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New toy electrical advice
locoboy - 4/9/08 at 07:51 PM

I have bought myself a stripped out track prepped road legal Pug 205 GTi as a cheap stopgap until i can afford another seven kit or project.

I know these cars have their inherant faults like leaky windows, dropping doors, erattic idle etc etc as do many other cars so i have a few jobs to do at present.

I drove it for the first time at night the other night and whilst the demister fan makes a terrible rattle like the blades are catching something - i can deal with that, but this noise highlighted another issue to me.

I had the lights on, the an blower on full (it vibrates the drivers seat its that bad!) and i stopped at a junction and put the indicator on.

The fan speed was fluctuating with every flash of the indicator, whilst this was a plesant oscilliating vibraton on the drivers seat i cant help thinking its not right.

The battery is showing 14+ volts when the car is running so i dont think i have a problem with its charging capacity, albeit the test was done without lights or fan on.

can anyone confirm if this sounds a bit weird?

Is it worth me doing the battery voltage test with the lights and fan on and see what reading i get?

Could it be that the alternator is not of the right capacity? Its a 1.6 car thats had a 1.9 put in it at some time if its of any relevance.

Thanks

adam1985 - 4/9/08 at 07:55 PM

nothing to do with your question but does it have the 1.6 or 1.9 gearbox in it one of the mods used to be a 1.6 box on the 1.9 engine for quick get aways from the lights

locoboy - 4/9/08 at 08:11 PM

I have heard of that mod and I dont know, i have not figured out how to identify whats what on it yet!

02GF74 - 4/9/08 at 08:21 PM

quote:
Originally posted by locoboy
The fan speed was fluctuating with every flash of the indicator, whilst this was a plesant oscilliating vibraton on the drivers seat i cant help thinking its not right.

The battery is showing 14+ volts when the car is running so i dont think i have a problem with its charging capacity.

can anyone confirm if this sounds a bit weird?

Could it be that the alternator is not of the right capacity? Its a 1.6 car thats had a 1.9 put in it at some time if its of any relevance.



Welcome to the world of french electrics - you'll never again say a bad word about lucas.

I think you know the answer to that - it is definitely not how it left the factory.

Indicators - pardon the pun - point to wiring problem.

The battery should have enough oompf to power fan even if the alternator is dead - the osciallating in time with indicators is the big clue.

The alternator capacity between different sized engines 1.6 and 1.9 is no big difference - usually is fitted to power air con, fog lamps, electric sun roof and other gizmos.

I would expect even the alternator from the smaller engien to cope easily with the fan.

you need to trace the wires and make sure earths are sound.

balidey - 4/9/08 at 08:44 PM

Can't help with the wiring, but the demister fan is under the dash in passenger footwell, undo and remove. Spray some spray grease onto the spindle and it'll keep it quiet for a few months.

BenB - 4/9/08 at 09:19 PM

Indicators slowing down the fan scream to me of an earth problem...
I may be wrong but it's worth trying temporary earth cables from the negative terminal of the battery to the fan direct....

nick205 - 5/9/08 at 08:16 AM

As mentioned, French car electrics leave a little to be desired even when they leave the factory, let alone on a ~20yr old car that's probably had a hard life and been modified along the way.

That said, it sounds like a bad earth on the indicator circuit to me. Work round each indicator adding an temporary earth strap to the battery if necessary to see if you can pin point the issue.

Failing that, move onto the interior fan which, if knackered, may be drawing too much current and hampering other circuits.

On the gearbox, if you have to a lift gate reverse next to 1st then it's the earlier BE1 box and if you have a straight in reverse below 5th then it's the later BE3 box.

DarrenW - 5/9/08 at 10:37 AM

Ive had a demister fan problem before on a different car. Was tight spindle. As said above i removed it, relubed it, checked it was free again then refitted. It must have been pulling too much current for a long time as the plug was melted and made the connections worse, this in turn made it pull more current etc. I rewired the plug (removed and fitted bullet connectors) and all was well again.