Heater Fan Quit

[stevea]

Hey, what would i look at too see whats goin on with my heater..
i'm guessing my lucks crappy enough to have it be the heater switch thats gone.. but up until friday the thing worked fine! really worked well.. and now friday i go in (it was round -40 with the windchill) and start it up let it run for litterally like 45 minutes, go outside, and my windows aren't defrosted.. becuase my fan wasn't blowing the heat out.. so i switch it to the floor heat and a bit comes out when its cranked up to 3 and only cold air is coming out of the main vents that blow it at you.. and its barely seeping out of the top defrost.. so i drive it anyways, and eventually it all just quit.. no air would blow out.. would it be a fuse? somthing loose on my fan under the hood? or do i gotta go to a wrecker and buy a stupid heater switch (i had to do this two winters ago in one of my other cars.. it always waits till the dead of winter to go..)

[stefan]

a) You will never get heat from your dash vents, the heater core is only piped to direct heat to the defrost and floor

b) Is the fan sound like its still working? Its hard to tell from your description, you mention getting air flow on some settings

c) The fan is in the dash

d) If you have good airflow on dash settings, but not on def/floor your heater core might be plugged (Not coolant wise) I had the same problem and I took it apart to find it was plugged up, restricting air flow.

[stevea]

You will never get heat from your dash vents, the heater core is only piped to direct heat to the defrost and floor

haha that explains it!

b) Is the fan sound like its still working? Its hard to tell from your description, you mention getting air flow on some settings

No it isn't even turning on.. usually you crank it to 3 and you gotta turn up the stereo cause its loud.. even on three you can't barely hear it.. at first you could put your hand over the defrost vent and you could feel a bit of warm air.. but that eventually stopped

c) The fan is in the dash

d) If you have good airflow on dash settings, but not on def/floor your heater core might be plugged (Not coolant wise) I had the same problem and I took it apart to find it was plugged up, restricting air flow.

Where would i look to check this? haha its -23 before the windchill here right now.. its probably not a quick fix is it? drool

[hawkdoc60]

Th fan islocated in the vent box in the center of the firewall under the dash. No, it is not that quick, for sure. I would check the fuse panel first, just to be sure. Also, if heat itself is a problem, you might try taking the car to one of those self serv car washes and disconnect the heater hoses from the engine and flush out the heater core with the power sprayer. That always works for me, no matter what vehicle. Of course, -40 with windchill could make that a miserable experience, too.

[stevea]

thanks for the reply hawkdoc60 i'm starting to think its just a fuse tho.. but i really don't know.. i just went out side.. (man IS IT COLD THAT WINDCHILL IS KILLER) and i turned my key to acc to see if the fan was doing anything different today.. hahaha like it would fix itself, (we can always hope right?) but what i heard is what sounded like the fan, start up and then just die off.. like it got a little jolt of power then whent completely dead... so i turned the switch to 0 then back up to 3 and nothing happened.. where would i find my fuse box, i looked in the average place but i was gettin pretty damn cold by that point when i started to look for it..

[hawkdoc60]

It sounds like your fan motor might be pooping out on you. It could also just be the cold affecting it adversely. Is there a way you can park it in a warm garage for a few hours and see if that makes a difference? If it is the cold, it may be just a matter of shooting some lightweight electrical motor oil into the bearings. Of course, it would still involve taking the fan out.

[stevea]

unfortunatly i don't have a garage that will get really warm anytime soon.. but i'll call my dad and see what he can do.. but i can't see it jsut being the cold unless somthings changed cuase i've had it working in way colder.. where is the fuse box? i might as well check that just in case haha its about the only thing i can do in the cold till i get a chance to try the other things you mentioned

[hawkdoc60]

The fuse box is on the dash, to the left and below the steering wheel. It has a pull tab on the cover.

[stevea]

ok, i'll check that (even tho i doubt i'm lucky enough for it to be a fuse)
and then if thats not it i'll try your other suggestions.. thanks man!

[worfdog]

The fan on my Festiva will not run with the ignition switch in the ACC position, only in the engine running position.

[stevea]

mine used to always in acc.. i didn't wanna start it up in the cold just to check the fan tho, but i don't see mine startin up with the car running.. cuase it was running when it quit

[hawkdoc60]

You can turn the key to the "ON" position to check it, without starting it.

[stevea]

well frick, i just checked my fuses and they all 'look' good.. haha the cooling fan and the heater i'd assume would be the two fuses that had anything to do with the problem

i guess i'll pull it into my dads garage with a kerosine heater and see if i can't see whats goin on.. i'll check out partsource to see how much a fan motor is.. thanks for your help guys, i'll update my progress later on if i get it workin.. my dad said it could even be something as simple as a loose connection or ground, and that would make sense seeing as some of the ruts are as deep as my tires are tall and i'm kinda bouncing around everywhere rattling the crap out of everything..

[stefan]

If you stick your head in the drivers foot well and look up, you can see the fan. I would un-plug the connector and check if you have power there when the key and fan switch is on. This will tell you if your problem is the fan or not

[stevea]

ooooh! good idea! thanks man that should help me out alot in narrowing it down for sure! thats the first thing i'll do!