How to Replace the Heater Resistor

[Liam1973]

My heating has a mind of its own, and it comes on and off, of its own accord. Is this the resistor?
If I change it and it doesn't work, how much is a new Printed Circuit Board (PCB)?
The immobiliser light stays on, but the car starts no bother. Does anyone know if this is a common fault? How much would a dealer charge you to access it?

[john powell]

thanks Gatos it worked a dream. I found I could lower the white metal bar to ease getting to the difficult top screw. Thanks.

[whatnoise]

I have a 2004 V70 with Climate Control. First noticed the problem when the blower stayed on low when the ignition was turned off. I know there is a feature for this to happen for a predetermined time in hot weather, but this was in the UK in February. I had to remove the blower fuse to stop it. One night I forgot to remove the fuse and .............flat battery in the morning. When I put the fuse back the fan starts up if it was running when I removed the fuse. If it wasn't running when I took the fuse out, it doesn't start up. Sometimes the blower works OK, at other times it doesn't work and again sometimes it just chooses to do hat it wants to do.

Is this likely to be the resistor or what Haynes call the Blower Control Unit but don't tell you where it is or how to get it out? Is there a relay that could be sticking? Any thoughts appreciated, thanks.

[Umski]

Hello folks,

Ever helpful forum as always - another annoying gremlin on my V40 ph2 with climate control. The fan appears to work at all speeds except full so the opposite of the broken resistor symptoms - hazarding a guess that the transistor is using PWM of sorts and is slightly awry - quite happy to root around and change this if anyone can confirm the behaviour?

Thanks in advance!

[MartinPorter]

For someone who only fills her up and checks the oil - did it in under 1Hr and didn't have any spare parts left over (Big First for me!!)

thanks!!

Martin...

[ww1dm1]

Why isn't this great guide among the articles?

[delphi]

Hi Gatos. Any chance of a repost of the photos as they no longer appear to be on-line. Hoping to tackle this over the xmas holidays before I freeze to death.

[gatos]

Originally Posted by delphi

Hi Gatos. Any chance of a repost of the photos as they no longer appear to be on-line. Hoping to tackle this over the xmas holidays before I freeze to death.

Here you go. Since I made the original guide ,I found out that I included a few extra unnecessary steps. So here is the update guide of how to do it.


Quite a few people have had issues with their heater blowing air at full blast, or sometimes not working at all. If this is happening on your car most probably it is your heater resistor that is at fault. Please note that if your heater problem is that the air speed fluctuates, then it is not the heater resistor that is at fault, but the actual heater control panel.

The heater resistor is located in the passenger's foot-well behind the glovebox.

First of all, you need to remove the sound insulation cover under the glovebox. To do this, you need to undo two screws (philips head) located where the yellow arrows are pointing. You can see a close up of the screws highlighted with the yellow circle in the next image. Also remove the plastic cover highlighted in the green circle. You will see why later.




Remove the sound insulation cover and you will be able to see the heater resistor and the connector plugged into it.


The heater resistor is held by two screws. The bottom one is very easy to access, but the top one is a bit harder, as the bottom part of the dashboard blocks direct access


In order to get access the top screw, you will need to pull out the dashboard just a little bit, so the screwdriver can fit. To achieve this just undo the 10mm bolt and you should now be able to pull out the bottom part of the dashboard and while holding it there, you will be able to fit the screwdriver to the top bolt and undo it



Pull out the resistor.


The part number of the resistor is 30864189 and is fitted on all S/V40 from late 1999 to 2004. The earlier 1996-1999 Phase 1 models have a ceramic heater resistor that seems to be bullet proof and hardly ever fail.

[Volvonutt]

Hi gatos where is the heater control panel. Cheers

[gatos]

Originally Posted by Volvonutt

Hi gatos where is the heater control panel. Cheers

It's on the dashboard. The one with the 3 knobs and the various buttons that controls the cabin temperature, air speed etc