air con fan is weak

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djvoodoopunk

air con fan is weak

Post by djvoodoopunk » Fri Jul 16, 2010 6:36 pm

Hi

The blower fan for the hater/cooler is not very strong, it has been like this since I own the car, is this normal in the bongo, the mechanic said normal car blow more than that.

any idea?
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missfixit70
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Re: air con fan is weak

Post by missfixit70 » Fri Jul 16, 2010 9:30 pm

FAQ here - http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... 43&t=28727 - should help.
May be as simple as the evap matrix is blocked with detritus, or it could be the fan speed resistor/controller or the fan itself. All the info should be in the faq to solve any of those :wink:
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Re: air con fan is weak

Post by Mctavish » Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:44 am

Wosson,

I took a picture of what 14 years of crap looks like on your heat exchangery wotnot that all your interior air passes through - nice!

Image

Cleaned it out using a two pronged olive fork with a 'lift and peel' technique that I may patent. Some of the pipe work is annoyingly in the way but you can get to the majority of it. You can't even see the fins on the right!

The fan speed rose dramatically once cleared, now don't need to use speed 4 all the time.

Speed 1 is the new speed 4 don't you know... Speed 4 may get renamed speed 5!

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Re: air con fan is weak

Post by missfixit70 » Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:49 am

I've seen worse, but as you say - 14 years of crap & all the bacteria etc =; With the best will in the world an antibacterial spray ain't gona make much difference with that lot :wink: , Should be on everyones roundtuit list, an air gun (another excuse to buy a compressor :wink: ) helps blow the crap out but it is a bloody fiddly job :evil:
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Re: air con fan is weak

Post by danboy99 » Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:47 pm

Mctavish - great pic and I've been meaning to do this as my fan is puny. I've done a lot of reading of fact sheets etc but I'm still not sure how big a job it is to get to where you are in the pic. Does the fan motor actually have to come out to reveal this?
Dan
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Re: air con fan is weak

Post by missfixit70 » Wed Jul 28, 2010 1:02 pm

Yup, look at the heater repair factsheet for the how to remove bit - http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/member ... repair.pdf, doesn't take long to get to, good chance to check out the fan motor & open up the drain hole underneath it to @10mm or so, to allow it to let any crud & water out rather than drown the fan.
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Re: air con fan is weak

Post by danboy99 » Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:36 pm

Thanks everyone - That was just unbelievably easy !!! Quick also. All cleaned out and put back together, and fan is simply blowing like it never has before since I got my Bongo. My method was a combination of an old tooth brush to shift the crud, plus Mr Henry Hoover with various attachments to suck it all out once shifted.

Brilliant!

Thanks.
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Re: air con fan is weak

Post by jaylee » Wed Jul 28, 2010 9:13 pm

Just been looking at the fact sheet which basically covers fan repair...

So, once the air intake & fan housing is removed this gubbins can be seen & got at from the front??

Image
This pic.. Is this the AC evaporator..? Had mine recharged a while back & wouldn't want to waste the chance of a bit more air flow... :D

Danboy99; What do you reckon, hours labor?? I'm planning this before my shift tomorrow... :wink:
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Re: air con fan is weak

Post by Mctavish » Wed Jul 28, 2010 9:19 pm

Yup,

Remove scoop at front, remove ducting that it's attached to (unclip recirculation control on lhs),
then remove fan housing, all pretty simple.

The time consuming bit is cleaning, the access doesn't take too long to achieve. Easily do-able in an hour, your back will start aching before then anyway...

Bring on the gale force air-con!

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Re: air con fan is weak

Post by jaylee » Wed Jul 28, 2010 9:28 pm

Excellent, cheers! :mrgreen: I got an old toothbrush & an assortment of Hoover attachments...

Cant wait to see my neighbors face.. I'll tell him i'm training to be a dentist!!!? :wink:
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Re: air con fan is weak

Post by danboy99 » Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:08 pm

Yes indeed - an hour should be about right - have fun. Great little job as you'll feel the benefit straight away.

Jaylee - the fact sheet is spot on, you just don't need to go any further than removing the blower unit from the Bongo, although you might like to follow Kirsty's suggestion to enlarge the drain hole underneath the blower to 10mm (This is just three more screws...) I had a look inside mine and it was spotless with no moisture or crud so I didn't bother and put it back together again.
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Re: air con fan is weak

Post by jaylee » Thu Jul 29, 2010 8:36 am

Cheers Dan, Just off out to crack on with it..!! Though in fairness my fan assembly should be fine.
The fan it's self runs fine..! Never had any noisy or seizure problems with the fan, which is due to the guttering under the windscreen getting blocked, causing water ingress to the fan assembly??

I regularly check the gutter,drain hole & down pipe for crud & keep a large black unused cable tie for poking out any blockage... :wink:
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Re: air con fan is weak

Post by jaylee » Thu Jul 29, 2010 12:26 pm

Job done! & what a fiddly job too... :roll: Found an olive fork, tweezers, small mirror & hoover!
Wasn't as bad as i expected, but fluff does collect round the edges...

I took the opportunity to wipe out all the ducting & checked out the fan.. Pretty tidy round the motor bushes, quite clean,looks quite new! Just a little bug crud in the metal base cover.. Put a dab of lube & good to go!!

Right time to dry my scraped knuckles, clean up & head to work...

Deff improvement.! :mrgreen:
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Re: air con fan is weak

Post by missfixit70 » Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:48 pm

definitely worthwhile doing when you get the chance isn't it :D
jaylee wrote:Cheers Dan, Just off out to crack on with it..!! Though in fairness my fan assembly should be fine.
The fan it's self runs fine..! Never had any noisy or seizure problems with the fan, which is due to the guttering under the windscreen getting blocked, causing water ingress to the fan assembly??

I regularly check the gutter,drain hole & down pipe for crud & keep a large black unused cable tie for poking out any blockage... :wink:
I'm not sure where that theory came from, but having messed about with loads of heater fans/ducting etc in that area, I can't see how that theory stands up TBH. Could somebody show me where the water gets into the heater motor from the windscreen drain overflowing?
Everything seems to either have a raised lip or an impenetrable seal from water gaining access from above or anywhere external to the ducting etc. It makes more sense to me that it's moisture (rain mist, roadspray, etc) & crud being sucked or forced into the inlet scoop, then (especially when the fan isn't running) sitting in the plastic well of the housing that the motor sits in due to the fact a bit of crud or something has blocked the tiny drain hole there (hence me saying to open it up to 10mm or so like Mazda seem to have done on later models)
I'm quite happy to be proved wrong & shot down, but I see the windscreen drain theory as being a bit of a bongo urban myth :wink:
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Re: air con fan is weak

Post by helen&tony » Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:10 pm

Hi
I agree with that, Kirsty...never found mine blocked, and water wouldn't get past the rubber seal on the lip.
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