hi everyone long time no post. so I have bought a cheap 2.6 Tr wagon off a mate thats almost RWC . but one of the main drama's is that the air-con and heater don't work . when I turn either on nothing happens. And yes the car was running when I tryed to get it to work. I don't care about the air-con but I need the heater/demister working for rwc. so apart from the fuses what else can i check before I yank out the dash and swap it for a working heater from the wreckers. hate to pull it all apart only to find out it was something easy that I didn't check/inspect. so food for thought ,any ideas post them up. cheers everyone

hi everyone long time no post. so I have bought a cheap 2.6 Tr wagon off a mate thats almost RWC . but one of the main drama's is that the air-con and heater don't work . when I turn either on nothing happens. And yes the car was running when I tryed to get it to work. I don't care about the air-con but I need the heater/demister working for rwc. so apart from the fuses what else can i check before I yank out the dash and swap it for a working heater from the wreckers. hate to pull it all apart only to find out it was something easy that I didn't check/inspect. so food for thought ,any ideas post them up. cheers everyone

Just for your information, the best and fastest way to demist the front windscreen it to put the temp on high with the AC on. The windscreen literally clears in seconds.

Just for your information, the best and fastest way to demist the front windscreen it to put the temp on high with the AC on. The windscreen literally clears in seconds.

cheers for the info. so have you got any wisdom to add about neither of them working? i just went and pulled out all the fuses but none appeared burnt out or corroded . i swaped over the heater/demster and air-con ones for some spares (bought new never used) , but no difference.

"Not Working" can cover a multitude of possible's.....

No fan: Fuses, resistor-pack that varies fan speed (pokes in air-stream, probably under glovebox), fan speed switch, fan motor. Less likely could be connectors in the wiring loom, or wiring shorts. Possibly check that fan hasn't been jammed by twigs or leaves.

No Heat: Has heater core been bypassed, possibly due to leak? Check engine bay where heater hoses go thru the firewall - are heater hoses both connected, or has a hose been looped-back onto engine, so no flow possible to heater-core in the car? Is temp setting cable actually connected under the dash?

Air-con: Does compressor clutch engage? If not, maybe low on refrigerant - good systems have a pressure-switch so that lack of refrigerant does not run compressor when 'dry". (3rd Gens have this, not sure about 2nd Gens). If the heater-fan in the car isn't working, the compressor clutch is unlikely to engage either. If the clutch does engage, but lack of air-con, suspect insufficient refrigerant charge.

I assume that a 2.6 TR has the "manual" air-con and heater, not climate-control?

thanks for replys. fuses seem to be good, how do i test the resistor and what does it look (i have a multimeter). air-con does not engage at all same with heater. I turn either knob but nothing happens. guess i have bite the bullet a pull the dash out to see if there's anything lose/not connected or damaged . and it hasn't been bypassed all the hoes are in the right place. cheers for picking your brain.

First things first, if you turn on the fan does it work, and does it blow air out of the vents? This'll give us a starting point.
And if the fan does work and does blow out of the vents, does turning the vent-position dial change where the air is coming out? ie., feet, dash, windscreen?

I'm getting the feeling that the fan inside cabin is not working at all.

The resistor pack usually only fails on a single speed-setting (its a set of 3-4 resistors, different values of resistance run the fan at different speeds). The resistors are usually loops of wire which warm when the current flows thru them - they are placed in the air-stream to coool-off the wire.

If the fan won't run on ANY speed, resistor pack is less likely. If the fan fails to run on ONE speed (usu your favourite speed), then resistor pack is usu the culprit.

Find fan motor (under/behind glovebox), find its connector into the loom....... test motor with power from jumper leads to see if motor runs. Test loom connector to see if power is getting to that point.

IS THERE A HEATER FAN RELAY?? That might be worth looking into - could be an easy fix first - check the operators manual (glovebox booklet) and see if heater fan has its own seperate relay in the engine bay - swap with another relay and see if that resolves the problem.

thanks for the input guys.
ok to give you a starting point. I can turn the heater/fan/demister/air-con knobs from off to any position /speed and not a thing happens.
nothing blows or sucks or gets hot/cold or even makes a dam noise for that matter from any of them.
just a question if the fan motor does not work will that stop the air-con and the others working?
I have 1 spare relay and swapped it for the one in engine bay and the one in the drivers footwell (one at a time) but no change . on my days off i'll test the fan motor if I can get to it easy. otherwise i'll pull out the dash and have a look at all of it. If needed replace the heater,Thanks again for the replys lads.

To me the first port of call would be the actual controls. If nothing's responding, seems the obvious first suspect would be the switches/wiring/control cables. For them ALL to not be doing anything points a pretty big finger.

How about the vent controls, do they make the sliding/clunking sound when you move them?

Maybe someone installed a stereo at one stage and knocked out all of the air controls, or something stupid like that.

You shouldn't need to pull out the dash per se, just the centre strip as in doing a stereo install should give enough access, at least for an assessment.

How about the vent controls, do they make the sliding/clunking sound when you move them?The vent controls do clunk/slide when i turn it to change the area i want in the car. I'm going to pull out the centre console and have a look behind the glove box and switches before yanking it all out.

If its manual air-con (ie: not a Climate Control unit), then Fan Switch and Air-Con Button are the only electrical items - all other controls (Fresh/Recirc, Temp range, Air Outlet selector) are mechanical linkages to the heater box.

If your heater fan does not operate, then the air-con compressor clutch will not engage (IN A 3RD GEN)..... I'd be surprised if a 2nd Gen differs in this respect.
You need to trouble-shoot the operation of the Heater Fan: check fuses (done), check relays (done), check motor (under glovebox area), check switch (behind centre-console fascia).
If you have even a cheap multi-meter, check if power gets to the switch, and if power gets to the motor. If power gets TO the switch, try a simple test-lamp to see if switch passes power in all "on" positions. Check for power at the motor connector, and you could run jumper wires to give fan-motor direct power (from cig lighter or from battery etc) and see if fan runs. Look for a removeable panel in the air duct near the fan, but past the fan (ie: after fan and before the heater-box)..... this is likely to be the resistors which give the various fan speeds. When the panel is removed, there will be 3-4 loops of wire poking into the air-stream...... look carefully to see if any of the wire loops are burnt-out. A burnt-out resistor will mean the fan won't run on that ONE speed setting, all other speed settings should work (and if one burns out, you either live with it, or replace the whole set - you can't just swap out the burnt one, its an all-or-nothing set). Hope that is some help.

thank you so much. auto-election jobs are my weak spot and you have made this job i was dreading seem fairly simple . well enough that i'm sure i can tackle it.

ok happy days, was me day off today so i thought id try to sort out why it wasn't working. Turned out to be very easy, well compared to me thinking the whole dash and shebang had to come out. so i pulled the jigsaw puzzle centre console out , unhooked all i could till i was left with the panel (not sure of name) that controls the heater/air-con blah blah blah. once i took out the panels screws and had it was loose i thought i'd check the switches/controls/buttons first as pointed out in one of the above posts. when i turned or moved each one i could see what it was doing or not doing for that matter. everyone was good cept the fan one. it just spun free. So initially i thought well plastic knob 20 years old maybe it's just worn and not ingauging (sp?)properly. so started the car and pushed the the panel a little closer to the dash with my fingers and tried again. And presto it worked, tried the air-con and what do ya know icy cold air. soooo gratefull it was just the knob. so now just have to replce the knob or glue/fix it so it contacts properly. Thanks for the info guys and your time ofcourse:ninja: