Air con front blower

bornio · Post by **bornio** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 6:17 pm

I've the usual problem with the front blower not working on my Bongo (1995).

I replaced the resistor, since the old one looked damaged. This hasn't helped.

When I turn on the front fan, nothing happens. If I press the A/C button, the radiator fans come on. If I leave the front fan dial on 1/2/3/4, and press the rear fan button, it blows fine to the rear.

I've taken the the flat plastic inlet off under the bonnet and checked the fan. It wouldn't turn at first, but now I can move it with my hand. However, it seems pretty tight. It certainly wont just spin freely.

I'm not sure what to try next before taking it to a professional to look at.

Does this sound like the fan unit or motor need cleaning or replacing?

Anyone know a good garage near Salisbury tha does Bongo air cons/blower repairs?

gwyddfor · Post by **gwyddfor** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 7:43 pm

Hi, i had the same problem! when i took it apart the brushes etc where very worn and messy, with lots of rust and blacking on the copper. I tried cleaning in up, but no joy. The new fans are about £120, but i got one in very good condition through http://www.breakeryard.com for £64 delivered next day. Some do ask more, i was quoted up to £85, bit steep when you compare to new.
The fitting was very easy, and now good as new. There is a small hole with pipe at base of windscreen that removes rain, i'd check that too as i've been told it seems to block and then water can head to the fan, causing the rust. good luck!

bornio · Post by **bornio** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 7:52 pm

Thanks.

I had a look at the drain pipe as well. You'd hardly notice it was there. It was ok, just a bit of dust in it that's all.
Since we haven't run the a/c or blower since it stopped working in April, my guess is that we had a faulty resistor and the fan/motor have rusted a bit.

Did you only replace the fan, or was it the motor too?

Is it very hard to remove the motor and fan?

Cheers.

missfixit70 · Post by **missfixit70** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 9:12 pm

Take it out, strip it, clean it, grease the bearings & it might just go, mine did. What have you got to lose? saves throwing a load of money at it if its repairable. It's easy to get at & work on & the worst thing that can happen is it doesn't work

Only took me a couple of hours or so, good opportunity to clean out all the ducting too.

Post by **Simon Jones** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 10:02 pm

Have a look at the second page of this post http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... s&start=15. I stripped the fan down & cleaned out all the crud from the system & it made a slight improvement to the airflow. If the fan has started to seize up, then it's probably worth a go at a re-building it.

Bornio, as you're a local lad, I'd be happy to have a look for you. I do have a spare fan that I bought a while back so we could at least plug that in & see what happens. Drop me a pm if you're interested.

bongomaan · Post by **bongomaan** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:11 pm

i also am on the path to the mecca that is a working front blower,i started at the fusebox and found that the fuse has blown,its a wierd pink 30a fuse the like of which i have never seen ,is it available anywhere??

waycar8 · Post by **waycar8** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:14 pm

bongomaan wrote:i also am on the path to the mecca that is a working front blower,i started at the fusebox and found that the fuse has blown,its a wierd pink 30a fuse the like of which i have never seen ,is it available anywhere??

Your local motor factors shop, thats where i got mine from.

bongomaan · Post by **bongomaan** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:31 pm

cheers !

bornio · Post by **bornio** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 2:12 pm

Thanks Simon. for the offer. I've PM'd you, would really appreciate the help.

bongomaan · Post by **bongomaan** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:10 pm

just fitted a new fan and a new resister pack (and new fuses strangely harder to find than the other parts) not cheap but worth every penny,after 12 years of use worth replacing.now she blows like a good un,and the air con is ice cold all in all tidy!

Post by **Simon Jones** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 8:47 am

We've managed to sort this one out. Water had got into the bottom of the fan and the shaft had rusted into the bearing. The only way the fan would rotate was with the entire bearing moving in it's socket.

I had previously bought a Mazda fan motor that was described as being from a Bongo, but turned out to be from a different model as the fixing holes were different. Fortunately, the main armature, brushes and rear bearing were identical, so it was just a matter of swapping these parts over.

As a result of the bearing failure, extra current was drawn through the resistor pack, and combined with the reduced airflow to cool the heatsink, had caused the solder to melt. The pack had been replaced as the prime suspect and this had failed too, but being of the newer design, it was very easy to re-solder the connection.

So a few useful tips from this exercise:

* Check the drain pipe is clear at the botton of the windscreen. This had probably caused water to overflow from the gutter and get into the fan. This is not helped by a rubber tube at the bottom of the fan which funnels any rainwater straight into the bearing

* Use the fan regularly and if you notice it squeaking or running slowly, investigate the problem before it fails totally

* Always check the fan rotates freely before replacing resistor pack, otherwise the new one is prone to failure

* The parts are interchangable from other models, so it might be worth taking your faulty one to a scrapyard and look for a replacement from another Mazda, or even another make (after all, most parts are made by third parties for several manufacturers)

Yamaha · Post by **Yamaha** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:21 am

Another very informative post, Simon - should help a lot of people to have a go at a repair.

Top marks, that man !!

Mike

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 12:44 pm

Excellent post and - as ever - a few pic make it so much clearer

Air con front blower

Air con front blower

there she blows !!!