R171 350SLK Heater/Aircon Fan Stopped

[Stuie]

Evening All
The fan / blower on my 05 SLK 350 has packed up. Checked the fuses. Not them.

The heater/aircon is still feeding air throughout the vents albeit very slowly but there is no response from the fan dial to blow the air through.

Anyone dealt with the same problem or know what next to look at?

Thanks

 

[MOCAŠ]

Mine needed a new heater fan and air con control unit a couple of years ago, after the drain holes became blocked with leaf mulch. More info here.

 

[Stuie]

Thats interesting. I looked under the bonnet earlier and there was some leaf mulch in the corners as we have a cherry tree in out driveway.
Was the fix expensive??!!

 

[MOCAŠ]

Thats interesting. I looked under the bonnet earlier and there was some leaf mulch in the corners as we have a cherry tree in out driveway.
Was the fix expensive??!!

I seem to recall it was somewhere around £1000, but I'll need to dig out the invoice to be certain (there may have been something else on it as well). I'll post back when I've checked it.

 

[MOCAŠ]

Can't find the invoice at the momnent, but my online bank statement confirms that the bill came to £1018, and I'm pretty certain that that was just for this job (it had a major service a few months later).

 

[Stuie]

Ouch !!! I'll do some research as i believe the fan and regulator are above the passenger footwell. Easily accessible. might have a go myself

 

[MOCAŠ]

Finally found the invoice for this job. This was in April 2010.

The £1018.26 total (inc VAT) also included a couple of rear tyres, which accounted for just under £300 of the total.

Actual costs (ex VAT) for the work on the a/c were:

Fan - £183
Blower regulator - £198
Active carbon filter - £64

Total Parts - £445
Total Labour - £168
Total cost - £613 (+ £100.28 VAT @ 17.5% = £720.28)

 

[iansmerc]

Hi Stuie, I have similar problem to you in that the fan heater blower in my 2005 SLK 350 is making a very loud noise when turned up to high so I need to take it out for an inspection and possible replacement. Is it located above the passenger footwell in the R171 models. I have heard different views expressed as to how hard or difficult it is to access? Thanks.

 

[MBhatcher]

Hi Stuie,

I have the same issue in my 2005 SLK 350 too and before it stopped last week it used to make a odd 'cracking' noise when it was set on fast front screen clear mode. Have you found a resolution?

Cheers,

Ray

 

[Ream]

Sorry to jump on your thread but please read the blocked drains one that I rehashed from years ago. It seems the 5 weeks of rain has been to much for clk and slk drains to cope with.

I will be removing my heater motor today and taking to some one who will try and clean it and fix it hopefully just a little fix but with the amount of water sitting in that box i doubt it. Like others I did have some electrical buzzing and the motor did go off twice and came back on before it finally packed up.

while i was investigating I removed the carbon filter and gave that a vacuum as it had loads tree debri stuck to it ,eBay quite cheap for replacement.

 

[Ream]

Sorry to jump on your thread but please read the blocked drains one that I rehashed from years ago. It seems the 5 weeks of rain has been to much for clk and slk drains to cope with.

I will be removing my heater motor today and taking to some one who will try and clean it and fix it hopefully just a little fix but with the amount of water sitting in that box i doubt it. Like others I did have some electrical buzzing and the motor did go off twice and came back on before it finally packed up.

while i was investigating I removed the carbon filter and gave that a vacuum as it had loads tree debri stuck to it ,eBay quite cheap for replacement.

Great news

For those interested, the fan motor and regulator that sit below the glove compartment where removed (20 min job) after a blocked drain had forced the rain water into the box it sits in and flooded the moter and footwell.

Took both to a mechanic who looks after my vans who gave them a clean and a general service and fan is working fine, did not want to take money for it but gave him £30 drink.

30 mins to put everything back so in total no more than 1.5 hour job saving minimum £150 DIY or £400 dealer, on this one I'm a happy bunny

 

[Gavw71]

Hi, I realise this is an old thread but I've just bought a 54 plate SLK350 that's suffering from this problem. I've cleaned two of the drains (the third is a corrugated tube that won't let me get a bamboo BBQ skewer down) and when my wife reversed the car off the drive, I noticed quite a lot of water running under the front of the car.
I've removed the plastic cover in the passenger footwell to uncover the blower and noted that the foam under the carpet is dry. Other threads mention error codes - I've checked but there are none listed on the instrument binnacle - or is this something that would require a code reader plugging in? The engine malfunction light is on but I've put this down to the car running low on fuel on the drive home from the guy we bought it off.
I presume that once removed, I would be able to test the blower motor by connecting it to a 12 volt battery charger - this would then prove if the fault was the motor or the regulator.
Sorry for the post being a long one but I wanted to get as much relevant detail in as possible. Any replies are much appreciated, many thanks, Gav.

 

[Auto-mobile]

Make sure it spins freely, I have had a slk350 that stopped working due to water ingress, managed to free it up and it never had any issues after that.

 

[Gavw71]

Many thanks for the reply. Noticed a new MB blower ass'y on eBay at the minute, not sure if it comes with regulator though.

 

[Gavw71]

Ok, I've had the fan assembly out and there's signs off rust residue in the white housing.
The brushes seem fine, althought the brush housing on one side doesn't appear to be fully home, as there are two little tabs that should sit on the edge of the plastic mount - one side is in position, the other is a cople of mm short.
I cleaned the armature and lubricated the bearings before connecting to a 12v battery charger and was able to get the fan to run.
However, after refitting the regulator and refitting the whole assembly to the car, the fan will not run.
Am I missing something as stupid as a fuse, as I've checked the fuse compartment at the drivers side of the engine bay bulkhead - there's no legend for the fuses but then again, all appear ok.
Any advice greatly appreciated, as I don't want to needlessly change items.
Cheers,
Gav.

 

[BlackC55]

It is probably a faulty regulator. Common issue.

 

[Gavw71]

Thanks for the reply. I've checked the fuse (No.29 at the passenger side of the dash) and that's ok, so I think I'll be pulling the fan out and trying to get some power through it via the regulator, just to make sure.

 

[ian001]

Check the regulator attached to the Fan assembly, our SLK had been corroded and we bought one on eBay for £38. The only problem we still have is the fan stays on for along time and the fan switch is not slowing down or speeding up the fan blower.

 

[taxdisc]

Blower motor and regulator dried out then worked

Just thought I would add this in case it helps anyone out.?
I Had the drain blockage in the battery compartment on my SLK 05 reg. The water tipped over into the fan inlet, into its housing soaking the pollen filter, fan motor and regulator. It stopped working at that point and did not respond to any selection on the fan selector switch on the dash.
With the help of some of these and other posts I removed the fan and regulator separated them (dripping wet) and dried them out on a radiator for a few hours.
I then did a cursory check across the fan motor connections (at the plug with red and black wires that plugs into the regulator) and could see there was some resistance fluctuating as I turned the fan by hand so that seemed good.
I could not find any info about what readings I should get on the regulator pins (the 4 pin part) but I could see there was resistance (ohms) randomly between them so that was good as there did not appear to be any open circuit. Anyhow put the regulator back on the fan motor and the fan complete back into the car and it all worked fine. Just need to dry all the carpets out now.
Anyhow its worth drying the parts out as above before splashing out quite a bit of cash on any parts to sort this problem out.