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Ok, here's a challenge for you - long distance! My little Ford van needs a new clutch, but by being a gentle and considerate driver, I'm hoping to prolong its life a bit more yet, and get another vehicle to use when the van is in for the work.

Two days ago, the rain, sleet and snow was lashing down and as I decided to put the fan heater on the windscreen. Just to set the scene, the fan has only worked on option 4 for many months now, and when a friend had a look at it to fix it, he wiggled some wires in the process and hey presto, it worked on all options, but then shortly after, it only worked on number 4 again, so I tend to put it on for short blasts and then turn it off as its so noisey on full.

On that wet and cold day, as if by some miracle, it started to work on all the settings, but with such appalling weather the window misted up in no time, so after discovering that it now worked on 1,2 & 3, I put it on full. This is when I started to smell a funny pong. I was worried as it reminded me of the smell of hot brakes. When I put the fan off, the smell went away.

I stopped in a layby and popped the bonnet, lots of steam everywhere, around the radiator mainly, yet there was no smell at all. I checked all the wheels for heat and they were all fine, no sticking brakes.

Yesterday I started the van up a good 10mins before I had to go out to defrost the inside. With the fan on full blast that smell was present again.

So to sum up, the smell is only present when the fan is on, whether I'm driving or stationary, the coolant level is fine and there are no leaks inside from the heater matrix as far as I can see.

At first I assumed it was the clutch, but now I'm not so sure. Do you guys have any suggestions?!

It sounds like it could be a burning smell from electrical shorting.


If the fan only worked on number 4 and then worked on all settings after wiggling the wires, it sounds like a bad connection. The smell of burning could be the result of the wires shorting out where the bad connection is.

Sounds likely UHM, the fan now only works on setting 4 again

if you really wanna p'ss someone off....
pour a pint of milk down the heater intake duct under the windscreen...

had this with an old transit i had, vehicle spark told me there a reostat or somthing linked to the fan switch and these have a tendancy to "gie up the ghost" it does smell like burning brakes or clutch! i wasnt worried till smoke came through the dash!

marc1106 wrote:had this with an old transit i had, vehicle spark told me there a reostat or somthing linked to the fan switch and these have a tendancy to "gie up the ghost" it does smell like burning brakes or clutch! i wasnt worried till smoke came through the dash!

That's my experience too (Alfas), the thermistor only works on the high sped when it dies. But usually they die without messing about.

I had some luck on a friends car, troublesome fan which appeared to improve after wiggling some wires...but really a complete strip down and clean with the cure as it was gunged up:?

wrinx

has it got AC? stale ac gas stinks.

the thing that bothers me is the steam.... that shouldn't happen unless it was caused by rain on hot engine/exhaust? im assuming the steam came from the rad cap (pressure release caps). what was the temp on? do you know what boiling coolant smells like? (its not unpleasant in terms of smells from a car).

i would get your thermostat checked out and check for air locks. the smell could/will be something unrelated and could be a shorting wire (plastic burning smell). it could also be a burning clutch.... the smell enters the cabin through the vents.

sorry lots of Q's