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Astra heater blow intermittent

I have a year 2000 Astra 1.6 Club, 106,000 miles on the clock. Yesterday during a 5-hour (but only 16 miles) drive home from Tunbridge Wells, I noticed that my blower had stopped working (nothing in any of the blower control positions), which meant of course that warm air from the heater was no longer getting into the cabin. It got pretty chilly while we crept along in the queue of traffic with -6 outside temperature, and the windows started to mist up. I switched the blower control to the 'Off' position.

Some time later I tried the blower again and this time it worked! Joy was unconfined as warmth returned and the windows cleared. We got close to our destination but decided to stop at a pub for a toilet break and a drink by a roaring log fire.

However when we left the pub half an hour later, the blower had stopped working again. No amount of fiddling with the control would make it start working. Luckily it was only another 10-15 minutes to get home.

Just wondering what the problem might be. At first I thought it was a blown fuse but clearly that's not the case. Any thoughts from the 'team'?

Reply to
A.Clews
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Maybe a faulty switch failing as it heats up, or a self-resetting thermal fuse near the motor or resistor pack?

Reply to
Chris Bartram

Or simply a poor connection somewhere. The problem here is that the causes of intermittent faults are not easy to find.

Rob Graham

Reply to
Rob Graham

As has been suggested, it might have some form of protection for the resistor pack that provides the different speeds; perhaps it's something like a bi-metal that has reset?

If so, was the air intake to the heater blocked by snow/ice? Or does it have a pollen filter due for replacement?

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Thus spake Chris Whelan ( snipped-for-privacy@prejudicentlworld.com) unto the assembled multitudes:

The filters were replaced in August as part of the annual service. There were no blockages from ice or snow - there was in fact very little lying snow at the time of the problem; all the problems were caused by ice on the roads. Never seen anything like it before.

I haven't actually used the car since then - too much snow in the meantime - but I'll try out the blower this morning to see what happens (the car's in my garage so is completely dry and frost free).

Thanks to all for your responses.

Reply to
A.Clews

Thus spake snipped-for-privacy@denturessussex.ac.uk ( snipped-for-privacy@denturessussex.ac.uk) unto the assembled multitudes:

Blower working fine today.

Mystified. :-{

Reply to
A.Clews

Vauxhall blowers often used to get 'stiff' through dampness getting into the bearings. if you can find access to it then see if it spins freely, and lube the bearings if stiff, if it is nice and free then the next suspect is the speed resistor assembly, which sometimes burn out due to not changing the pollen filter.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Thus spake Mrcheerful ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.co.uk) unto the assembled multitudes:

Well, it seems to be related to temperature but I'm not sure. As I said before, it seems to work (or not) intermittently. Yesterday lunchtime the blower did not start working immediately but after a few seconds while I fiddled with the control, the fan started up, and stayed working thereafter. It was fine for the journey home too. And this morning it worked OK.

You could be right about 'stiffness'. There is no *audible* sign of any problem; I can't hear any sounds of roughness or bearing noise. It just seems like there's an intermittent conenction, but then again once the fan starts working it stays working without interruption, which is inconsistent with a loose connection. And, the speed control works fine on all settings.

Thanks for your help.

Reply to
A.Clews

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