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.



My '95 Chrysler heater/AC fan speed switch no longer works in position
2, the one I use most often. A new replacement is very expensive**.
I'm told the other speeds will fail soon.

With the switch dissassembled, it looks fine. There is some old
grease on the contacts, now darker than new, but was brown and shiny
when new. It is now, at least on the surfaces of the grease, a little
bit harder than new, but when I push aside the grease with a wooden
match stick stem, the copper contact underneath shows no burning or
anything unusual. It's not as shiny as new, but I didn't think that
would matter, since I'm sure the other three speeds aren't either.

I thought just mixing up the grease would be enough, and sure enough,
the meter had shown infinity but now showed almost zero resistance,
well under an ohm.. After reassembly it still tested good (with the
low current used by meters) but after reinstallation, again the second
position of the switch didn't work, not enough to power the fan
(though the separate resistor that is used to lower the voltage to get
a lower than max fan speed.)


**The switch is not sold separately and a whole new control panel
costs 150 or 250 dollars. If I buy from a junkyard, I'm told it will
probably already not work for the same reason mine doesn't.


What should I do?

Thanks for any help.

Meirman
--
If emailing, please let me know whether
or not you are posting the same letter.
Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.

I'm with the others-- it isn't the switch. Now
that you've got the switch apart, I suggest you
just stir up the grease as you did. If you want
to clean it, spray it with WD-40, then regrease
with a silicone grease-- bicycle grease would be
great.

I go along with Meehan that it is the resistor.
If there are separate coils in the fan motor to
change speeds, a coil could be burned out, but
that isn't likely.