Electrical gremlins or stupidity?

[Renault17]

Hi Guys,

had the fan/heater mechanism all apart and now having problems with the fan switch. I put a test light across the two wires and with the key on accessories it lit up indicating power was getting there. Then (foolishly) i plugged in the fan switch- next thing it's getting b--y hot and the fan still hasn't turned over?

Any thoughts, as something is obviously not right-I am pretty sure I haven't but...if I had got the fan wires arse about face on the fan motor could this be the result?

Also does anyone know where you can (if you can) get the genuine hose bends for the 1647cc (843) motor? I have had to use normal heater hose and the bend is quite tight- giving a restricted bend-hence the bleeding is not quite as good as it could be.

Cheers Ben

ps who watched the rugby last night.... head_ban

 

[Alan S]

Ben,

It has to be a short because with a 12 Volt DC motor if you wire it ass-about, that's the way it runs. I would suggest you test the windings in the fan motor at a starter; they sound to me as though they could be shorting across or the insulation is breaking down.
As regards the bends, I had a problem with my 16 valve a couple of years ago when a hose popped which was "arm & a leg" price. Took it off, went to Repco got a couple of plastic elbows which are made for heaters anyway, fitted them with a piece of straight pipe & problem solved. Didn't opt for any metallic bends due to the high content of alloy in the motor and the resultant risk of electrolysis.
Trust this may be of some help.

Alan S

 

[Europa]

Try bypassing the fan rheostat/switch (assuming we are talking R17 here) and connect 12 V straight to the fan itself. From memory, there is a red & black wire coming from the heater unit, red is for +12V, black is for earth (amazing! )

Motor should whiz up just fine. If that's OK, then maybe there is a problem with the switch, or possibly you have a wiring problem there.

Again, from memory, it's an odd thing, looks like a normal switch on top, but has a large aluminium heatsink/rheostat built into the body of the switch itself. Can't remember if there are more than two connections on it...

 

[Renault17]

Hey guys,

well the plastic bends worked a treat on getting the water flowing to the heater-thanks for that Alan- I like it when it's an 'easy fix'.

As for the electric fan- after establishing that there is power in the (red and black) wires and it is effectively shorting when the switch is connected (heating up) I will have to pull the fan out to see what has happened- perhaps something is broken (wires) (as Europa suggested)or rubbed on some steel and shorting out, anyway- thats my next plan of attack.