Ghost in my ventilation system?

[YosemiteBound]

Troops,

Been reading about heat all morning. Not exactly able to get questions answered. I wonder if anyone has encountered this strangeness....

We bought the van a few months ago. It's a socal van - so surely never really needed much heat in the cabin. But the front (dash) fan has never worked. The rear fan under the bench works. Or so I thought it did.

It's been raining in LA (yay!). So I thought I would go start up the westy and see if I have any stalling issues. A buddy of mine told me they are prone to stalling in the rain. Good news, no stalling.

Interesting news: The front/dash fan now turns on. I was just playing around while the van was warming up and I, halfheartedly, turned the dash fan on. As it's never worked. And it turned on! It works up to the 2 position. But doesn't work on 3. What's up with that? Also, it blows hot. Which is great as we're traveling up north this winter. I've been so fretting pulling the dash and replacing the fan... really really hoping this is good news (it feels like good news). Or maybe it is only going to work in the rain....

I also turned the rear bench fan on. It blew hard and fast but cool. Outside air. So I flipped the lever forward to open it up (after reading on here). No change in temp at all. No matter how warmed up the van is. It's exactly the same with the lever forward or backward.

Also in the manual it says to remove the upper edge of the kick panel just by pulling it out. Mine is bolted in Luckily there's a window where I can reach the lever on the side to pull it forward and back.

Also, weirdly, my front blinkers aren't working now? Rear are just fine.

Rain strangeness. Here are my questions:

Any idea how to get the rear heater to blow hot? Or troubleshoot the issue that the lever doesn't affect it?

What's the deal with my dash fan now working but not on 3? Does this mean it's on its way out? Fuse or wiring issue?

Thanks guys. Trying to get everything trip ready
_________________
1985 Westy Round Headlights "Liam"

[DanHoug]

people, especially people in warm Calif, sometimes bypass the rear heater hoses by either putting a plug in them or hooking them together. so, ya gotta look at your hoses. and they MAY be bypassed because the rear core was leaking.
_________________
-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

[alaskadan]

Yep. And the front heater fan not working on high isn't a good sign either. Read up on front heater resistor. Time for a dash pull and heater box rebuild.

[Wildthings]

You should consider adding the Mullendore Port while you are dealing with heater problems. That may be enough for the present to get the front heater working better.

As mentioned above, I would suspect that the rear heater is not fully hooked up due to the core or valve leaking. There is a remote possibility that the orifice in the feed line has been clogged by something and isn't passing coolant.

[[email protected]]

Put in keep resistor for future ease of replacement.

[tencentlife]

A couple comments have this upside-down: when fan speeds 1 and 2 work, that is proof positive the series resistor is good. Speed 3 bypasses the resistor entirely. Not running only on 3 is either the control switch, or what I have on mine right now, a fan motor with dirty brushes/commutator and bearings that won't let it run that fast either at all, or only for a short time. When I run at either lower speed it will also stick after a longer time. Got to get in there and fix the motor.

In my bench testing of used fan motors these show themselves to be highly susceptible to a dirty commutator and brushes. I can get large variances in resistance tests and even open circuit at different rotor positions. Just spraying the commutator with cleaning solvent, even WD40 (which is a much better cleaner than lube) gets a balky one running smoothly again on the bench. I've seen the same result using the M-port on my installed fan, directing some electronics cleaner at the commutator caused a massive surge in fan speed and power, much more than the modest improvement I had got just previously by directing some lube at the end bearing.

The problem is it needs such cleaning pretty often to keep performing well, the pollutants that come in the fresh air system do quick work dirtying things up to where the fan is balky again. Really it needs to come out for new brushes and a better job lubing the bearings.

It's a piss-poor design anyway, typical of VW, not protecting the vulnerable parts of a motor, indeed the only parts that wear out in a typical component's life (winding insulation will degrade over a longer period, accounting for all the rebuilt starters and alternators that just don't perform).

I understand some of the replacements on offer may actually have sealed ball-bearings, which would solve half the problem. But commutators and brushes should have been enclosed and protected too to get long life out of a motor in such a tough environment.

First the OP should pluck the switch out of the dash and bench test it for continuity at speed 3 position.

Then at the switch connector, check continuity of the 3rd speed direct feed wire (should be yellow) to ground, it should have about 1-1.2 ohms (it's a 120w fan that will pull 10A at full speed).

If that checks out, you can try the Mullendore port to get some lube into the end bearing and some cleaner onto the commutator. People talk about the opposite end bearing needing lube just as much, but although it has a similar need, it's actually considerably less susceptible to dirt and wear because it's mostly enclosed within the squirrel-cage fan itself, and it's much closer to the fan's center of gravity so has considerably less radial loading on it, hence it wears more slowly. So I don't consider the M-port useless because it only does part of the job, because very often it lets you do the part of the job that needs to be done.

Careful spraying flammable lubes and cleaners into the running motor, because the brushes do create small sparks and you are usually spraying flammable aerosols. I've done it plenty myself, because I work alone and am aware of the risks, which are small. and if you can use a thin wand to direct the flow, there's little to no aerosolisation. Better, though, to have an assistant that can switch the fan on and off for you between shots of your products, there's nearly no chance of the liquid products catching fire but as aerosols the flammability is orders of magnitude greater. Just the standard disclaimer so you don't blame me if you burn your van down.

And if the M-port doesn't get you the results you want, or you feel you have to redo that too often, then it's into the dash you go! It's not that big a deal, really, just takes some time.
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[YosemiteBound]