Garage Monkey Fixes the Heater (DOH!)
 

I followed a thread a few weeks ago and corrected a couple of issues with the heater on Butters my 81 911 coupe. I've driven the car daily for more than a year without heat. Wow, was I excited to have some warmth!

But the volume was pathetic... I didn't realize how bad it was until I drove Steve's cabby the other day. Probably twice the heat inside that vehicle - with a fabric top!

So last night I shoved Steve's cabby outside (yeah, that went over well), covered it up as snow was on the way, and pulled Butters into the garage to investigate the lack of heat VOLUME.

Well, this is embarassing, but funny. Might save someone else goofing it up if I admit it... :rolleyes:

The blower motor on the engine has a pigtail harness - two wires. It mates to a corresponding connector. When I put the engine in this car a year ago, the matching connector was missing - cut - whatever - by some previous person. So I stripped the wires, put ends on to go into the existing connector. Looking at the connector and the two wires I had so handily terminated, obviously there's a 50/50 chance that I'm correct. I hooked them up, the blower ran, so must have had it right...

WRONG! If you hook them up backwards, the motor runs in reverse! And you have absolutely squat for volume at the vents!

Oh, and your husband laughs his butt off at you. That's probably the worst part...

angela (much warmer now, thank you)

Similar experience. When I replaced the rear blower motor recently in my car, I had to splice on a new connector. I connected it up to the battery before installing the motor and I thought I had it right as air was coming out. Fortunately I also tried reversing the wires and, as you say, the air output increased drastically. This is a good time of year to have full heat.

>Oh, and your husband laughs his butt off at you. That's probably the worst part...

Let me see... You own a 911, you fix it yourself, and your husband laughs at you?
No, I don't see it. Most of us would love for our wives to even come close to that level !

That's kinda cold & funny! I just installed a new blower motor from our host, and yeahhhh it's nice'n toasty inside the cabin now!!

Angela,
you can hang out in my garage and fix my 911 anytime.
Good on ya.
My wife won't even step foot in the garage.

Oh yeah, he laughed all right... It amazes me that I can do fairly difficult tasks with remarkable competance and yet screw this up. He let me do the wiring to put the 3.2 motronic into his 80 cabby, and I did it right. I've put the engine into the spyder by myself before, pulled engines from the 911's also by myself (but I can't put them in by myself, can't balance and shove well enough).

But I screw THIS up! And drive it for a year - in Oregon! I mean who does THAT???? GAHHH!!!!

angela

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1229642691.jpg

Hmmm, I think I better check my connections, I've had that blower out and back in serveral times lately!

Thanks

Jay

That's the HOTTEST thing I've read on here in a long time, Angela. Pun intended.

Electrical issues tend to polarize people.

Hey Angela,
Now that you are experienced you can come down to the warm desert and repair the heater fan motor and the flap control, neither of which work on my '82.
Your old Spyder buddy.
Terry

And did I mention that my husband is an electrician? Yeah, there's going to be no end of harassment from him on this one.

Things like this always find their way to ground...


Oh hey there Terry! I'll be down in February for the 24 hour race. But I'm sure you'll have repaired it well before then!

angela

So if I understand correctly, that blower really sucked.

"So if I understand correctly, that blower really sucked."
Timing is everything :)

And this is a bad thing how?

Best,

Tom

I this the connector in the interior, under the carpet right behind the ebrake/climate control housing? Thanks-

The connector I'm referring to is about 5 inches from the blower motor itself within the engine bay. There's a pigtail that comes out of the blower motor - that attachment point to the rest of the harness is where I goofed...

But hey, I did put in the headlamp relay upgrade kit and a pair of 80/100 H4 while in the garage that same evening - that all worked out very well!

angela

Angela, be careful with the heat now that you've got it properly working. You don't want to melt Butters. ;)

Brian