Dash A/C Fan Only Works on High in 2004 Sightseer 30B

[wschneid]

I have a 2004 Winnebago Sightseer 30B that I recently purchased. I noticed that the fan for the dash AC only worked on high speed. I heard that is probably a resister, but how do you access the controls inside the dash?

wschneid

 

[Morich]

Not looked a one in a while on an RV, so consider this as "general" things to look for more than giving any specific spot for the chassis your RV is built on?
I think you can get this one done without going too far into the controls or under the dash in many cases! YEAH!
There is a resister pack at some point in the airflow. That small pack has a set of wire coils which make varios resistance, depending on which setting the control is on. Those wire coils change how much resistance the blower circuit has as the switch is changed. They also tend to get hot and are placed in the airflow to cool them but they do tend to burn out with age.
So when looking under the dash and depending on different chassis it may be out under the hood, but expect to see a big bulky cover over the space where the heat and cooling is done.
This is where things can be build different and I see the parts drawings for your RV show the pack as being outside under the hood where the heater and air coils, etc. stick through the firewall! I have normally found the pack inside near where the back of the blower motor sticks out??
So it may take a bit of looking, depending what your chassis did. Can you see up under a flap often set in to conceal the motor, etc. that is almost directly over where the passenger feet go? I have found the pack inside but your drawing shows outside??

Idea is to spot andelctrical plug for 4-5 wires that plug onto the part of the pack that extends out of the cover. Not too many sets of wires on that part of the RV but just maybe less than 2X2?
I think of it as inside and near the motor but not looking at yurRV, so keep an open mind! Maybe worth making sure it is pluggged good but theser are kind of common to burn one or mor of the coils and maybe two screws to hold it in, making it not too hard to changed? But that is also depending on how they built it!!!
Common auto parts store item for better price/availability than RV supply!
This is a common one for Ford:

 

[wschneid]

Not looked a one in a while on an RV, so consider this as "general" things to look for more than giving any specific spot for the chassis your RV is built on?
I think you can get this one done without going too far into the controls or under the dash in many cases! YEAH!
There is a resister pack at some point in the airflow. That small pack has a set of wire coils which make varios resistance, depending on which setting the control is on. Those wire coils change how much resistance the blower circuit has as the switch is changed. They also tend to get hot and are placed in the airflow to cool them but they do tend to burn out with age.
So when looking under the dash and depending on different chassis it may be out under the hood, but expect to see a big bulky cover over the space where the heat and cooling is done.
This is where things can be build different and I see the parts drawings for your RV show the pack as being outside under the hood where the heater and air coils, etc. stick through the firewall! I have normally found the pack inside near where the back of the blower motor sticks out??
So it may take a bit of looking, depending what your chassis did. Can you see up under a flap often set in to conceal the motor, etc. that is almost directly over where the passenger feet go? I have found the pack inside but your drawing shows outside??
View attachment 2489414

Idea is to spot andelctrical plug for 4-5 wires that plug onto the part of the pack that extends out of the cover. Not too many sets of wires on that part of the RV but just maybe less than 2X2?
I think of it as inside and near the motor but not looking at yurRV, so keep an open mind! Maybe worth making sure it is pluggged good but theser are kind of common to burn one or mor of the coils and maybe two screws to hold it in, making it not too hard to changed? But that is also depending on how they built it!!!
Common auto parts store item for better price/availability than RV supply!
This is a common one for Ford:

View attachment 2489417

Thanks for the info. I have a Ford chassis with the Triton V-10 310hp engine. If that makes any difference.

 

[Morich]

Good enough! That makes the odds of the drawing mor elikely to be correct. But it is always a game of playing the odds on whether it is the resister pack! Always "possible" to be some wire broken or other things but this is so common, it is one I look at first as the wires do get broken when Ive had what you describe. The coils of wire are added togehter to get more and more resitance in the power going to the moter and that is done by the switch but if some of these wires, etc. on the pack go open, the fan runs at full speed or none!
My trouble with these has never been on an RV but cars and it was usually pretty easy to get in under the dash and it was kind of sticking right out.
RV do have more trouble with things getting hard to reach, so I'll wish you luck and see how that works out?

 

[MikeyC-WO]

Thanks for the info. I have a Ford chassis with the Triton V-10 310hp engine. If that makes any difference.

I have the f53 v10 also had similar issue the resistor pack on mine probably yours is near the blower motor under the passenger foot well. I was able to solve the issue even though it’s tight. Look there before engine compartment.

 

[SMH2026]

HI,
I just ordered the same part for my '05 Sightseer 29R. The resistor pack on my unit is accessible by raising the engine hood, look to the left where the HVAC unit lives. The unit has a 4 wire plug and is secured in place by 2 small philips head screws. The small bullet shaped device near the resister coils is a thermal fuse. When that fuse fails you get only high speed blowers. Strangely AutoZone had the part under the Duralast brand, part number JA1501, it's ~ $33. Since you have the blower operational on high the blower motor and all associated wiring is probably good. Take the unit you have to match it up.

