robinm2000 said:

I have stripped the heater unit out. Doors off dash out etc. And the heater unit is on the bench.

Click to expand...

jrkitching said:

Wow! I'm seriously impressed.

Out of interest, how long did it take?

Sorry, can't help with interchangeability of parts between years/models. How much are Fiat quoting you for an OEM replacement?

Click to expand...

portland_bill said:

Without knowing what is actually broken, I can only offer a little help.
There does appear to be lots of part numbers for the complete heater unit, but some components are available for these. The numbers you show above are for a complete heater unit.
You mentioned an actuator, as far as I can make out there are three, all with their own part numbers. These seem to be the same on both the units you list above.
So if you only need components, you can rob the ones from the donor. I believe they need resetting once fitted, needing MultiECUscan software to do so, to ensure the actuators are where the computer control thinks they are, otherwise they may try to move incorrectly, or beyond their expected travel.
The three actuators on the pic below were, 2 years ago, no1: £14, No2: £40. (2 of these)
If the donor unit is a good price, worth having, as I understand the control unit can give trouble, so nice to have a spare in the attic.

Click to expand...

robinm2000 said:

It took my future son in law and his best mate about 5 hours. They are fork lift truck mechs so they are used to this type of work. We used the e-learn from this site. also had to pay to get the aircon discharged. And I was lucky enough to get space in a dry warm 3 car garage




The part new is circa £1k the labour would make me faint

Click to expand...

jrkitching said:

Am I the only one who thinks there's something deeply flawed with designing a heater box in such a way that replacing a fragile plastic pin takes this long and costs that much .

Click to expand...

robinm2000 said:

I have the dreaded broken actuator door problem - I have stripped the heater unit out. Doors off dash out etc. And the heater unit is on the bench. My problem is I cannot source a replacement.


Is there anyone who can suggest how inter changeable the units are or do I need an exact DNA match.

Click to expand...

robinm2000 said:

Thanks for replying - actually the part that is broken I believe is called the blend door or flap door. The door is in inside the heater unit and there is about 2cm of plastic that peeps out the side of the housing that is turned by an actuator motor on the right hand side of the unit (as the driver looks at it).My problem was the heater only blows cold, on inspection the end of the blend door had sheared off. Obviously a dodgy moulding or brittle plastic. I cannot work out how to repair the blend door. Glue would just break off again I would have to somehow drill and pin it. which seems impossible unless I start unbolting the heater housing. I am guess If the fixing points are the same and the loom is the same it will fit (and work) but I don't know if there are ay significant differences.

Click to expand...

portland_bill said:

The internal bits are not available separately, so go with the complete unit.
If it looks right, and all the connections are correct, it will probably work fine. If it is different in any way, you may need to dismantle the unit and swap over the bit you need.

This heater is used in Panda from 2003-2012 and 500, so any basic flaw would have appeared by now, with lots of angry owners. This one breaking could be one duff component, damaged when built, or perhaps a control trying to push it too far? Maybe stuff inside jamming it, but unlikely, as even a build-up of leaves have to get past the pollen filter, unless that's been left out.

Whichever repair you go for, I'm sure the actuators will need setting before use, unless you have fitted the complete unit from the donor, including the control panel. If you do this, don't throw the old unit away, the control panel itself is valuable, plus you have a source for any other bits you may need.

Click to expand...

portland_bill said:

The outer trim comes off, but there's still the button colour.
No experience of setting the controls, only that it has been mentioned on here some time ago. I'm sure I've seen it in the menu of my MultiECUscan,(MES) and on the listing on their website.
If you've not got MES, you'll need to say where you are and see if there's anyone local who could help. Or once fitted pay a dealer to reset it. Unless you can put the actuators in exactly the same position as they were on yours when removed. That might be difficult with the broken one.
Without a reset, best result is random results, worst, breakage or failure.

Click to expand...

portland_bill said:

I've managed to print to PDF two parts of the official workshop manual.
The first shows how to align the flap motors with the flap gears, the second is about replacing the control unit. This one not so useful, but there is a warning about the need to carry out the alignment procedure.

Hopefully these are downloadable and readable. There may be a warning about a page error, I think this relates to page breaks, as no data seems to be lost.

Click to expand...

robinm2000 said:

My part arrived. What a disappointment. The mech must have wrapped a strap round the heater and thru the car into reverse to get it out. There were so many cracks and splits in the casing.


To top it off - when I looked at the blend door - the end was already broken off the donor part.


I wonder if the former owner got fed up of a cold heater, and drove into a ditch to get the insurance?


Anyway got fed up trying to find a part so we got busy with the dremel and the superglue. Pictured to follow

Click to expand...

robinm2000 said:

My part arrived. What a disappointment. The mech must have wrapped a strap round the heater and thru the car into reverse to get it out. There were so many cracks and splits in the casing.


To top it off - when I looked at the blend door - the end was already broken off the donor part.

Click to expand...

portland_bill said:

I do hope you're raising a dispute and getting your money back.

Click to expand...

robinm2000 said:

Only 2 bolts and 4 screws left over!!!

Click to expand...

portland_bill said:

Oh crumbs! Shouldn't there be a heater left over too? Is it now trapped under the dash?:devil:

Click to expand...