SUCCESS rear heater blower motor

tduncan001 · 10-28-2010, 02:45 PM

First of all, thank you to Dave and Tradisrad who provided some good coaching points. I dug into the relay plate connections and that is where the problem was. It was iterative, and after cleaning up and securing all of the connections - wallah!

when I pull the red lever now, the motor turns on. Looking forward to installing the new heater blower hoses I ordered from Pelican (replace the old duct taped ones)

I only have one more electrical component to fix and that is the VDO oil pressure gauge. The green dummy light works but the under dash gauge (70 psi gauge) is always pegged at 70 PSI even when the engine is not running. One of the posts on the sending unit is snapped off so that may be the issue - dont know...

tradisrad · 09:38 AM

I am glad that you got the heater blower working correctly. I went one step further with my blower and put a light in the dash panel to indicate when the heater blower is on. There is a light for the fresh air blower but not for the heater blower even though there is a bulb holder behind the red screen. I took the power from the other bulb and used the heater lever switch as the ground/on. I'll post a picture. I don't think we need the rear fan on while the engine is at freeway RPMs, but it can't be heard and could run all the time and wear it out faster. Hence the light.

Now your oil pressure gauge: If you have both the dash (idiot) light and a gauge you should have a dual oil pressure sending unit. It is located just behind the distributor (but you know this). One connection is for the dash light and the other for the gauge; if I recall correctly one connector is labeled "WK" (for the dash light) and the other "G" for the gauge. I'll go out and double check on mine.

Oh, I just reread you post. If one of the post on the sending unit is snapped off this is likely you problem. A pegged gauge tells me that the wire is grounded. Find the wire and remove it from anything that it is grounded to and see if the needle goes to zero.

Edit: is the gauge pegged with the ignition off? if so, its positive connection is wired so it is always +12v. You should move the positive wire to a ignition "on" fuse panel location. I think fuse 8 or 9 will work.

fenglin · 11-01-2010, 11:40 PM

Dave and Tradisrad who provided some good coaching points. I dug into the relay plate connections and that is where the problem was. It was iterative, and after cleaning up and securing all of the connections

tduncan001 · 11-02-2010, 08:30 AM

I was thinking that an indicator light would be ideal and your solution is outstanding. First of all, I did not know I had a light behind the blue panel. I got behind there and sure enough I do. I need to clean up the ground contact points as the light only internittently comes on - it never came on before so seeing "blue" was a nice surprise. I tested your idea and it works - I am going to follow what you did.

Did you find another OEM light assembly to do this. I can not find the part. Looks like a pretty simple light so maybe any will do?

The oil pressure gauge is only on with the ignition so I am ok there. The old gauge is a VDO 70 PSI and the current ones are 80 or higher. Think I can just replace the dual sending unit and keep the old gauge even though the new ones are for 80 psi?

tradisrad · 11-02-2010, 08:55 AM

I did use another OEM light assy. At first I used an LED, but I did not like that so I went to the factory bulb holder. I don't know why the factory did not wire this up they have the screen and bulb holder built into the panel.
I may have a spare light bulb holder, but I dont think I have a bulb (I was looking for one in my stash a month ago and had to buy a new one). If I remeber I'll look this evening and I can drop it in the mail.
-Rob

seventythree · 11-02-2010, 11:19 PM

I replaced the burnt out bulb behind the blue lens a long time ago with a new bulb from a VW application. It comes on with the fresh air blower but it's too dim. What is the spec on the correct bulb?

TIA

tradisrad · 11-03-2010, 07:02 AM

It's a 2 watt bulb. The screen could be dirty.

tduncan001 · 11-04-2010, 04:49 AM

I can find a 2 watt bulb. By chance, did you have an extra bulb holder lying around? If not, any suggestions on where I could buy one? On a side note, I replaced both tie rod assemblies with no problems and the car handles much better. Still have not had to take the car to a shop for any work yet so my "learning" project is going well.

tradisrad · 11-04-2010, 07:13 AM

I forgot to look for the bulb holder. I'll put a note in my pocket and try and remember tonight. I dont think I've got a spare bulb and I don't rmrmber where I found mine; perhaps NAPA auto parts.

I am happy to hear that you are getting you car togeather w/o paying a shop. You may need to have the alignment check by a shop after you replaced the tie rods.

These are great little cars and 99% of the work can be done by a home mechanic.

tduncan001 · 11-04-2010, 07:22 AM

You are correct - an alignment is next at an alignment shop. I never replaced a tie rod before and I had to turn the inner end counter clockwise slightly to get the retaining bolt out. I out the new bolt (and cotter pin) in, then turned the inner end back to where it was. Do you know if the inner ends are suppose to be straight horizontal to the ground (fork end at 9 and 3)? My inner ends were turned slightly cockeyed and I can't find any pictures or adjustment guidance. Maybe this is where they tweak the alignment?