The Ford Capri Laser Page

The fan in my car is about as useful as a hamster with asthma blowing on you. The heating is fine, it's just the method of blowing said heat into the cabin that's useless. Obviously this doesn't make for the most ideal situation during the freezing winter, especially when the screen is fogged up.
Is there a way to upgrade the existing fan on the airbox without tons of complicated modifications? Is there something more powerful/efficient that I can just plop into where the old fan is and just wire it up to the same switch etc?
I hope to do this next summer as it's too cold and dark all the time to do something like this on the driveway, so no rush. I've suffered this useless thing for 4 years another few months won't make much difference lol.
Thank you.

Hi,
Before you go messing about with stuff, have you tried flushing the heater matrix through with clean water?

Andrew.

If the fan is working at full speed it will actually start to clear the screen even before the water starts to warm up.
In fact, on full blast, if you direct the flow to the footwell it very soon gets uncomfortable on your left ankle.
If your issue is the temperature then yes, you need to look at flushing the cooling system and making sure it is working efficiently.
If your issue is the air volume being moved through the system, then; is your fan working at full speed?; are the flaps adjusted to direct the airflow properly?; is the fan inlet blocked with debris, preventing enough air being passed through?

I went out in mine the other day and it was lovely and warm really quick it warmed up faster then my 3 year old bus ...
have a look at the water hoses

Re-reading the original post, it does sound as though you are suggesting that the temerature of the heater is adequate but the fan blows insufficient air. As Bug pointed out, there are a few checks you can do to make sure the system is working properly.

I seem to remember that a forum member, Ghia 15, successfully made some improvements to his heater fan.
viewtopic.php?t=44608
Although thanks to Photobucket you'll have to pm him to find out what they were.....

Andrew..

Bug wrote:If the fan is working at full speed it will actually start to clear the screen even before the water starts to warm up.
In fact, on full blast, if you direct the flow to the footwell it very soon gets uncomfortable on your left ankle.
If your issue is the temperature then yes, you need to look at flushing the cooling system and making sure it is working efficiently.
If your issue is the air volume being moved through the system, then; is your fan working at full speed?; are the flaps adjusted to direct the airflow properly?; is the fan inlet blocked with debris, preventing enough air being passed through?

Hi, thanks for the info. The temperature is fine it's just the air flow. You can barely feel it through the vents up top, and in the footwell it's only slightly better, it's useless for clearing the screen I have to use a towel, and today the screen was frozen on the INSIDE so had to scrape it with an ice scraper like on the outside.
The air box and pipes that connects everything has been out of the car on multiple occasions for different non related issues and I've never seen a blockage, and everything was put back properly and everything works as it should at the controls.
What else could be blocked? Where is this "inlet" you speak of? I only have one speed on the fan as the old resistor is broken like most are so I only have the highest speed so how could I tell if it's running as fast as it should be?
Thanks.

Just out of interest when you open the side round ones that blow cold air they should move your hair really easy and if you close them up it helps build the pressure up for clearing the window . That’s with the fan on full .
I never had a problem with clearing the windscreen so I wonder how hard your fan is working . . .

On high speed, anything from dead spiders to old leaves will be ejected out of the side vents at quite a rate.
Sounds like you have a slow motor or maybe a high resistance somewhere so it's not being driven at full speed.
Remember the switch actually completes the earth circuit, the power is constantly supplied to the motor.
I would suggest temporarily rigging a long wire from the battery to the motor, and a separate earth wire to a known good grounding point, then see how fast the motor runs.
Bear in mind that motors seizing is the biggest issue with these heaters. Maybe yours is on its way out?

Yeah theres not much air coming out of the side vents either. I mean its there, but nothing to the description offered on here. You get more air flow out of them when the car is moving rather than by the fan itself. Must just be a weak fan, can these be replaced or upgraded for something stronger?

