Just a quick one, I lent my car to my brother, who it would appear has managed to blow the fuse for the heater and radio, I had a quick look, and its not in the main fuse box. I am sure this has come up a few times, and I am too lazy to go rumaging around under the dash in the rain/dark, If someone could shed some light on its location I would be most gratefull

It is inside the ventilator box. What's it called? Anyway the black box in the engine compartment against the bulkhead.

there is a resistor pack inside the air box inside the bonnet, that's what normally makes the fan go off, because it works on 2 different fuses if it doesn't work at all then its the heat protector that corrodes, you'll see it once you dismantle the heater box, its the bimetallic thingy.

As for the radio, I've no idea, it should be inside the fuse box. Its possible there's a corroded connector somewhere along the line causing a voltage drop.

Right, radio is sorted, but the heater isnt, (brother hadnt cliped the face on properly!) From memory, didnt the cutout in the heater only affect certain speeds? mine wont work on any speed, and showed no problems before it failed, maybe clutching at straws, but I cant be arsed to take it all apart untill the weekend, and its a right pain in the arse to drive with no heat!

I am breaking three 340s to build my drift racer and you can have a hole unit if you need...

the cutout is the only thing which affects the fan on all speeds, so its deffo your problem IMO. Heater box isn't too bad to get out, only held on by two screws and a bolt. Hopefully you've got enough room in there to maneouvre and get it out with all the other mechanicals in there

I'm still waiting to get mine problem solved. I've had all the boxes etc off and still no fan. Changed all the relays, switches and the fan. Eventually have patched wire from fan direct to an accessory plug which I plug into the cigarette lighter (sorry accessories) socket. I get full blast and at normal speeds the brick shape pumps enough into the car to keep warm. I aim to get it right this summer as my 'patch' has lasted two winters already.
The problems started with an intermittent fault on the switch. Is this the sympton?

everything apart from the problem which is the dodgy cutout in the resistor pack that I posted above. Very common problem I'm afraid. If you can't clean it or adjust it back then a new resistor pack is fairly expensive from Volvo, 40 quid? not sure but quite a lot anyway.

My heater packed up a couple of days ago - the switch itself is slightly wobbly (but has always worked). So looking at this I reckon I could have the same problem! Oh well.. atleast I have a donor!

Looks like a group purchase may be needed here! I'll take another peek at mine at the weekend - weather and time permiting.

Right, on petaws advice, I pulled the heater to bits at lunchtime, (surprisingly easy) and it was the cut out in the resistor pack, as he said. Its all in fairly good nick and hadnt rusted too badly, It just needed the contacts cleaned (dont use emery paper or anything abrasive) problem solved If someone organizes a group buy I will put my name down cause I dont know how long it will last, and it seems a bit tricky to get one for sensible money.

I've just took mine apar and the bi-metalic sender thingy is totally whacked. I got it work a bit by poking it then it packed up altogether. Sooo .. Group buy? Whose going to organise it? My patch will last until I get the bit.

Right... I've just took mine out and replaced it with the one from my black car - working heater again.. woohoo!

Anyone know how much these sell for at Volvo? They surely can't be that expensive - theres not alot to 'em!

Anyone got a piccy, if it's a standard bi-mettalic effort, might be able to get them elsewhere?

First question... I'm guessing that bi-mettalic means its a thermal cut-out, not a resister pack as it seems to have become called? I've never had teh box apart, so know nothing about this part, or it's use in the car

There's definitely a coil there Chris...I wondered if this might be a 'ballast' resistor for the speed control?

If we got enough used ones together, someone could probably keep a stock of 'known good' ones for emergency situations. I need to sort this out too at some point, as roughly once a year mine packs up for a week or so.

cheers

James