1993 ZX Advantage blower motor problems

[shamous]

Hello all. Finally summoned up the courage to make my first post but please bear with me if it's a bit messy.

I have been tackling a faulty blower problem with my ZX 1.9D on an off for some months now but with summer coming I'm starting to cook. Besides I think it's about time I put my dash back together

Blower hasn't worked since I bought the car but I think the motor is OK. Haynes manual wiring colours don't seem to match what I can see but basically blower has 2 feeds (red and black). Red shows voltage with ignition on but this rapidly returns to zero when I test voltage between it and a known earth.

Running the blower terminal that's connected to black wire straight to chassis results in a working blower.

I've traced wires to resistor in engine compartment and, though I'm not sure how to test this fully, it doesn't 'appear' broken.

There is a thick white wire that returns from this resister to blower control that doesn't ever seem to have voltage and I think this returns towards fuesbox/steering column.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Most of wiring is accesible so I could supply some pics if required.

Hope someone can help be a little further. I've found plenty of articles about Zantias blower issues on the forum but they seemed a little different.

Hope someone can assist.

Thanks for listening.

Shamous

ZX 1.9D (K)
Fiat Ulysse 2.0JTD (W)

[uncle buck]

Hi & welcome to the forum

Have a look at this thread as it covers the resistor block problem.
http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... r+resistor

A new resistor block is £9 from Citroen if you don't fancy trying to replace the fuse like in the thread above.

let us know how you get on.

[shamous]

Many thanks Uncle buck for pointing me in the direction of that article.

I took the block out again and stuck a temporary wire across the resistor with the fan connected and it worked !!!! One end of the resistor is green but I can't make out the colour/any markings on the other end it so I may have to go for changing the whole pack.

Is it just there to prevent motor from burning out?

I cannot believe I discounted it so early on because it 'looked alright', lesson's to be learned there !

Better start putting dash back together tomorrow in my lunch hour

Thanks again for helping with this and making first entry on forum a successful one.

Best regards

[uncle buck]

Hi,
glad you have found your problem

If you look at the block you will see 3 coils, these coils are resistance coils & by using these you get the 4 speeds from the blower motor.

The resistor thingy in the block is a thermal fuse & I believe I'm correct in saying that it's there for safety reasons, to cut the blower motor out if the resistance coils in the block get too hot.

If your handy & want a challenge you can try replacing the thermal fuse with a new one. However as all of the parts in the control block are crimped together, replacing the fuse without damaging anything may be hard. The block can get quite hot in use so soldering isn't really recommended.

You can get a fuse from Maplin...I believe the correct part is RA14Q ....£0.69p
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?cri ... Q&DOY=11m6

Regards.

[citronut]

the usual fault wich i belive is the cause or starts the thing going wrong with the rtesistor pack, is the crimp conections become rusty, so the circuit breaks down, if you have nort yet removed the resistor pack, rotate it about quarter of a turn from inside thev air intake in the skuttle, then pull it away and unplug the conection

when working with citroen electric you dont go by the wire sleave colour, you just go by the colour indicator marking at the ends of all wires, as you can have a bunch of green wires which will mislead you

regards malcolm

[shamous]

Hi all.

Thanks for all the really useful info 'uncle buck'. I'm waiting for a resistor pack to arrive as I tried (honest I did) to de-crimp the resistor which resulted in a few near misses with the screwdriver and lot's of cursing. A bit ham fisted I guess.

Thanks 'citronut' for tip on the wiring colours as I felt a bit blind without a wiring diagram I could rely on.

Battery light now glowing under 2000rpm so either a coincidence or it didn't like my messing around with the electrics. Just when you think you've got one thing sorted.....that's older cars for you I guess

Thanks again.

Sean

[shamous]

All fitted and blower now working. Thanks to all who helped. Will swap out my alternator for a second hand one this weekend.