Help Climate Control stopped working

[Sherman]

Hello guys- I had the Airconditioning going in my VX Calais today and after a while I got this slight electrical smell. A few minutes after this the system stopped working. The fan has stopped working and I get nothing- no air or heating or Airconditioning. The blower is not blowing. I need desperate help and I get this git feeling I am up for big bucks.

[Sherman]

Well anyway got a mobile Auto Electrician to come and have a look at it later today in the afternoon. Hopefully he can pin point the problem and fix it before tomorow. I would rather pay this guy rather than go to Holden.

Just on account- Yesterday when the problem occured I had infants in the car and it was a extreamly hot day. To drive without a fan let alone Air-conditioning was extruciating dificult with the children screaming to the top of their lungs. So the quickest Holden dealer was ******** Gully Holden. To say the least I was desperate to get the car looked at. By the time I Ieft ******** Gully Holden I was extreamly P**** off as they werent willing to at least look at the car. Was explained by a d***head service attendant that they can only look at it approximatly 2 days later. I explained to him that I had a newborn and some infants in the car and I had to drive a fair distance to get home. Was rudely told to open all the windows and that in his day he didn't even have a fan. To me they a un-compassionate pieces of trash who are only after your money. I have one thing to say each time I pass a Holden dealer and that is to give them the "ONE FINGERED SALUTE".

[OSL-060]

While I can understand totally, I just had to remove the first part of the dealer in question. I'm no aircond guru so I can't offer any advice other than checking which (if any) fuses blew. It sounds like a short to me, unless the fan speed resisitor emits the mentioned smell before it dies.

G'luck with it

[Sherman]

Man I really do hope its a fuse but what I can see I dont think its a fuse. An update when I press the button to full fan I hear this clicking sound near the upper most part of the dash.

[Sherman]

Ok the guy came out and and had a look at it. He Went below the glovebox and did a small tap on the blower motor. The motor did start and then konked out. Then he told me faulty blower motor and to replace the thing is a twelve hour operation with the whole dashboard needing to come out. He will charge 800 bucks to do the job. Sixty Eight bucks later for his call out fee- he left. The fan it still not fixed . Like I said this is going to be a costly operation so I thought. Sixty eight bucks for nothing down the drain for a 5 minute job to give a prognosis. Bloody Mechanic is a damn rip-off if you ask me and I am sure you will agree.


So I rang Holden and I told them that my blower motor needs to be replaced and they qouted 315 bucks supplied and fitted. Not Bad for Holden- So I booked it in for next Tuseday reluctantly . In the mean time I have the Haynes VX Commodore manual that states that all you have to do is get under the dashboard glovebox- take out the kick panel-unscrew the panel over the blower motor- unscrew the motor and it should fall-out baring in mind you need to disconnect the blower motor wire. So what the hell is that mechanic stating that this is a Twelve hour operation and a 800 buck job alone with dashboards coming off?? So I had a look myself and sure enough it appears to be a simple job but the problem is that the Haynes manual is a little vague on how to do it. There is no pictures or anything. If I could I would do it myself. Does anyone know how to do it??? Simple and easy with diagrams or pictures?

Like I said before mechanics are begining to be the next hated profession in Australia along with Lawyers and car salesman. Damn it if only I studied to be a mechanic myself. Totally Frustrated.

Quick Update_- I asked the guy from Holden if the whole dashboard needs to be taken out and he said it doesn't and if it needed to be done it would be a much bigger and expensive job. So here I was starting off this thread bagging the crap out of Holden dealerships, but don't get me wrong the job has not been done yet and its a long wait till next tuesday comes along. I will consider myself pretty darn lucky if I get away with it for $315 bucks.
Furthermore the problem with mechanics are that they are working on our cars unsupervised and as consumers we really don't know what they are doing and the approximate time that elapse's to finish a specific job. So in actual fact like the above incident that I discovered, they can charge whatever they want and as gullible consumers we have to except the job that has been done.
As consumers this is really getting out of hand and something needs to be done legislatively to combat this type of trading. "AND I AM ALAN JONES"

[gsmrobinson]

OK I am yet to have the pleasure of working on a VX and plan NOT to in the near future. The VT fan I believe can be removed without pulling the whole dash out so I don't think Holden would have returned to the old VN-VS days so I believe the VX should be easy, But that said I don't remember how to do the VT at the moment but look in the how-to section....think I wrote something there xmas time last year.

The Mechanic probably thinks your model is the same as a VN - VS which DOES require 8 hours minimum and the whole dash out.

Regards Guy.

p.s. I see you already found the post.

[Sherman]

Well I got the blastered thing fixed 315 bucks later. But the auto electrican said that he pulled the dash out for a VT so he thought it would be not indifferent for the VX. Man I do feel the the bloke whos whole dash needed to come out because I am sure that their is a mauch quicker way UMMM 15 minutes!

[jpsebay]

Hi all

ive got a VT Berlina, it has climate control. Today the fan has stopped blowing.
The first 4 levels of fan (a/c on or off) do not work but the 5th, which is HIGH, the fans work.
Ive checked the relays, swapped etc and still no joy

has anyone come across this before?
any solutions?

cheers

jps

[ScottB_33]

One solution you may find is to check the fan speed resistor may have burnt out as the first three speeds run through the resistor and the fourth or high speed is direct power. This is why you may have lost the first three speeds but still have the fourth. Very simple fix (and the original fitted ones were crap.) They have brought out updated resistors to replace the poor originals!!! I only replace customers with original equipment. The key also to remember is that no interior fan no A/C signal either!!!!!!!

Happy A/C motoring