Fresh air fan control removal

[mike sampsel]

My fresh air fan works in switch positions I and II, but not III (but Position I and the fan light are a bit flakey at position I).
Suspecting some dust or fuzz is creating poor contact poor for the switch.
Bentley gives no instruction on removal of the control panel with the three levers.

Anyone know of good instructions?

Perhaps there is a way to spray contact cleaner at the switch in situ?

Anyone have a picture of the back side of the levers/switch?

Desperate to break something

[86 911 Targa]

Originally Posted by mike sampsel

My fresh air fan works in switch positions I and II, but not III (but Position I and the fan light are a bit flakey at position I).
Suspecting some dust or fuzz is creating poor contact poor for the switch.
Bentley gives no instruction on removal of the control panel with the three levers.

Anyone know of good instructions?

Perhaps there is a way to spray contact cleaner at the switch in situ?

Anyone have a picture of the back side of the levers/switch?

Desperate to break something

I would first look for some type of entanglement with
the light harnesses.

Removing the ash tray & radio will give you visibility.

Some type of alcohol spray cleaner might help.

As a precaution, turn off the dash lights prior to cleaning.

Gerry

[john walker's workshop]

Not my favorite job, to say the least. You can try getting your fingers up over the sliding electrical contacts and pressing down as you work the outer knob back and forth in an attempt tp scrub the contact surfaces. Works sometimes.

[mike sampsel]

Thanks for the ideas guys. Appreciate them

[Dpmulvan]

Yeh what John said no fun removing these to work, here's a pic of contacts the photo shows position 2 middle

[Dpmulvan]

Few more

[mike sampsel]

Dpmulvan,

Fantastic photos just what I needed to help me determine what to do.
Thank you so much!

[Dpmulvan]

Not one of their better design elements, to remove you have to disconnect cables that run up under the left side (drivers side) and then through the firewall.. If you can get a hose or straw in there you can spray it with deoxit good stuff works miracles. You can buy it on amazon used to clean pots and other audio and electronic parts.

[Dpmulvan]

This job= 3 curse words 2 beers.

[donagain1]

Originally Posted by Dpmulvan

This job= 3 curse words 2 beers.

Not to mention future lower back problems from the contortions to get into a position to see and reach in there. Plan on a couple of scratched up fingers as well. I used a plastic-safe electrical contact cleaner and lubricant by CRC called 2-26. It's safe for use on all electrical parts. Google it for sources.

[eastbay]

Pull the radio and those switch contacts are right there and are easily accessible. In my case of switch goodness, a previous careless radio installer had slightly bent down the curved contact plate causing problems. Simple bend and test, clean contacts and I was back in business.

[mike sampsel]

Was good exercise bending around from seat to seat and reaching up. Hit it with some contact cleaner and tried the move switch back and forth while holding contacts down. The high speed kicks in but is intermittent.

Went to grab my DeoxIT which I had ordered a year ago:
Discovered it’s not the one recommended for metal to metal


Looking for the right one on amazon soon. Thanks again for all the advice.

[spyerx]

Side topic question: These early fan controls (I have a 71), are there lights on this panel?
Do they operate with the fan?
Or do they operate with the dash lights?

My controls work fine, but no lights.

Thanks

[woland]

What do you mean with 71? I see in your garage you have a 78SC.
In this case yes, while the blower starts you should see the fan enlightened.
Not other lights

[spyerx]

Originally Posted by woland

What do you mean with 71? I see in your garage you have a 78SC.
In this case yes, while the blower starts you should see the fan enlightened.
Not other lights

I've a 71, 89, 91, 97, 06 :-)

I'm referring to the 71... Thanks. Sorry for the distraction, useful if I need to remove this thing to get to lights (that may or may not exist!)

[mike sampsel]

My light (fan emblem to the far right of the panel) illuminates with the fan slide at center to right.
Pretty sure it’s the larger metal connector which grounds my fan light. It doe not illuminate with the lights.

The rest of the stuff, FAN and max def and def off light up with light switch.

[mike sampsel]

So I sprayed some contact cleaner inside (after radio removal). And slid things around.
Seemed to help but not fixed yet. Tomorrow I planned on hitting it with the cleaner/lube pictured. However today when I pushed the control all the way to the right, high speed works. It’s s wee bit noisy too.

Anyway thanks again all

[rokemester]

Originally Posted by mike sampsel

Dpmulvan,

Fantastic photos just what I needed to help me determine what to do.
Thank you so much!

Man those pics are great! What electromechanical “Rube Goldberg” machines our pre 90 air cooled 911s are!

[Superman]

Originally Posted by woland

What do you mean with 71? I see in your garage you have a 78SC.
In this case yes, while the blower starts you should see the fan enlightened.
Not other lights

Ah Hah! This is good news. I have a '78 but with '83 controls. I have the '78 controls in a box, which I just looked at. Sure enough, it has the light. I have been wishing for this light and considering a mod to install one. I will likely be removing some trunk stuff anyway in a few weeks (MC booster needs replacing, hood shocks...) and one of the wire/cable thingies need swapping out (I have that part too), so I'll just R&R the controls. Put the '78 controls back in. Clean the contacts, etc. Maybe install a relay.

Yay!

[mike sampsel]

Superman,

In addition to cleaning the contacts, I’d consider some contact lube/cleaner too.
Like DeoxIT F5 or D6.