Footwell Blower Slow

sagolfer · 05-27-2008, 11:57 AM

I have a 1986 Targa. The footwell blower for the side vent on the passenger side is very slow with very little air output from the vent. The center and driver sides blow fine. I took the blower out and cleaned it with an electrical spray cleaner but it didn't seem to help.

Does anyone know of a way to repair the blower without replacing?

Thanks.

DRACO A5OG · DRACO A5OG's Garage

Check underneath the car to see if the passanger side valve at end of the heat exchanger is closing all they way when you pull up the lever. An assistant is very usefull when doing this.

Open and close to make certain it is operating properly. Clean, adjust and lube, this should give you better air flow to the passanger side footwell blower. If it does not close all the way, your engine blower is just blowing air right out of the gap and not to your footwell blower

While your down there check driver's side

sagolfer · 05:17 AM

Draco,

Thanks. A little more info. I'm using the AC fan only. Do the heat exchangers still provide air flow when in AC mode only? Your thoughts made me try testing the side vent with the heater system. However, I get very little flow through those fans (on both sides) with the heater controls. I'm new to these cars and have never used the AC or heater until recently. I know both heat and AC use the side vents. It could very well be the valves you described. The AC has not worked since I purchased the car several months ago and I just got it going again this past weekend.

Doing additional reading (including a current thread on installing foot well blowers in previous models), I see that the foot well blower fans are multiple speed fans. I have read that they are 3 speed but the Bently manual says they are two speed. I'm thinking that only the lower speed is working on the passenger side. The air flow seems the same on the driver side at the first speed setting. However when turning the AC fan control knob to the top speeds, the passenger side vent air flow does not increase as the the driver side bower does.

Rot 911 · 05-28-2008, 05:18 AM

The footwell blower is for the heat and blows out of the bottom of the dash with just a bit of air out of the side vents. The AC only blows out the side and middle vents. There is only one blower for the AC. If you have it on and still only getting low output on the side vent I suspect a vent hose has come loose.

javadog · 05-28-2008, 05:31 AM

There are three separate fan systems on your car. The A/C fan control knob that is on your center console has nothing to do with the footwell blower fans. It only controls the fan in the evaporator housing in the lower trunk "smugglers box." The footwell blower fans are controlled by the control unit on the floor between the seats. You have one of two possible systems. If you have auto heat control, the dial on that controller will have positions from 0 to 9. If you do not have auto heat control, you'll have positions from 0 to 3. With auto heat control, the system will decide what speed to run the blower fans, depending upon the interior temperature, the dial position, and the temperature of the sensor in the heater duct. If you do not have the auto heat control, the dial should control the fan speeds directly. The footwell blower fans do have three speeds, although the low speed is hard to hear.

This is all covered pretty well in the owner's manual, if you have one.

JR

sagolfer · 05-28-2008, 07:44 AM

Thanks guys.

In summary for AC, if the passenger side vent has a low air flow when the AC fan is at max, then there is a blockage or broken hose between the evaporator fan and the side air vent.

On the heater side, the switch between the seats in my car has nine positions however I can only select the first 3. The switch stops at 3. I only know the scale underneath the knob goes to 9 because I removed the knob and saw them. Does this mean that my heating does not have auto heat control or my switch is stuck and not working properly?

Rot 911 · 05-28-2008, 07:52 AM

If you don't have auto heat you should have one or two levers below the dial.

javadog · 05-28-2008, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sagolfer

In summary for AC, if the passenger side vent has a low air flow when the AC fan is at max, then there is a blockage or broken hose between the evaporator fan and the side air vent.

I assume that the vent is all the way open, via the thumb wheel on the side.

JR