The fan on my 97 960 is nuts. Sometimes it comes on sometimes it doesn't. When it does come on high, it sounds impressive but hardly any air is blowing out of the vent. I checked for obstructions in the fan, and when it comes on it is sucking air into the fan pretty good (feels like it will suck your hand in. I don't know where to start.[:@] Other than that it runs great, even with 238k.

 

The Vaccum controller might be bad.
It is behind the glove box to the left side.
It has alot of colored vaccum lines going to it.
The electrical connections on the circuit board come loose.
You may need to resolder them.

 

What does the vacuum controller do, control the dampers. That would make sense because there is plenty of air flow from the floor vents even when it is set to face vent.

 

Yes it controls the Bellows that move the Air flow doors.

 

I hope that plastic doesn't crumble like every other piece of plastic I touch on that car. So, I should be able to see it if I remove the glovebox liner? How do you remove it if it needs to be resoldered?

 

You might have to remove the lower dash panel,Knee bolster(Metal panel) and glovebox insert.
it is held in with 2 screws.

 

I looked at the vacuum controller and the connections seemed ok. I did notice that if I pulled on the fan motor plug, it ran alot faster. It only starts when you bump it. I think it is loose. How do I tighten it up? When the fan is running you hear a thumping like it is hitting something (maybe because it is loose lol).

 

So I got the motor tightened up, but you still have to bump it to get it started. Is that a bad motor? It starts if you lightly bump the knee panel on the passenger's side. I am thinking a bad capacitor in the motor maybe? When it kicks on, the flow from the vent is pretty good now, so I don't think it is a vacuum controller or damper issue. I think the motor just wasn't able to turn fast enough.

 

Ok. Tech was partially correct. I removed the fan motor and cleaned it, removed the debris from that area and put it back together. Now the fan doesn't need a kick to start, yea! I found the problem by looking on the firewall at the vacuum hoses. One of the hoses at the t connection was split. A new section of hose from the junk drawer and viola! The dampers actually work now. That makes three problems in a row I have fixed without buying parts, double yea!!