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Blower motor always on?[240-260/87] posted by Neal on
Friday, 14 August 1998, at 8:11 a.m.
I noticed that the blower on my 87 240DL w/ B230F engine seems to be pushing air through the air conditioning vents even when the switch is in the off position and the car is at a standstill. The air flow when it's off is about the same amount as when the blower switch is at #1. The air conditioner switch is set to the fully counter-clockwise position, and all 3 of the blower buttons above the ashtray are in the out position. Is this normal operation? I got the car about a month ago, so I'm still learning what is normal and what's abnormal.
Thanks much, Neal
--Neal
Re: Blower motor always on?[240-260/1982] posted by Tony Giverin on
Friday, 14 August 1998, at 8:22 a.m.
Neal, it appears that your fan switch is not doing what it should! In the "off" position it should do exactly that. On my 82 240 when new, their was no "off" position, the thinking by Volvo was that it was a safetly feature to always have air circulating. However as they (as did I) found out, the fans were wearing out because of the constant use. At least thats what happened to me after about 7 years. When I took it in for repair, they replaced the fan motor with an up-graded switch that included an "off" position. Anyway that has been my experience. You may want to remove the switch, (easy to do) and give it a cleaning with contact cleaner and check that all positions are making contact.
Tony G
Re: Blower motor always on?[240-260/87] posted by Jim McDonald on
Friday, 14 August 1998, at 8:41 a.m.
Some fan switches do, indeed, not have an off position. I recently changed the blower motor and switch in my 245, and the new, 4-position, switch is just as you describe. This same switch is found in later 240s; I think it has something to do with Federal regulations for ventilation. Many US cars have the same nonesense.
Re: Blower motor always on?[240-260/87] posted by DeWayne Williams on
Friday, 14 August 1998, at 11:08 a.m.
This is another "trait" on some volvo's. My '85 does the same thing at times.
The motor speed is controlled by a fat resistor wired between the switch
and the motor. The resistance changes depending on the switch setting,
which in turn controls the blower speed. It's nothing to be concerned about
unless it really bothers you.
I have replaced my blower motor once in the last thirteen years of ownership,
so I don't think the blower being always on at low speed will cause any
problems. Volvo's in general tend to have problems with the blower motors
as is discussed many times on this board if you look at the archives.
If you are lucky, you won't ever have to replace the blower motor. I did
mine to save $$, but if I knew then what a pain in the rear it was to get
to the motor, I would have gladly paid the dealer to replace it.
It's not a job for someone who doesn't like to spend several hours
tearing apart the dashboard and putting everything back the way it was
before you started.
Re: Blower motor always on?[240-260/84] posted by Greg Wong on
Monday, 17 August 1998, at 3:18 p.m.
Hi, I was having that problem a little while ago, but I figured out that on mine anyways, I have to turn the A/C knob pretty hard to turn it ALL the way off. When I turn it ccw, I hear a little click, which I assume is the thermostat or something like that, shutting down the A/C, but the fan keeps going until I keep twisting the knob, then I hear another click, at which point the fan does turn off. When it's on, it is like you described, similar to the #1 fan setting.
I hope this is of help to you. Sometimes it seems like I am going to break the knob off, but I just keep turning it just enough to get the fan to click off. Also, since you've only had the car for a month, there was something else that took me a while to figure out. Whenever I would be driving on the highway, I would notice that air was coming out of the vents like the fan was turning on, it was kind of annoying, but then I figured that it is just outside air getting pushed through the vent system, and to stop it, I push down the recycle "rec" button. Maybe you already found out about that one.
Greg
p.s. this is my first posting, I love this forum, glad I found it!