Blower Not Working

plato888 · Post by **plato888** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 12:22 am

Hi Guys

Have just joined this forum and its all very useful so far !

I am having trouble with the interior blower in so much as it doesn't work !

I have the slider control for temperature and push button (inc a/con) for the rest. The only thing that works is when i press the AC MAX button which overrides everything else and belts air full blast. Have replaced the fuse and put in another blower switch (ie the 1,2,3,4) speed one but to no avail. To add yet further intrigue if the switch is set to full (but with A/CON off) the blower sometimes comes on albeit for a few seconds then off again. Same applies when starting in the morning it comes on then goes off again, although this happens rarely now.

Can anyone shed any light on the problem please as I'm sure Im not the first with this task...........its getting a bit scary now driving with a misted up windscreen every morning !

many thanks Simon

Murf · Post by **Murf** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 7:16 am

have you checked the fuses and relays?
if i remember correctly there are seperate fuses and relays for the different blower speeds.
it could also be the push button switch panel solder connections (this is common fault) or i think theres a connector block behind the glove box which can come loose and arc, causing poor connections.

martinholmesuk · Post by **martinholmesuk** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:49 am

I did have some pictures of the connections (behind glove box) anyways have a look and I think there to the left and bolted onto the wall.

SanPhire · Post by **SanPhire** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 2:21 pm

If you unscrew the four screws holding the glove box into the dashboard and then pull it out, you will be treated with access to the blower and its associated connectors.
You are looking for the resistor pack that controls the variable speeds of the fan - if that's burnt out or the connection has got upset than that will explain the problem.
The other thing to check as you have the VEM (push button controls) is that the two electrical connectors on the back of that are sat home strongly. All fan speeds rely on this unit turning on some internal relays to power the fan up. If the connectors have fallen off or whatever then you have no fan.

Finally - the VEM system has 3 or more fuses powering it up. Check them all as loss of power to one of the circuits can have adverse reactions on the others.

If all this is testing OK - then the solder points on the circuits inside your VEM may be dry. This is a common problem for A/C cars and there are posts floating about with the solution if you are handy with a soldering iron.

Good luck!!!

suddy · Post by **suddy** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 8:24 pm

When this happend to me, the cause was dry joints on one of the relays on VEM.

martinholmesuk · Post by **martinholmesuk** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 5:05 pm

martinholmesuk wrote:I did have some pictures of the connections (behind glove box) anyways have a look and I think there to the left and bolted onto the wall.

Hope this is correct.

Website · Post by **coyote1980** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 2:11 pm

Ed Koedijk once had a problem with his VEM unit, turned out to be bad soldering joints on th circuit board...

FAQ article on VEM unit

Maybe it helps...

ICFM · Post by **ICFM** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 4:07 pm

Simon

I had this problem. Turned out it was a bad earth on the fan. The earth point is up behind the glove box. Try the simple things first - as the wife says!

Iain

plato888 · Post by **plato888** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:33 pm

Reeeesult !!!

Huge thankyou to everyone who helped with this prob, turned out to be a single bad solder joint on the VEM, interestingly the EXACT joint as shown on the diagram "Look at me im a bad solder" so perhaps is a common problem.

Now for the difficult bit....

Website · Post by **coyote1980** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 4:10 pm

Congratulations

Glad to see the FAQ section is still useful

VOLVO480S · Post by **VOLVO480S** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 4:06 pm

Hi, great to see you've succeeded! Unfortunately it looks like the bad solder joint paid me a visit too... grrr

I've been trying to take the VEM out of the dash, but after unscrewing every screw I see, it still sticks like glue..

What to do for example with the cable linked to the airtemperature...

A lot of things in the 480 are as fragile as they look, so who can help me out with some pictures or a description on how to dismantle it without breaking anything...

Robert

VOLVO480S · Post by **VOLVO480S** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 6:11 pm

I've managed to fix it myself, fortunately with a lot of patience and being careful. But what a mess to get everything loosened up. The plastic is so fragile that opening up the cover made me a bit nervous. But I managed to have the joint soldered and some others too out of precaution. Thank you Ed for your superb photoshoot!

Regards,
Robert

dsantos · Post by **dsantos** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:39 pm

Hi everyone!
I'm new to this forum and this is my first post.
I just bought a 1989 Volvo 480 Turbo.
It turns to be that the gearbox was damaged, so I had to have it replaced.
All the engine, wires, pipes, etc. had to come out...
Put the car in the mechanic and because the water pump under the air filter was leaking, he disconnected it.

Now the blower fan does not work (it was working fine before the gearbox replacement).

Do you think it has something to do with that or must it be a bad connection wire.

I already checked all the connections and fuses behind the glove box - all OK aparently.

Note A/C MAX works, but the blower fan doesn't.

Any hints?

Thanks in advance

Volvo 480 Club Europe

Blower Not Working

Blower Not Working

VEM dismantling

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