Anybody know how to make front fan faster??

susan · Post by **susan** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:15 pm

you ask such a simple question

pippin · Post by **pippin** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:02 pm

For clarification:

If the resistor pack goes faulty it will NOT affect the top speed setting of the fan.

The resistors simply progressively lower the voltage for the other three settings.
If it fails then the fan will still blow at fast speed on the highest setting but it will not work at all on some or all of the lower settings.

dos · Post by **dos** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:24 am

For clarification....I don't actually want to blowdry my hair, just get the fan to work a little faster.

On setting 4 bongo fans seem a little pathetic...

Post by **Simon Jones** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 6:50 pm

I have had a go at this & can report the following:

I removed the black plastic duct above the radiator & the top of the fan housing. When trying to spin the fan by hand, there seemed to be quite a lot of resistance, so decided to strip it down for a look. It's a 5 minute job to get the fan & motor out, but DONT attempt to strip the motor unless you are feeling brave. There is a very strong magnet which makes removing the armature very difficult & then the brushes fall out! I found that even after a thorough clean of all the bits & light lubrication of the bearings, that it made no difference to being able to rotate the fan - it is just not very free running. Whilst it was apart, I cleaned all the dust & crud from rest of the ducting & found where part of the problem may lie. When I removed the last part of the ducting (undo the engine fuses first), this exposes the heater matrix & it was full of dust, straw, leaves & dead insects:

I carefully removed what I could using a vacuum cleaner & soft paint brush to loosen the debris. I cannot say for certain that there is anymore airflow at the vents, but i'm sure it must have made some improvement & I am happy that the air that is coming in is probably much fresher as a result.

I would not recommend taking the fan apart unless it is really seized up, in which case the fan resistor pack will probably be fried too. The rest of the job could easily be tackled in under an hour using 10mm & 8mm sockets, cross head screwdriver, warm soapy water, cleaning cloth, vacuum cleaner & small brush. WARNING: the fins on the heater matrix are fragile - be very careful not too damage them. Would also advise disconnecting the battery too as the fuse box needs to be unbolted. I would not advise anyone to do this unless they are competant doing this sort of work.

Lewy · Post by **Lewy** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 4:26 pm

Simon - I did the same and stripped down the fan motor after frying the resistor pack a few times - seems to have helped and I noticed the fan turned much more smoothly - but has not resulted in a massive increase in air comming out of the vents.

Incidently I have put a filter of sorts - bit of excess extractor fan filter - that sits between the first plastic intake and the fan in the hope that it would stop all the crap - bugs etc. being dragged into the fan housing. Strikes me there should be a proper filter there - maybe its just missing on mine?

pippin · Post by **pippin** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 5:31 pm

Mine has a removable fine mesh filter that can be knocked clean.
A cloth filter would be even better, you have got me thinking!

Post by **Simon Jones** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:15 pm

Some form of filter in the rectangle section before the fan would be a good idea. Now where did I leave my tights.....

dandywarhol · Post by **dandywarhol** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 11:28 pm

A filter would also affect the strength of the fan operation.............

so you could be back to square one..............