In alt.home.repair on Sat, 21 May 2005 22:37:09 GMT "Joseph Meehan"
posted:

meirman wrote:
This is about about my car heater fan. It's not really about home or
electronics repair, but I think you will be able to help me, and I'd
appreciate it.

Can I regrease my electric switch? And if so, what should I use to
remove the old grease? And more importantly, what sort of grease
should I then use to regrease this 12 volt switch?

I have white grease, lithium grease, ball joint etc. grease (in a
grease gun), some wheel bearing grease, "bicycle" grease in a tube by
Schwinn, and maybe one more kind. I even have Crisco. Or I can
buy something new.



Thanks for replying.

My '95 Chrysler heater/AC fan speed switch no longer works in position
2,

That is the answer to your question. It is not the switch that is bad,
it is a resistor that is gone. They tend to fail one at a time.

Thats what I thought at first, but

a) The switch tested bad in the second position only.

b) A friend gave me a control panel from a Chrysler Caravan truck that
he was scrapping**. The second fan speed, all the fan speeds work
fine with his control panel. (I can't just take the fan speed switch
from it because it won't fit in my heater control panel. And I can't
use his control panel because almost all the connections are different
in his control panel. The vacuum hoses are longer, not a problem;
the electrical connection might be in the same place; but the hot/cold
door control cable connects at the left rear corner instead of right
rear, and is meant to come in at a 90 degree different angle. I
tried to find some slack in the cable, but there isn't. (It's very
hard, almost too short, even to connect the cable to the control panel
it was designed for.)

The speed is controlled by the resistors, but if the switch is bad,
then no current will reach the intended place on the resistor pack.


**Same year and same appearance on the front of the control (except
my dim white letters and lines were bright white on his.) but behind
the face plate, a different style of control panel. Everything
rearranged.

On some cars the resistors are built into the switch and in others there
is a separate resistor pack. You need to replace what ever has the
resistors in it. I don't recommend trying to replace the resistor, just buy
the pack or switch.

Note: Often this happens when the blower fan motor is starting to wear
out. If it were mine and unless it is easy to get to that resistor pack, I

Actually, the resistor pack is rather hard to get to, but the bigger
trouble was that I loosened the screws for a long time, but neither
came out. Couldn't see the other side. But like I say, it works
with my friend's switch.

would replace the motor and the resistor pack. If you can get to the
resistor pack easily, and you can on some cars, I might try just that, but I
suspect you will find it going out again in a matter of months.


Meirman
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