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Heater fuse keeps tripping. can anybody help me with advice?

Posted: 01 Jan 2010, 19:50
by soulboynumber1
Hi all (and a happy new year to everyone)

A few little things have just come up with my litle van Priscilla. One of the important things is that the heater
has packed in? I dug out the beloved haynes book and located the the fuse for the heating system. Thought
this should have been a doddle even for the like of me!

I had some spare fuses and and replaced the said heater fuse only for it to blow again with the adage of a little
spark for good measure when i switched the heater on again with all fingers crossed. Again i tried but again the
same thing, it blew with a little spark (very small spark i might add)

As its very cold at the mo i'd like to warm up my nether regions and refrain from taking her to a garage and try
to resolve it myself. If anyone can give me any advice i'd be very happy.

Just to mention the original heater fuse had blown when i took it out.

Thanks in advance.................

Re: Heater fuse keeps tripping. can anybody help me with advice?

Posted: 01 Jan 2010, 20:57
by CovKid
The motor Is almost certainly seizing (fairly common) and most on here just pull dash and fit a new motor or as I did, remove dash and spray some WD40 in there. I had the same problem until in got in there and cleaned things up. A new motor isn't that expensive. Available on ebay.

Re: Heater fuse keeps tripping. can anybody help me with advice?

Posted: 01 Jan 2010, 22:42
by edoh
Pre dash out check? - Correct amp fuse?
Fuse holder - clean tight connection?
Short circuit? - Dr haynes he say - ''normally caused by a breakdown in wiring insulation which allows a feed wire to touch either another wire or an earthed component such as the bodyshell. A short circuit fault will normally cause the relevant circuit fuse to blow..'.

Re: Heater fuse keeps tripping. can anybody help me with advice?

Posted: 02 Jan 2010, 10:04
by soulboynumber1
CovKid wrote:The motor Is almost certainly seizing (fairly common) and most on here just pull dash and fit a new motor or as I did, remove dash and spray some WD40 in there. I had the same problem until in got in there and cleaned things up. A new motor isn't that expensive. Available on ebay.


Hey thanks for the reply. Ok i'm not the most mechanically minded here so i need to ask a few further questions. What motor are we talking about here? Where will i find it? and where exactly should i be spraying the wd40?

Thanks

Re: Heater fuse keeps tripping. can anybody help me with advice?

Posted: 02 Jan 2010, 10:09
by soulboynumber1
edoh wrote:Pre dash out check? - Correct amp fuse?
Fuse holder - clean tight connection?
Short circuit? - Dr haynes he say - ''normally caused by a breakdown in wiring insulation which allows a feed wire to touch either another wire or an earthed component such as the bodyshell. A short circuit fault will normally cause the relevant circuit fuse to blow..'.

Thanks edoh for your reply.

Unfortunately i'm a bit useless with the jargon of mechanical repairs. Whats a pre dash out check? I put in another 20amp fuse
which was the correct one and it blew, however the second one a tried was a 15 amp.

Re: Heater fuse keeps tripping. can anybody help me with advice?

Posted: 02 Jan 2010, 11:03
by kevtherev
what he's saying is...

check the electrical connections that make it work. Just in case it's some thing simple like a.. short circuit

got a haynes?
haynes tells you where these connections are i.e the switch, the fuse board. just trace these wires and see if any of them are broken

Being blunt.....it's a big job changing a seized heater motor and it sounds like it's off your skills graph... no offence :mrgreen:

Re: Heater fuse keeps tripping. can anybody help me with advice?

Posted: 02 Jan 2010, 13:22
by edoh
pre dash out -
as in - before you take the dash out - and embark on major work -
check the really obvious list - righ amp fuse? - fuse holder ok? - clean tight connections - any obvious breaks in wiring? Have a look and give the wiring a wriggle - Anytrhing different? Do you have access to a test light or a multimeter - or some way of checking where the current is going?

Re: Heater fuse keeps tripping. can anybody help me with advice?

Posted: 02 Jan 2010, 15:02
by soulboynumber1
Thanks guys, i shal have a look and see whats there.

Thanks again

Dave