HELP No Heat

Ogre

New member
I have an 06 Long and Tall, 83K on the odometer. I woke up this morning after sleeping in the van last night with a generator powered heater. I started the van up, pulled my thermal curtains down to start defrosting the inside windows because they were frozen. Anyways I let the engine temp get to 180, then I turned the heater/defroster on level one-4, nothing happened. I checked and replaced the blown 30A fuse, thinking that was the problem. I tried the heater again on all fan levels and the only level it worked on was #4. It's also making a strange noise from the blower motor. Is it a possibility that some of the condensation built up on the blower motor/wheel and caused it to freeze?

Has anyone ever experienced this before wand what did you do to remedy it. Any help would be appreciated because i have no real heat in here which makes it difficult to live in it and do my job.
 

talkinghorse43

Well-known member
Must be some reason why the 30 amp fuse blew. Others have had problems with the blower motor bearings and lubrication of them. Sounds like you now need to install a new blower motor resistor.
 

dpw

New member
It could be the same issue I had as the symptoms sound familiar. I removed the blower motor and lubed the two bearings in there. It's been working for 2 months now. Its a fairly easy job and took about an hour.

Douglas
 

dpw

New member
from the yahoo group:
Heater blower motor High speed only fix.
Posted by: "yahoogroups@bsupply.us" yahoogroups@bsupply.us ggoetz111
Mon Jan 28, 2008 12:41 pm (PST)
Blown resister module causes heater motor to run only on high speed.

The resister module is on the heater fan shroud, just under the hood up
front, left of middle. It is black plastic with 4 wires coming out. A green
a yellow and two of white yellow black mix NOT the one with Red wires.
Disconnect the harness plug, little tabs on each end must be pushed in while
plug is pulled up Then on the RH side there is a tab that you push to the
left this will release and slide the resister module to the left about ½ “.
The resister module will now come up (top away from you to clear housing)
and out. The following is from the manual but basically with an OHM meter
set to R1 the needle should deflect far right or show 1 to 5 ohms between
any two terminals, if any two are open circuit (no movement or reading) the
unit is bad. Local Sprinter dealer had one in stock and it cost me 32.00
Wow I have fan and heat now. The repair book lists several other causes for
the motor on high speed only but this is the most likely cause and is the
easiest to check.

Disconnect the Blower Motor Resistor Block harness connector.

Measure the resistance between Blower Motor Resistor Block cavity 2 and
cavity 1.

The approximate resistance should be 1.4 ohms.

Measure the resistance between Blower Motor Resistor Block cavity 2 and
cavity 3.

The approximate resistance should be 0.8 ohms.

Measure the resistance between Blower Motor Resistor Block cavity 2 and
cavity 4.

The approximate resistance should be 1.6 ohms.

Is the resistance as specified for each circuit?

All

Yes ! Replace the Automatic Temperature Control (ATC) in accordance

with the Service Information.

Perform BODY VERIFICATION TEST - VER 1.

No ! Replace the Blower Motor Resistor Block in accordance with the

Service Information.

gggGary

from Wisconsin
 

Ogre

New member
Hey guys, sorry for not responding sooner. Been busy running across the US, making deliveries. I had to order the part from Stoops Freightliner in Indi, as they seemed like the only ones able to get it. Anyways I picked up the part this morning and just installed it. Guess what it solved the problem and it was cheap too. I just wanted to thank ya'll for diagnosing the problem and saving me a couple of hundred $$ in dealer service fees. :cheers:
 

luckwoodhaveit

New member
Greetings,

Have an 06 Sprinter with 70K. Fan speed resistor went bad! I actually took the resistor apart to see what may have caused the problem. Seems that even though it is covered in a hard ceramic material, it develops cracks allowing for moisture to migrate down to the resistance wire wrapped on the substrate. This causes the internal resistance wire to degrade, get brittle and eventually fracture. The amount of corrosion on the actual wire inside was astonishing under the microscope. My resistor did not actually burn out, it just broke internally. I can say that this does seem like a design flaw. It should be re-designed to be much much more reliable. I think I'll build my own resistor that will work for the life of the vehicle. Because @ approx. 70K lifespan and a million+ miles of projected use of my van, I'll have to spend about $500 to keep the fan running on MB resistors over the lifetime. Seems very unreasonable to me.

Any other vehicle I have owned, I have never had a resistor break down so soon! Love the Toyota....

In the same month my auxiliary heater also does not work.
My radio sometimes stays on after the key is removed, killing my battery if not used for a couple of days.
So far, I am distressed by the surprisingly random electrical gremlins I am encountering on my first Sprinter at such low miles.

Are these common problems?

Luckwoodhaveit
 

sikwan

06 Tin Can
Have an 06 Sprinter with 70K. Fan speed resistor went bad! I actually took the resistor apart to see what may have caused the problem.
:hmmm: Interesting. Any idea on the number of resistors, values, and wattages? Maybe I'll check on mine.

In the same month my auxiliary heater also does not work.
My radio sometimes stays on after the key is removed, killing my battery if not used for a couple of days.
So far, I am distressed by the surprisingly random electrical gremlins I am encountering on my first Sprinter at such low miles.

Are these common problems?
The resistor sound like a common problem. The aux heater needs to run at least once every month. Kind of like your A/C system. For the radio, it's a common symptom. It would stay on for no particular reason, but I removed it for something else before I figured out why it was doing it.

So far everything works on mine, but I only have 30k miles.
 

autostaretx

Erratic Member
My 2005's radio also stays on (but rarely)... so i have developed the habit of listening/watching to make sure it does go off.

