I have a 2010 Megane III 1.6 saloon with manual air conditioning
Started hearing the sound of water sloshing around, somewhere at the front of the car. At around the same time the ventilation fan/blower stopped working.
The water that I could hear was caused by an accumulation of rainwater, in the area at the back of the engine bay, just in front of the windscreen - where your wiper motor and linkages sit and where the car's air ventilation / intake is.
The rainwater had not been able to escape because of a (quite) common problem where drainage pipes on the left and right hand side of this area become blocked with leaves
Further investigation also showed a small amount of water in the driver side footwell, where the accelerator, clutch and brake pedal are.
Initially I carried out the following work:
1) Cleaned the two drainage pipes in front of the windscreen, at the back of the engine bay - So no water sloshing about now
2) Replaced the cabin / pollen filter - This is tricky (Requiring you to work in the area of the driver footwell and having to unbolt and move the clutch pedal!) but the pollen filter must have been wet and the route taken by the water in the driver footwell
3) Replaced the blower motor resistor pack (£78 from Renault - £23 from Ebay) Based on other posts this seemed a likely cause of the non functioning blower motor. It was also a tricky-ish job but the resistor pack sits in the air duct that leads from the fresh air intake (where the water was) to the blower motor and had definite signs of water damage.
Having completed these actions I still had no fan/blower.
Second hand motors for the Megane III were shown on Ebay around £90 and I had seen one Forum post where someone had been quoted £1000+ to replace the blower motor - This is a "massive" (in my opinion) job. Based on the information in the Haynes manual I really didn't fancy having to remove the passenger cabin fascia/dashboard, steering column and main crossmember
I had already checked that no fuses had blown (Checked the fuses in the engine bay and in the fuse box behind the glove box) but I wasn't certain which fuse protected the blower motor.
Using a voltmeter and following the wiring diagram in the Haynes manual (Page 12.22 Wiring Diagram - Diagram 3- Manual air conditioning) I was able to identify that the 12V supply to the blower motor goes via a 40A fuse in the glove box fusebox and that the fuse was definitely not blown.
Note - This fuse is only accessible if you remove the glovebox so that you can see the entire fusebox
GREEN arrow points to fusebox
BLUE arrow is the location of the Blower Motor Resistor pack - although it is hidden behind a metal arm in this photo
Next step was to try and work out if the blower motor was actually faulted.
I had my doubts. Water and electronics do not mix but a motor is a fairly straightforward electrical device.
Following the Haynes wiring diagram again I could see that the electrical supply to the blower motor was via pins 1 and 2 of the plug and socket which is connected to the blower motor resistor pack. I had already found and replaced the resistor pack (which can be accessed, with difficulty, after removing the glove box). Measuring across pins 1 and 2 showed a dead short / zero ohms, exactly what I would expect for an okay d.c. motor - so the motor was probably okay - BUT MIGHT JUST BE STUCK.
BLUE arrow is the Blower Motor Resistor pack
YELLOW arrows are pins 1 and 2 of the connector to the Resistor pack
Tried to work out how to "free up" the motor (in case it was stuck)
My plan was to try and use a hair dryer to blow air around the ventilation ducts and hope to spin the motor - This was a long shot and was probably never going to work
I had removed the windscreen wipers and windscreen cowl panel (Haynes manual 12.14 section 18) As I was working to mask off one side of the air intake (behind the windscreen wiper linkages) I realised that I could see the blower motor through one of the ventilation grills / air intakes
Photos across engine bay showing where it is (just) possible to see the blower motor impeller. Note, at this point I have removed the windscreen cowling then disconnected and moved the wiper arm linkage (which is clearly visible in the photos)
If you look at the attached photo you can clearly see that the motor is made up of cylindrical impellers with dozens of horizontal slats
Took a wire coat hanger and straightened it out (The straightened wire needs to be at least 12 inches long)
This next bit was made easier my unbolting the windscreen wiper linkage (only 6 bolts) and manouvering the linkage out of the way a little.
Shining a torch through the ventilation duct / air intake I could (very carefully) put the end of the coat hanger onto the motor impeller.
Blurred photo trying to show wire coat hanger being pushed through ventilation duct and onto blower motor impeller
The motor definitely felt jammed / it didn't want to move.
After only a few seconds of gently poking the blower motor impeller I felt the motor move.
From this point one the motor had clearly become free.
Every time I touched it lightly with the coat hanger I could see it move / rotate slightly.
And that was it.
Made sure that any fuses that I had been checking were back in and that the connector on the blower motor resistor pack was in place.
Put the ignition key card into its slot, turned the fan / blower control and hey presto, the blower was working.
(It was a tiny bit noisy at first, possibly still had some vegetation / debris stuck in but after half a minute was sounding perfectly normal)
To summarise
a) Blocked drainage pipes had caused water build up at back of engine bay / in front of windscreen
b) Water and probably vegetation / debris had been sucked into the motor
c) At some point the motor had become seized
Clearing the drainage pipes and freeing the motor solved the problem
There had not been any problem with the Blower Motor Resistor pack - I refitted the original part and it works normally
I would still recommend replacing the cabin / pollen filter. Although it isn't a nice job the part only costs £10 and my filter had been wet and contained a lot of vegetation / debris
Started hearing the sound of water sloshing around, somewhere at the front of the car. At around the same time the ventilation fan/blower stopped working.
