Having intermittent problem with heater blower

[Harleyduo]

About a week ago, on a chilly morning, I noticed that my heater fan was not blowing on any speed, regardless of what I tried. The morning was cool and I was quite irked that it wasn't working and figured I must have blown a fuse. Fortunately I also have heated seats so I was happy that they were giving me some heat. As the engine warmed up, I could feel a slight bit of heat coming out of the heater vents but it appeared to be just coming out due to the hot air rising, not because of the blower.

I then shut off my car and ran my errand, and when I came back out the blower was suddenly working exactly the way it should. I just made a mental note and realized that a blown fuse wasn't the culprit, and it's been working fine for a week or so.

Then today, about 30 minutes into a trip, it was NOT working again, and even though I drove for another 30 minutes, it never did work again, even though I did shut the engine off and restart it at least once.

Has anybody else had any intermittent problem like this, and if so, did you find the cause? One day about a month ago, my traction control light came on along with the TPMS light and stayed on for the duration of a 15 mile trip but then was not on at all, after shutting the car off and restarting it. Of course, it's over a two hour drive to the dealer and the last thing I want to do is go in for an appointment and have everything be working normally.
Thanks,

[Okie Boy]

I had the same problem last week. No answer.

[Chassol]

First time they thought it was a loose connection to the blower motor.

Second (this time 11/12/08) they could not duplicate the problem. I had a long talk with the service manager and he said they had to duplicate the problem in order to try to fix it.

I truly believe it has to be in this group:

1. Loose connection somewhere in the wiring.

2. Dead spot in blower motor.

3. Bad switch in dash.

4. Cracked board inside control module.

5. Problem at fuse holder circuit.

Does ANYONE know the answer or has had this problem and gotten it fixed. OR, is there another problem area other than the above 5?


HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Thank You for any and all assistance - it is greatly appreciated.

Chassol

BTW 10,000 miles service at Smart Center Orange Park is (11/12/08) $267.31.

[maxtraxduffy]

have your secondary air valve checked.had the same thing happen i think it has somthing todo with vacume.

[smart fortimo]

Originally Posted by Chassol

3. Bad switch in dash.

Chassol

BTW 10,000 miles service at Smart Center Orange Park is (11/12/08) $267.31.

I would start with the switch as the culprit. Not on my smart but in another car, no blower at times-- clicking on and off would sometimes get it to work, not always. One time when it was switched on but not blowing, it came back on when I went over a little bump (a deployable security wall at work).

As for the BTW-- my 10K service at scPDX on 10/31/08 was $103.75 which included two of the tow bolt hole covers. Wonder why the big difference in cost?

[Chassol]

Originally Posted by smart fortimo

I would start with the switch as the culprit. Not on my smart but in another car, no blower at times-- clicking on and off would sometimes get it to work, not always. One time when it was switched on but not blowing, it came back on when I went over a little bump (a deployable security wall at work).

As for the BTW-- my 10K service at scPDX on 10/31/08 was $103.75 which included two of the tow bolt hole covers. Wonder why the big difference in cost?

That's nothing (my 10,000 mile service) - I was advised the 20,000 mile service is $450.00+ and the $30,000 mile service is $380.00+.

The overhead at this MB dealer has got to be unreal, plus MB sales are down. This new location, opened early 2008, is absolute state of the art and must have cost $3,000,000+ to build.

[Chassol]

Originally Posted by maxtraxduffy

have your secondary air valve checked.had the same thing happen i think it has somthing todo with vacume.

Thank you, I'll run it past the service manager................

[Harleyduo]

I was expecting all kinds of hassles when I called to report an 'intermittent' problem, especially since it's 5 hours of total driving with each trek to the dealer. I didn't want to take it in unless I knew it would be dealt with while I was there. Fortunately, my service manager reported that he had dealt with several cars with a similar complaint and each time he had replaced the blower motor and there had been no problems afterwards. He suggested I should bring it in and he would have it done in 15-20 minutes. I was extremely impressed!

I made my appointment and my car was done in the amount of time promised. Now that's what I call service, and I'm extremely pleased with the results.

I had been so worried that I might be given a hassle because I had installed a cruise control and that would be a hurdle I'd have to clear to get them to cover the repair. I had even contacted the cruise control people to see if they thought there could be ANY chance that their device or its installation could have caused the blower fan problem and was told it was extremely unlikely, just so I'd be armed with some counter arguments, should I get any grief from smart. (Actually, the long drive was made so much better because I did have the cruise control feature, and the trip seemed so much shorter as a result.)

I was told by the service manager that when he was placing the order for more heater blower motors that the parts warehouse said they had experienced similar issues with other Mercedes blower motors, so I'm wondering if there's a underlying problem with the motor manufacturing process.

[foxmajik]

Originally Posted by Harleyduo

I had been so worried that I might be given a hassle because I had installed a cruise control and that would be a hurdle I'd have to clear to get them to cover the repair.

Who did you get to install the cruise control?