Thanks for the heads-up on the resistor.

good luck
--dick
 

220629

Well-known member
I just noticed yesterday that my fan didn't seem to work on the two lowest positions. 3 and high seemed fine. Today before shutting down the engine I left the fan in low and popped the hood. I reached in the area of the squirrel cage, felt no air movement and found the fan wasn't turning. Same deal on the next speed up. 3rd speed I could tell by the noise the fan was spinning. Needless to say I'm going to replace the resistor assembly.

I wish I still had access to all those Ohmite wire wound power resistors we never used after solid state became entrenched. I could probably patch a few in and have them last forever.

I guess the info here is that for me the lower two speeds failed first. If you notice the lower speeds of your fan not working it's a warning. It's most likely time for a new fan resistor pack. Hope this helps.
Greetings,

Have an 06 Sprinter with 70K. Fan speed resistor went bad! I actually took the resistor apart to see what may have caused the problem. Seems that even though it is covered in a hard ceramic material, it develops cracks allowing for moisture to migrate down to the resistance wire wrapped on the substrate. This causes the internal resistance wire to degrade, get brittle and eventually fracture. The amount of corrosion on the actual wire inside was astonishing under the microscope. My resistor did not actually burn out, it just broke internally. I can say that this does seem like a design flaw. It should be re-designed to be much much more reliable. I think I'll build my own resistor that will work for the life of the vehicle. Because @ approx. 70K lifespan and a million+ miles of projected use of my van, I'll have to spend about $500 to keep the fan running on MB resistors over the lifetime. Seems very unreasonable to me.

Any other vehicle I have owned, I have never had a resistor break down so soon! Love the Toyota....

In the same month my auxiliary heater also does not work.
My radio sometimes stays on after the key is removed, killing my battery if not used for a couple of days.
So far, I am distressed by the surprisingly random electrical gremlins I am encountering on my first Sprinter at such low miles.

Are these common problems?

Luckwoodhaveit
 

220629

Well-known member
I just got my 5133432-AA Resistor 8035022 for about $35.00.

After reviewing the outline above by gggGary from Wisconsin I went out to change the part. Found the wires and all as he said. I was having a deuce of a time getting my fat fingers in to release the plug when the unit suddenly shifted to my left and became loose. I carefully pulled the still connected resistor assembly out of position and out into the open. There was enough wire that I could now get my fat fingers on the connector and release it no problem. I installed the connector on the resistor assembly, pushed the wires back a bit, put the resistor back into place and then shoved it over to my right to lock it into place. All done in about 5 minutes. I now have fan speeds.

My failed resistor unit shows many cracks in the ceramic. I suspect it has corroded wires similar to the one that was dissected in the previous reply. For as easy as it is to change out I'll not be bothering to do much investigating. Hope this helps. vic
 

leroy

New member
Did anyone actually build a blower motor resistor? I have a core that I was thinking of using to fabricate one. Just curious if anyone has tried it.
 

gggGary

gggGary
Second resister pack failure today maybe 30,000 miles on the last one. Dodge wants $41.00 now. So I figured I better check the motor. to see if it is causing the resisters to burn out. As others stated getting the blower out is easy, 3 Phillips sheet metal screws and the wiring plug and it's out. the bearings (bushings?) were stiff so I used spray white lithium grease on em and worked it in. To get at the bottom bearing I had to seperate the motor and wheel from the housing, there are three rubber bushings around the perimeter. A port on each one allows you to push a rubber tab inward while pushing it up so the motor starts to rise out of the housing as you work your way around. I used a little lube to slide it back together. My brushes were OK yet at 85,000 miles.

blower3.jpg

blower (2).jpg

blower (6).jpg

blower4.jpg
 
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white whale

Active member
same problems here - used the forum to get me back in 1-2-3 heat modes again.
Module was $70 - all in cost CDN$ :yell: - Europarts does not have for 2006.
Area is tight - small screwdriver is only tool required. Here are the pics of the old part.
Cracks as described in the forum are the culprit.
 

Attachments

sssprinters

New member
I just got my 5133432-AA Resistor 8035022 for about $35.00.

After reviewing the outline above by gggGary from Wisconsin I went out to change the part. Found the wires and all as he said. I was having a deuce of a time getting my fat fingers in to release the plug when the unit suddenly shifted to my left and became loose. I carefully pulled the still connected resistor assembly out of position and out into the open. There was enough wire that I could now get my fat fingers on the connector and release it no problem. I installed the connector on the resistor assembly, pushed the wires back a bit, put the resistor back into place and then shoved it over to my right to lock it into place. All done in about 5 minutes. I now have fan speeds.

My failed resistor unit shows many cracks in the ceramic. I suspect it has corroded wires similar to the one that was dissected in the previous reply. For as easy as it is to change out I'll not be bothering to do much investigating. Hope this helps. vic
hey vic,
let me know your source info for this resistor, i need one.
thx,
jim
 

sssprinters

New member
i don't have any dealers where i am at,
what is your dealers website address? or other parts websites that have this part?
also need part numbers info,
thx,
jim
 

gggGary

gggGary
5133432-AA Resistor 8035022

Any Dodge, Mercedes, or Freightliner dealer should be able to order it and get it quick.
 
>I was having a deuce of a time getting my fat fingers in to release the plug when the unit suddenly shifted to my left and became loose.

The "trick" to getting the resistor pack loose is to pry the right edge to the left. There is a tab sticking up on the right that does nothing I could see, but it bent to the left just before the pack shifted left and loose. If you look carefully you can see that there is a small indent on the bottom of the pack that engages a small tab. Prying left bends the pack up just enough to let it slide left.
 
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white whale

Active member
Just had déjà view all over again...... High down to a low rumble from the jet engine noise it was at. Almost nothing at 1 2 3.
I came across my old post. So I've had nearly 3 yrs out of the oem part from the dealer- if the same thing has occurred. But I will try the fuse fix first. Nice to see an eBay option for $20 this time now.
 

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