The water that I could hear was caused by an accumulation of rainwater, in the area at the back of the engine bay, just in front of the windscreen - where your wiper motor and linkages sit and where the car's air ventilation / intake is.
The rainwater had not been able to escape because of a (quite) common problem where drainage pipes on the left and right hand side of this area become blocked with leaves
Further investigation also showed a small amount of water in the driver side footwell, where the accelerator, clutch and brake pedal are.
Initially I carried out the following work:
1) Cleaned the two drainage pipes in front of the windscreen, at the back of the engine bay - So no water sloshing about now
2) Replaced the cabin / pollen filter - This is tricky (Requiring you to work in the area of the driver footwell and having to unbolt and move the clutch pedal!) but the pollen filter must have been wet and the route taken by the water in the driver footwell
3) Replaced the blower motor resistor pack (£78 from Renault - £23 from Ebay) Based on other posts this seemed a likely cause of the non functioning blower motor. It was also a tricky-ish job but the resistor pack sits in the air duct that leads from the fresh air intake (where the water was) to the blower motor and had definite signs of water damage.
Having completed these actions I still had no fan/blower.
Second hand motors for the Megane III were shown on Ebay around £90 and I had seen one Forum post where someone had been quoted £1000+ to replace the blower motor - This is a "massive" (in my opinion) job. Based on the information in the Haynes manual I really didn't fancy having to remove the passenger cabin fascia/dashboard, steering column and main crossmember
I had already checked that no fuses had blown (Checked the fuses in the engine bay and in the fuse box behind the glove box) but I wasn't certain which fuse protected the blower motor.
Using a voltmeter and following the wiring diagram in the Haynes manual (Page 12.22 Wiring Diagram - Diagram 3- Manual air conditioning) I was able to identify that the 12V supply to the blower motor goes via a 40A fuse in the glove box fusebox and that the fuse was definitely not blown.
Note - This fuse is only accessible if you remove the glovebox so that you can see the entire fusebox
GREEN arrow points to fusebox
BLUE arrow is the location of the Blower Motor Resistor pack - although it is hidden behind a metal arm in this photo
Next step was to try and work out if the blower motor was actually faulted.
I had my doubts. Water and electronics do not mix but a motor is a fairly straightforward electrical device.
Following the Haynes wiring diagram again I could see that the electrical supply to the blower motor was via pins 1 and 2 of the plug and socket which is connected to the blower motor resistor pack. I had already found and replaced the resistor pack (which can be accessed, with difficulty, after removing the glove box). Measuring across pins 1 and 2 showed a dead short / zero ohms, exactly what I would expect for an okay d.c. motor - so the motor was probably okay - BUT MIGHT JUST BE STUCK.
BLUE arrow is the Blower Motor Resistor pack
YELLOW arrows are pins 1 and 2 of the connector to the Resistor pack
Tried to work out how to "free up" the motor (in case it was stuck)
My plan was to try and use a hair dryer to blow air around the ventilation ducts and hope to spin the motor - This was a long shot and was probably never going to work
I had removed the windscreen wipers and windscreen cowl panel (Haynes manual 12.14 section 18) As I was working to mask off one side of the air intake (behind the windscreen wiper linkages) I realised that I could see the blower motor through one of the ventilation grills / air intakes
Photos across engine bay showing where it is (just) possible to see the blower motor impeller. Note, at this point I have removed the windscreen cowling then disconnected and moved the wiper arm linkage (which is clearly visible in the photos)
If you look at the attached photo you can clearly see that the motor is made up of cylindrical impellers with dozens of horizontal slats
Took a wire coat hanger and straightened it out (The straightened wire needs to be at least 12 inches long)
This next bit was made easier my unbolting the windscreen wiper linkage (only 6 bolts) and manouvering the linkage out of the way a little.
Shining a torch through the ventilation duct / air intake I could (very carefully) put the end of the coat hanger onto the motor impeller.
Blurred photo trying to show wire coat hanger being pushed through ventilation duct and onto blower motor impeller
The motor definitely felt jammed / it didn't want to move.
After only a few seconds of gently poking the blower motor impeller I felt the motor move.
From this point one the motor had clearly become free.
Every time I touched it lightly with the coat hanger I could see it move / rotate slightly.
And that was it.
Made sure that any fuses that I had been checking were back in and that the connector on the blower motor resistor pack was in place.
Put the ignition key card into its slot, turned the fan / blower control and hey presto, the blower was working.
(It was a tiny bit noisy at first, possibly still had some vegetation / debris stuck in but after half a minute was sounding perfectly normal)
To summarise
a) Blocked drainage pipes had caused water build up at back of engine bay / in front of windscreen
b) Water and probably vegetation / debris had been sucked into the motor
c) At some point the motor had become seized
Clearing the drainage pipes and freeing the motor solved the problem
There had not been any problem with the Blower Motor Resistor pack - I refitted the original part and it works normally
I would still recommend replacing the cabin / pollen filter. Although it isn't a nice job the part only costs £10 and my filter had been wet and contained a lot of vegetation / debris
2010 Megane III - No fan / blower - FIXED
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