack, but it has to be a beefy one with basically a golf cart battery in it. I have one of these. It's great. I use it a surprising amount. Very handy. Testing blower motors, injectors, lights, starters, actually jumping cars, etc...

https://www.ebay.com/c/1435566319
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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[bajaleo]

After more testing I can concur with everyone who responded that a battery charger is not a good source of 12V. A real battery is required.

Another question regarding my particular van. After looking at this page in the Bentley, can anyone tell me why I have a yellow/black wire coming out of the 4 position of my blower switch? This diagram shows 3 positions and power. I have all three fan speeds without using it.

It's been so long since I removed the heater box from the van that I don't remember how it was hooked up.

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Leo in San Juan Capistrano
1984 Wolfie Westy, Subaru EJ22 powered.

[dhaavers]

[djkeev]

Unless you have a commercial grade battery charger with a jump mode, you won't be getting anywhere near the power needed to spin that blower fan.

You need a battery to spin that fan.

Dave
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Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[fxr]

A typical battery charger is pretty hopeless as a power supply. Either they're dumb and have far too much ripple on them (just full-wave rectified) or they're semi 'intelligent' and don't like providing current when there's no battery connected - these like to see at least 8 volts. Plus 2A is inadequate for the blower motor, particularly at start-up.

Just a battery is fine for go/no-go testing, but for performance testing you also need a charger or power supply across it to keep it at about 14V to simulate being in a running van.
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Jim Crowther
1984 1.9l EJ22 Westy Wolfsburg Edition
Vespa GTS 300

[DanHoug]

[bajaleo]

Thanks for the reply Dan.

Is a 12V battery charger a good source of 12V for bench testing or should I acquire a battery to supply 12V?

[DanHoug]

the heater fan switches burn out with regularity. that tells me there's voltage drop, heat, and sure, fan won't run as fast as with a good connection.

VW wiring is juuuust barely adequate when everything is new and shiny. add a bit of dryness to motor bushings and things begin to get warm.
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-dan
60% of what you find on the internet is wrong, including this post.

'87 Westy & '89 Westy both 2.1 4spd

Past projects can be found at--
www.thefixitworkshop.com

[bajaleo]

I have added the Jeep resistor as part of a heater box rebuild, along with a new fan motor. One item to disclose up front. I've been bench testing with a 12V battery charger set on the lowest of the two amp settings, which is 2 amps.

While bench testing I wasn't getting the results I was expecting as far as a difference in fan speeds from 1 to 4 with the Jeep resistor and a new 5 position fan switch as shown in the above posts, so I decided to bench test with the old resistor and old switch. There must be something I'm not understanding because with the old switch and resistor on the high setting, the fan isn't spinning as fast as when I attach 12V directly to the motor.

Does the switch reduce the voltage that the fan motor sees at high setting?

This is a little frustrating as I'm trying to put the heater box back in the van so that I can put the dash back in so that I can start driving it again!

Here's a video showing the difference in speed.

https://youtu.be/Ufj6Oy_mbI4

Grateful for any advice.
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Leo in San Juan Capistrano
1984 Wolfie Westy, Subaru EJ22 powered.

[jtorry]

Hi There.
Has anyone done this install on a diesel air box?
I believe that the location in the thread that people have used is irregular on mine.
I’ve installed the Saturn Vue EPS, so access from the drivers side below is blocked.

Looking down with cluster removed.
Was thinking maybe I could install on the flat spot on the top right?

Or maybe the same spot on the passenger side top left here?
I was attempting to install w/o removing the dash as I previously removed the stock resistor when I had the dash apart a few years ago and had installed a PWM that recently went up on smoke.

Any information appreciated and thanks to the OP for sharing this info.