Hi all

A couple of weeks ago my 1.2 16V 188 developed a broken fan blower (cabin ventilation fan) problem after my wife said she had smelled a burning smell. Positions 1,2 and 3 on the control switch produced zero airflow, but position 4 still worked fine. Reading this forum I learned the likely problem was the resistor pack under the glovebox, so changed that and suddenly all was working again!

Now though, just days later, the problem has returned, with 1,2 and 3 no longer working. I'm assuming the new resistor pack has burned out just like the last one (but unfortunately can't check it yet as the car is in Finland at present, and I'm not!).

What might cause a resistor pack to burn out repeatedly? I'm wondering if the blower motor is stalling on setting 1 and drawing too much current? If so, any fixes to lubricwte the motor a little, or is it replacement time for the blower motor?

Check the connector.... once its gets hot once - it goes hot again as quick as before and causes issues

Also avoid cheao chinese resistor packs - cheap for a reason

Give the cable a good wiggle on any setting but 4 or 0 and if it works its likely a wiring fault

Ziggy

Thanks Ziggy, I'll give that a try when the car gets home next week. I actually have another resistor pack available as I ordered from a website but then panicked that it wouldn't arrive in time, so bought another one locally. Not very keen to fit another resistor pack and have it burn out again though!

I'll check the connectors and maybe clean up with contact cleaner too.

You can oil one end of the motor very easily via a removable rubber plug. The fan end needs a bit of patience with a thin long rod/stick.

The fan should turn reasonably easily with your hand. On setting 4 it will not use more than 10 amps once it is fully spinning.

Thanks Judderbar, good info there. I'll have a look at it and see if I can at least lubricate the end which you said was easy to get to.

So it turns out the cause of my problem was the fan stalling on setting 1, leading to too much current and no cooling airflow to the resistor pack, leading to the thermal fuse in the resistor pack blowing after the pack overheated. This broke my replacement resistor pack shortly after I fitted it.

My solution is covered in this guide: https://www.fiatforum.com/punto-mk2...-fan-only-working-position-4-a.html?p=4361247

Basically I replaced the thermal fuse with a wire link and changed the wiring of the resistor pack so the fan cannot run slowly enough to stall.

Sverige said:

So it turns out the cause of my problem was the fan stalling on setting 1, leading to too much current and no cooling airflow to the resistor pack, leading to the thermal fuse in the resistor pack blowing after the pack overheated. This broke my replacement resistor pack shortly after I fitted it.

My solution is covered in this guide: https://www.fiatforum.com/punto-mk2...-fan-only-working-position-4-a.html?p=4361247

Basically I replaced the thermal fuse with a wire link and changed the wiring of the resistor pack so the fan cannot run slowly enough to stall.

Click to expand...

You might regret not having fan position 1 though.

You could also regret bypassing the thermal fuse.
You have no protection if the fan overloads the resistor pack.
I advice you to replace the fan and resistor pack