Fan stuck full on, Garage to blame??

boatman

I recently had my car MOT'ed by a Nationwide chain, but when i picked the car up i found that the heater fan was stuck on full blast with no way of turning it off except with the ignition key. The fault is almost certainly the fan rheostat in the fan motor housing.

My question is where do i stand with getting the garage to fix it??

anewman

This is a difficult one. I had a similar problem in that when I took my car for an MOT, the handbrake travelled all the way up after the test (but was perfect before). I thought since the shoes and pads had been replaced not long before, when the tester was checking it, the handbrake cable must have dislodged somehow. I decided it would be more trouble than it's worth complaining to them about it and just got it adjusted.

What car, model and year is it? Is the fan motor near an item that is checked as part of the MOT?

vikingaero

I'm not sure how the tester could have caused a fault. If he did turn the fan on for whatever reason then he could hardly be held liable for a fault internally as this fault could have occurred at any time. It's not like he scraped the bumper when parking the car after the MOT.

boatman

As far as i'm aware they turned the radio and climate control off during the test. The fan is under the dash. We've owned the car since sept 2006(its 5 years old) and not had any problems, we've used the car virtually every day since then, it seems strange that the garage has it for a few hours and this happens?! This could have happened to us at any time in that 15 months but the fact is it didn't. It has been suggested that it go for independent testing but all that will tell us is that the part is broken not who is responsible, just more expense. Modern cars are all electrics so it could be related to something they did, its difficult to tell for definite.

tomstickland

I'd just fix it. They might have disturbed something that was waiting to go wrong, but I think you'll just have to live with it. Get replacement parts from a scrap yard.

hartcjhart

strange why strange? things go wrong and can go wrong at anytime especially electrical,just get it fixed,why oh why is this culture of 'something gone wrong who can I blame'getting worse.:mad:

boatman

On my model you have to change the rheostat AND the fan, about £150 plus taking the dash apart, probably 3hours work so another £200. Much as i would love to get it over and done with its a little too much to just rollover and accept it as 'one of those thing'. The rheostat on the previous fan unit is £20!!!

anewman

hartcjhart wrote: »

strange why strange? things go wrong and can go wrong at anytime especially electrical,just get it fixed,why oh why is this culture of 'something gone wrong who can I blame'getting worse.:mad:

True, but if someone definitely damaged a car of yours when you took it in repair, and the repair for that damage cost a lot, even if such damage was unintentional, - you would expect them to pay for their mistake wouldn't you?! Afterall, that's what indemnity insurance etc is for.

As for OP's problem, if you can access the connectors on the fan, try some WD40 on the connectors first, but to not spray onto the motor itself.

Conor_3

boatman wrote: »

I recently had my car MOT'ed by a Nationwide chain, but when i picked the car up i found that the heater fan was stuck on full blast with no way of turning it off except with the ignition key. The fault is almost certainly the fan rheostat in the fan motor housing.

My question is where do i stand with getting the garage to fix it??

Quite simply, you don't. It's completely unrelated.

Conor_3

anewman wrote: »

This is a difficult one. I had a similar problem in that when I took my car for an MOT, the handbrake travelled all the way up after the test (but was perfect before). I thought since the shoes and pads had been replaced not long before, when the tester was checking it, the handbrake cable must have dislodged somehow. I decided it would be more trouble than it's worth complaining to them about it and just got it adjusted.

Good, because you had no grounds to complain. The cable stretched during the brake test because it wasn't that clever to begin with.

Conor_3

boatman wrote: »

As far as i'm aware they turned the radio and climate control off during the test. The fan is under the dash. We've owned the car since sept 2006(its 5 years old) and not had any problems, we've used the car virtually every day since then, it seems strange that the garage has it for a few hours and this happens?! This could have happened to us at any time in that 15 months but the fact is it didn't. It has been suggested that it go for independent testing but all that will tell us is that the part is broken not who is responsible, just more expense. Modern cars are all electrics so it could be related to something they did, its difficult to tell for definite.

Of course it's not something they did you stupid clown. My parents borrowed my Mondeo once. When it came back, the radiator leaked. It just happened that it went when they had it but it wasn't anything they did to it and it would have happened the next time I'd taken it out had they not borrowed it.

It's a machine. Things can break without any warning and it's not anyones fault. Get over it.