Heater A/C Blower stopped working

[TurboDiesel2006]

The heater A/C blower motor has stopped working. The car is 2006 V70 185 Manual with climate control. I have tried it on Auto and Manual and in both cases nothing. I have read the CCM codes using VIDA but nothing comes up as being faulty apart from CCM-0040 (faulty Air Quality Sensor) but this has been there for several years and the climate control has worked fine.

I also did a CCM calibration but nothing changed, still no blower.

I have just finished replacing the handbrake cables (horrible job) which involved removing the central armrest and gear stick cover assembly but I didn't go anywhere near the A/C controls or disconnect anything as far as I can recall.

From reading forum entries I suspect it is co-incidental and the heater resistor pack is faulty but I would have expected VIDA to identify this.

Can anybody help? Thanks

[TurboDiesel2006]

I should add that have checked the fuse, and that was fine.

[TurboDiesel2006]

To follow up. It was the heater blower resistor pack that was at fault. Getting the blower out and back in is a tricky job. There are several US oriented YouTube videos which show how to do this but I think the US cars must be different to UK cars particularly when it comes to re-fitting the blower. Here are some tips that owners may find useful from my experience (my car is a 2006 V70 D5 185 with manual 'box);

a) Getting the lower footwell panel off it is easier if you remove the lower side panel of the centre console. There is a plastic twist screw at rear of the panel, access to this is easier with the passenger seat right back an in the highest position. With this undone simply push the panel towards the rear of the car.

b) Getting the lower footwell panel off and glovebox out is relatively simple (T25 screws). The lower panel fixing adjacent the A pillar requires a long lever to pop it down and out.

c) The blower is held in place by 5 x T25 screws. The front are easy, the back less so. The problem is there is very little space between the rearmost (as you look at it) screw and the sound deadening mat so it is difficult to get even a 1/4" socket and T25 bit in there and the angle is too tight for a universal joint. To get this out I created a simple tool as shown in the pictures. It is a 10mm T25 bit placed though a 10mm ratchet spanner. The bit is short enough to fit into the T25 screw properly and you can place a finger underneath it to keep it in place while you ratchet a couple of clicks at a time to get the screw out without breaking the tab. This works for replacing the screw as well.

d) You will need the combination of 1/4" drive T25 bit with wobbly fit extensions and universal joint to get the others out. Once I had worked out the ratchet spanner tool it took about 10 minutes to get all 5 screws out (working out the ratchet spanner tool took longer).

e) The resistor pack has two fixing screws. The inner one can only be accessed after the blower has been dismantled. On my unit this inner screw was severely corroded and the head broke off before it came loose. As one of the fixing lugs was also broken I bought a good secondhand unit off the bay and then soaked the resistor pack screw fixings in WD40 for some time before trying to undo them. This worked and these came out without a problem.

f) If you are buying a secondhand blower unit make sure it is well packed with plenty of protection. The first replacement unit I bought was fine in the pictures but in transit the drain connection, several fixing lugs, the support arm and fan were either broken or damaged making the unit unserviceable.

g) Getting the blower back into the car can be difficult. There is insufficient space directly underneath the house for the blower so it has to go in at an angle. In my case the blower could not be pushed into the recess because the body was getting stuck in the sound deadening mat. The mat is soft and squidgy and just grips the blower so you can'r push it back sufficiently to then rotate it into the hole. The mat also goes way up behind the dash so I didn't want to try and take it out. To get round this I put several strips of duct tape over the sound deadening mat where the blower was getting stuck to create a slippery surface and stop the blower digging into it. (I used Gorilla tape because of the ones I had to hand it had the shiniest surface but others are available). With the tape in place the blower just slid into place without too much force being used.

h) When screwing the blower back in place fit the front screws first and do the most difficult one last. That way the fixing lug and hole are aligned which makes it easier. For the rearmost one I used the 10mm t25 bit and ratchet spanner describer above, for the rear LHS one I used a 1/4" drive T25 socket with universal joint and screwdriver attachment.

I have attached some pictures of the tools I used. Hope this is helpful to somebody.