Heater Fan Problem

Hey folks. I'm new here and haven't figured out how to search through the wealth of information so if this has been beat to death, sorry. My 2005 2.5 wagon has had no problems at all until last weekend when the heater fan stopped running. The other buttons (recirculate, a/c) still light up and the unit flows some air (hot and cold) when I'm at speed but nothing I've tried can make that fan run. I located 3 different fuses (2 for fan and one for HVAC system, sorry I didn't write down the numbers) that seem to be in that circuit and I pulled them all and checked them for continuity and they seem fine. Do any of you people have another suggestion for me to try before I go to the dealer and assume the position? I thought maybe there is a relay in the circuit but I couldn't figure out if that's the case. I was running the a/c when the system quit and I didn't hear any strange noises nor did I smell anything unusual. I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

I too am having the same problem with my 05 Legacy that I just purchased used. Everything was working then today i noticed that the fan does not blow any air. If I am driving highway speeds some air gets pushed through but nothing from the fan. I checked the 2 fan fuses and they are good. Not sure where else to look. Any suggestions?

hm...haven't heard anything about this guys.

sorry i've got no info for you.

dealership, unfortunately is the best bet right now.

Sorry folks - I guess I sort of left this post hanging. The strangest thing happened. Exactly one week after the fan stopped working it started up again. The darn thing quit on a Saturday as my wife and I drove around in unseasonably warm weather. She reached to increase the AC fan from sitting in the passenger seat and it was kaput. A week later the weather turned chilly again and as we drove around she again went to adjust the fan speed. I was just about to remind her that the doggoned thing would not work, when lo and behold it came on when she switched it. The fan has been operational ever since. On the bad news side, the AC itself stopped working a few days ago. I haven't checked the fuses for that yet but the mysteries continue. There may be a cable harness issue up in that part of the dash, because another intermittent failure is that if I've got the radio off and a CD loaded in the dash, it sometimes turns itself on as I go around a freeway ramp.

I have this problem. It was intermittent with A/C in summer and now with the cold weather coming no fan for the heat! Same story in auto, semi-manual, or manual mode. Anybody resolve this? I too, had checked all fuses some time ago but that didn't help. Any pointers will help as I have a 4.5+ hour drive coming for Turkey Day. Fortunately the seat heaters still work and that minimal air flow mentioned above should allow me to survive without too many major concerns. Still, I'd like to know what others might have found. I'm also planning to change the HVAC to the avojdm one for the aftermarket stereo so don't want to burn money on repairs if it's a problem there.

 

Anyone?

I just lost heat on my passenger side only, still have air flow but no heat. Am I right to assume that there is an element of some kind for driver-passenger that has burnt out? Is this something I can fix myself? Car is a 2007 wagon. Thanks.

I just lost heat on my passenger side only, still have air flow but no heat. Am I right to assume that there is an element of some kind for driver-passenger that has burnt out? Is this something I can fix myself? Car is a 2007 wagon. Thanks.

 

I noticed the same thing with my car today! Just did a search and saw a thread identifying it as a heater core problem. Dunno why it affects only one side though, maybe the dual zone HVAC cars have two of them?

 

I sure hope its nothing too costly, I just dumped $600 on a service at All Makes last week!

 

Let us know if you find anything out!

Found a more plausible cause (air mix doors jumping track) and probably a whole lot cheaper to fix!

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/climate-control-problem-50123.html?t=50123&highlight=hvac

Thanks Soobero, that sounds like a likely culprit considering I still have heat on one side. I have manual temp. settings rather than dual zone climate control so it can't be too complicated. I'll try and get it in this week, friggin cold in Canada right now and the wife is not happy getting cold air on her side, at least the seat heaters cook.

I found this picture, it was part of a thread, basically a "blowed up" picture of the manual heater system. If someone else has pictures showing the doors or maybe another pic from a subaru manual showing the heater door layout, I might try fixing this myself (assuming things warm up! BRRRR!)

I hope you guys (sooberoo/DMGwagon) figured your issue out but this does not sound like my problem or the one that brickbrats or squeaky had. I do have the automatic climate control. The car heats up and cools off fine. Simply no fan blowing air. Heat comes at speed. Cool air from A/C comes at speed. I believe it's just air flow from speed pushing it out...but only a bit. All the fuses look fine (just checked again today).

 

It was a cold drive home from work today. The multi-hour trip for Turkey day could be unfun if I hit traffic (no speed to push air through).

 

Anybody have any input? Original posters resolve this same problem somehow?

It turned out that my issue was simply a low charge level in my a/c. I first tried a regular charge aerosol can and it got better instantly. But the thing got hot again so I had a guy with a mechanic's rig do the recharge and it stayed right all the rest of the summer. I am concerned with why it lost pressure in the first place but it's 6 years old and I'm resigned to just keep it recharged each summer if it goes bad again.

DGMwagon, any luck with your passenger heat yet? I contacted All Makes Subaru yesterday, their experience has been the plugged heater core and said that it may be fixable with a simple flush for around $200. Otherwise it would be a heater core replacement and cost around $600.

 

Supposed to be warmer this weekend, I'm going to try and get up under the dash to see if it is indeed the "air mix door". If not I guess it'll be back in the shop next week!

 

Cheers!

brickbats, thanks for the follow up. just so that i'm clear, the charge level caused this behavior and impacted both a/c and heat fan? my problem is spot on with your description i just wouldn't have expected the charge to impact things in this way. but what do i know...

 

thanks!

jeff

Oh yeah, see my post #4 up above from 4/10/2010. First I had a fan issue that cured itself (or my wife has magic hands which is not unlikely). Then I noticed a distinct lack of cooling capacity, which led to me doing the system re-charges.

thx for the info!