You need a new motor then by the sound of it.
Try Caprigear first.
Then there's the joy of removing the heater box, splitting it, swapping the motor and putting it all back together.
I used to get that done in a couple of hours, but had loads of practice.
Budget a day and take your time.
Tip for splitting the box; heat the plastic lugs with a hairdryer to make them less prone to snapping

Bug wrote:You need a new motor then by the sound of it.
Try Caprigear first.
Then there's the joy of removing the heater box, splitting it, swapping the motor and putting it all back together.
I used to get that done in a couple of hours, but had loads of practice.
Budget a day and take your time.
Tip for splitting the box; heat the plastic lugs with a hairdryer to make them less prone to snapping

Hehe, yeah I know what you mean about the heater box. I've had it out a couple of times in the past due to an unrelated issue, I think something went wrong with the cables at one point, and one of the flaps was rattling as I went over bumps and was driving me crazy so I'm pretty well versed in the joys of working on heater boxes There's worse jobs, at least you get to sit inside the car instead of laying on the wet ground under it in all the dirt lol.
Thanks.

So.... this is strange....

Today I went out to run some errands, and I decided to turn the fan on for what little air it blows out to help warm up the inside, and for some strange reason I can't possibly begin to understand the fan is working better than it has in years.
I can actually feel the air blowing through at quite a rate at both the top and bottom vents, and the side cold air vents are much better too, and I can actually hear the fan whereas before I could barely tell it was on.
I have done feck all to it, other than talk about it on here...
This car fixes itself, first the boot started shutting properly on its own and now this.
Wtf?
If the fan keeps this up I'll have no reason to mess with it as this is more than acceptable, just boggles my mind why it's suddenly working better than it ever has.
Still... I won't complain, bit of luck for once? If it goes shite again perhaps it's just a dodgy connection somewhere?
The joys of classic motoring

If I were you , my next post would be " My Capri does not make 400bhp ( at the wheels ).......help ", and then see what happens next time you take it out

Mc Tool wrote: If I were you , my next post would be " My Capri does not make 400bhp ( at the wheels ).......help ", and then see what happens next time you take it out

Its very tempting.

I did some tests earlier, and the fan did go back to being as useful as a budgie fart, but then i turned it off and then on again and it went back to being stronger again. I'm thinking maybe the bearings in the fan (im assuming theres bearings i dont know for certain how these things work so just a guess) were getting a bit ceased up and somehow they've loosened up?

Either that or the car has a mind of its own.

So yeah...urh....it doesnt make 400 bhp at the wheels, or has a turbo and an LSD and it also doesnt have 15 inch deep dish alloys with uprated brakes and coil overs.

Arya2.0S wrote:then i turned it off and then on again and it went back to being stronger again. I'm thinking maybe the bearings in the fan (im assuming theres bearings i dont know for certain how these things work so just a guess) were getting a bit ceased up and somehow they've loosened up?

Hi,
Might it be worth lubricating the bearings? There was a guide on Nige's workshop page on how to do this without removing the heater motor.
Note: The guide was on a sticky, but I can't seem to find it now.

Andrew.

Pop the glove box out for access, then reach up and wiggle the electrical contacts to see if anything changes.
May just be dodgy connection

Andrew 2.8i wrote:

Arya2.0S wrote:then i turned it off and then on again and it went back to being stronger again. I'm thinking maybe the bearings in the fan (im assuming theres bearings i dont know for certain how these things work so just a guess) were getting a bit ceased up and somehow they've loosened up?

Hi,
Might it be worth lubricating the bearings? There was a guide on Nige's workshop page on how to do this without removing the heater motor.
Note: The guide was on a sticky, but I can't seem to find it now.

Andrew.

I've read somewhere that you can get to it with WD40 with a long tube on it through the screw hole where the engine earth goes to the plenum. Probably have to use a thin mirror on a stick down through the vents on the scuttle to see what you are spraying. May be able to get up through the drain rubber at the bottom of the plenum too.

Paul G wrote:
I've read somewhere that you can get to it with WD40 with a long tube on it

Thread here on how to lubricate whilst in place -

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=44336&p=285016&hil ... on#p285016

If it doesn't prove to be a loose connection Im wondering if it could be worn brushes in the motor. Can you see if there is a part number on the motor as brushes should be available for it ?

Not_Anumber wrote:If it doesn't prove to be a loose connection Im wondering if it could be worn brushes in the motor. Can you see if there is a part number on the motor as brushes should be available for it ?

Still think it's slowly seizing.
And when it does, the brushes and their plastic carrier melt v quickly.
If you see any sign of smoke turn the fan off immediately........ if not sooner