The other day I had to turn on my defroster, but when I did the fan would not come on & smoke started coming out of the heater vents. Can someone tell me where the heater fan is? I do not have a owners manual for my car. Thanks

 

was it acrid smelling electrical smoke, or was it steam that smelled sweet like coolant ?

the fan is buried under the passenger side of the dashboard, inside the ventilation system.

sounds like the fan motor fried if it was acrid/burnt smelling smoke out the vents, its a a bit of a pain to get in there, but not nearly as gnarly as a 240. this is the parts diagram from a 1994, which is fairly similar although not quite identical (changes were made in 92). the fan is #13, afaik, you have to replace the fan+motor as a unit.


click for bigger

to access this stuff, remove the passenger side kick panel, and knee bolster+brace, and you should see the fan shroud up against the firewall.

aso see, Heating and Air Conditioning
that says the fan comes out without having to remove the shrouds, that would be nice.


if the smell was steam/coolant, then your heater core failed, thats a much uglier job, you just about have to diassemble the whole dashboard.

 

Thank you, although, I do not remember it having a strong smell, but I think it was more electrical than steam.

 

hmmm. electric smoke usually is pretty distinctive smelling. maybe I've spent too many years in electronics labs, I'm very sensitive to it as pretty much automatically, when you let the magic smoke out, it stops working.


anyways, that fan looks a lot simpler to access than a 240. my son had to replace the heater core on his 940SE which has a early 960 interior, that was a all weekend major-**** of a job.

 

Hello again, well I got my heater fan motor out. The squirrel cage was locked up, gave it a few turns then plugged it back in & it worked. My question is, can i lube the motor & squirrel cage so it don't lock up again? Or should i just lube the squirrel cage itself & if so, how do i do that. Your help would be very appreciated.

 

I'd replace it. afaik, the fan is on the motor shaft, and the only bearings are those inside the motor. if the motor comes apart and you're comfortable with rebuilding a DC motor, go for it.... worse case, you buy a new fan motor.

 

You CAN lube it and it may last... A new one is about $120 but the quality, who knows? I'd just put the old one back in, then make sure that the cowl is clear of leaves so it doesn't get crap in the motor to obstruct it. Also, the drainage holes should be kept open, if not the water backs up and overflows into the motor which cause it to rust and die... The holes at the two extreme ends under the cowling.

 

$160 for a real Volvo one, which probably is decent quality, and likely will last at /least/ 20 years assuming those vents aren't plugged.
1991 VOLVO 740 Parts - TascaParts.com

 

Hi, I have tried resurecting the fans by cleaning/lubricating them, you will buy some time this way as these tend to rust up real bad as they tend to sit in water[small design flaw on this car - which can be corrected by drilling a real small hole in the middle if the plastic cover #15 in the diagram] however you will end up replacing it again fairly soon if the failure was originaly due to rusting.
My advice is that its best just to replace these.. FCP has one for ~$80, I replaced myne and my son's fan with a units from Advanve Auto Parts using the discounts through fatwallet / online order and picking them up at the local store. Both of the fans are now working for over 2 years with no issues. I needed to replace the fans right away, as this was in a middle of the winter and could not wait for delivery.

MY 2 CENTS TAKE ON THE HEATER FANS...