smoke pouring out from air vents

[Sir Brixalot]

Thinking back it all begins to fall into place. As I was driving along I had noticed that the red dot on the heater display above the sliding controls looked as if it was illuminated, at the time I thought there must be a bulb behind it flickering intermittently. In retrospect it must have been the wiring burning. As the blower switch is seized in the on position my thinking is to cut the wires to the switch until I replace the heater.

[CovKid]

I'd be amazed if the fuse hasn't gone anyway unless you had a 100amp one in there

Sure, cut the wires if you like. New switch, new fan by the sound of it. You'll miss that fan on a hot day though

[Mocki]

if the fuse has gone, or the wiring is damaged, you may well find you have no wipers.......dont wait for it to rain to find out!

[Sir Brixalot]

Thanks for the tip. Tested the wipers already...by accident while I was getting the heater display panel off. Is the fan the same thing as the blower?

[kevtherev]

Is the fan the same thing as the blower?

Are you serious
I think you are.... so yes it is

[kevtherev]

here's what's inside...

[Sir Brixalot]

Thanks a lot for the piccy. Have been on holiday in cold and wet Cadiz and still need to tackle this. Could a novice do this? Although wipers still work water pump doesnt

[Sir Brixalot]

I'd be amazed if the fuse hasn't gone anyway unless you had a 100amp one in there

Sure, cut the wires if you like. New switch, new fan by the sound of it. You'll miss that fan on a hot day though

Weirdly fuse hasn't gone. Seems blower has seized simultaneously with washer pump but windscreen wipers still work. Any ideas why washer would have failed at same time that blower seized but left wipers still workign? Scratching my head

[Sir Brixalot]

Afternoon everyone, Got the van in the garage for the heater fan. Garage are saying that dash has to come out and that the heater fan has to be cut out and the new one glued in. Saying parts and labour will come to £400 not including finding out what's wrong with the windscreen washer. Is that expensive? Can't really justify the expense, wondering if for that sort of money whether it'd be better to fit propex/eberspacher? Would appreciate your thoughts.

[Cazz]

Afternoon everyone, Got the van in the garage for the heater fan. Garage are saying that dash has to come out and that the heater fan has to be cut out and the new one glued in. Saying parts and labour will come to £400 not including finding out what's wrong with the windscreen washer. Is that expensive? Can't really justify the expense, wondering if for that sort of money whether it'd be better to fit propex/eberspacher? Would appreciate your thoughts.

I reckon an alternative heater would be cheaper, or why don't you try and remove the dash yourself. My mechanical knowledge stops at changing a wheel and I managed to take mine out, it took patience and time and a tiny bit of help to detach the steering column. I'm due to put it back in next week, fingers crossed.

The heater box, the bit that holds the fan and matrix was glued together, this was a pain to separate, but I did it in the end.

[Sir Brixalot]

I thought of having a go - it was removing the steering col umn that put me off - don't know any one who's mechanically minded. How long did it take you?

[Cazz]

It's hard to say really, I was removing it whilst it was in my friends small work shop, I could only open one door and I had to bit and bob at it inbetween him welding etc.

It must have been a few hours in the end, it also took time to work out how things came off and in which order. The bolts that caused my issue were the something beginning with 'S' bolts, I didn't and clearly still don't know what they were or how to remove them.

Assuming I get mine back together ok, I would do it again.

[frenchwesty]

Hey I had the same problem this weekend also, burning smell and thought it was the engine, but then smoke coming from air vents onthe dash, is certainly a creme brulee'd heater fan/blower, looks like my dash will be coming out after the summer, luckily in south of france and no need for fan for months yet, air con would not go a miss though. Good luck with yours I will be having a go myself and will give a bit of time to do it.

[skell]

the s bolts are shear bolts i.e. the head shears off them when they are tightened up so they can't be undone (security feature). They are nicely shaped so you can get a drill in them and drill the heads off, then later you can unscrew the thread by hand. I just replaced with normal bolts when refitting my dash.

Once dash is out removing heater matrix is easy enough, you'll need quite a long cross head screwdriver to get at the mounting screws.

When dash is out have a good look at all the wiring and fix up any bodges. The two vans I've had dashed out on needed removal of scotch locks. Pukka way to go is solder and cover with heat shrink.

[Mocki]

before you go to the trouble of drilling the heads off the shearbolts, try a pair of molegrips, all the ones i have removed have come undone with moleys, they are softish and the grips grip really well on them, and they are not tight tight anyway....

there is a full on guide somewhere, either brickyard or here, or the wiki telling how and what to do to get to the heater.iirc