Good Luck.

 

[RayIN]

Often a corroded connections can cause this problem. A spray can of plastic-safe contact cleaner is your friend.

 

[wschneid]

HI,
I just ordered the same part for my '05 Sightseer 29R. The resistor pack on my unit is accessible by raising the engine hood, look to the left where the HVAC unit lives. The unit has a 4 wire plug and is secured in place by 2 small philips head screws. The small bullet shaped device near the resister coils is a thermal fuse. When that fuse fails you get only high speed blowers. Strangely AutoZone had the part under the Duralast brand, part number JA1501, it's ~ $33. Since you have the blower operational on high the blower motor and all associated wiring is probably good. Take the unit you have to match it up.

Good Luck.

I just replaced the Resistor part, but It did not help. Do you have a picture of the thermal fuse? I can't seem to locate it.

Bill Schneider

 

[wschneid]

Often a corroded connections can cause this problem. A spray can of plastic-safe contact cleaner is your friend.

I think you were right. I replaced the resistor and it still did not work properly. I took the old part, cleaned it, made sure the plug was securely fitted in and reinstalled it. Now it works like it should. Thanks for the info.

 

[wschneid]

Not looked a one in a while on an RV, so consider this as "general" things to look for more than giving any specific spot for the chassis your RV is built on?
I think you can get this one done without going too far into the controls or under the dash in many cases! YEAH!
There is a resister pack at some point in the airflow. That small pack has a set of wire coils which make varios resistance, depending on which setting the control is on. Those wire coils change how much resistance the blower circuit has as the switch is changed. They also tend to get hot and are placed in the airflow to cool them but they do tend to burn out with age.
So when looking under the dash and depending on different chassis it may be out under the hood, but expect to see a big bulky cover over the space where the heat and cooling is done.
This is where things can be build different and I see the parts drawings for your RV show the pack as being outside under the hood where the heater and air coils, etc. stick through the firewall! I have normally found the pack inside near where the back of the blower motor sticks out??
So it may take a bit of looking, depending what your chassis did. Can you see up under a flap often set in to conceal the motor, etc. that is almost directly over where the passenger feet go? I have found the pack inside but your drawing shows outside??
View attachment 2489414

Idea is to spot andelctrical plug for 4-5 wires that plug onto the part of the pack that extends out of the cover. Not too many sets of wires on that part of the RV but just maybe less than 2X2?
I think of it as inside and near the motor but not looking at yurRV, so keep an open mind! Maybe worth making sure it is pluggged good but theser are kind of common to burn one or mor of the coils and maybe two screws to hold it in, making it not too hard to changed? But that is also depending on how they built it!!!
Common auto parts store item for better price/availability than RV supply!
This is a common one for Ford:

View attachment 2489417

Thanks for the info.

 

[wschneid]

HI,
I just ordered the same part for my '05 Sightseer 29R. The resistor pack on my unit is accessible by raising the engine hood, look to the left where the HVAC unit lives. The unit has a 4 wire plug and is secured in place by 2 small philips head screws. The small bullet shaped device near the resister coils is a thermal fuse. When that fuse fails you get only high speed blowers. Strangely AutoZone had the part under the Duralast brand, part number JA1501, it's ~ $33. Since you have the blower operational on high the blower motor and all associated wiring is probably good. Take the unit you have to match it up.

Good Luck.

I got it working. Thanks for the help.

 

[Morich]

I have never gotten as far as needing to ID the parts, so the thermal fuse is a bit of guess. But I have heard/read about it and always assumed it is the small part that might look like a "rocket" if we use our imagination?Take a look at the pack in post 2 above if wanting to know where I "think" we find that thermal fuse?
But I can't imagine ever trying to change just that fuse on the board, so I've never questioned it further.
But it is true that I find many more small parts failing on RV than the large ones, so we do need to keep in mind how much more corrosion we can get on RV, compared to things we drive every few days.
It's just part of the RV experience to know that things that we DON'T use go down hill faster than those we use every few days.
Like the muscles in our brain? If we don't use them we lose them!

 

[wschneid]

Thanks for your reply, but I got it fixed. I cleaned the contacts and reseated the plug and it worked fine after that.

Bill Schneider

 

[Morich]

A1 grade on looking closer before just changing a part! That is part of what I find lacking in way too many cases when I watch repairs being done. Rv are especially prone to corrosion, partly due to them being stored longer and that lets corrosion get thicker to shut down the power.
So what I have seen is repair just going straight to changing out an expensive part and things then work! But when my brother and I got into testing some of those parts that went in the trash, there were a number of them which still worked when we plugged them into power!
DUH! The only explanation we could come up with was that the plug and contacts were corroded until we plugged and replugged them!
Just think of how many control boards get changed out and things work again?
If we are doing the work for ourself, we need to check a little closer than the "pros" since it IS our time and money being wasted!