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Renault Scenic II - Access the resistor pack in 5 mins.

747K views 373 replies 206 participants last post by  aahbarnes 
#1 · (Edited)
I don't know if this has been posted before. I just managed to access the resistor pack in 5 mins, maybe less. Haynes reckon the dash top fascia needs to be removed, massive job. I avoided this.

I simply removed the two digital dash surrounds, then to the right of the digital display is quite a large hole. I shone a torch in here and there in front of my eyes was the connector for the resistor pack. Reached my arm in, disconnected it, have noticed slight burning on connector, so need to replace this. The connector has quite long cables, so reaches outside the dash for repair.

Removed resistor pack with torx screwdriver, appears to be OK, put all back together and is working now. But will need new loom section.

EDIT: See post 17 on for pics.
 
#66 ·
kevcal,

I note your concerns with interest. i am looking in to getting a more satisfactory reply from renault myself & have passed my concerns about the potential dangers of parts melting behind the dash (?!) to contacts at the bbc & the legal team I work with. (i smelled burning not long before my heater fan stopped working recently.) i'm sure i read somewhere of a renault catching fire because of this?

Renault local garage & customer services both admitted to me it was a common fault & costly to get repaired (well done to those of you who DIY'd - I'm really impressed! Pics were great too!)

it may not ingratiate me to renault or this forum to mention this here, but i think our safety & that of our families outweighs any potential PR disaster!

i hope i can post this thread, i am new to this forum & do not yet know the etiquette or the closeness of the links to renault themselves.

time will tell... if i am still allowed here this time next week i will let you know how i got on.

abin
 
#67 ·
I still think this is obviously a design fault that could have serious consequences (ie dashboard fire possible?), so am disappointed that Renault are not doing some kind of recall or offer to pay the full amount for the modification.

if you think this you must follow it up with renault & vosa (vehicle standards, they can get recalls moving). i am currently doing this for the same problem & waiting to hear. VOSA (see website for contact details) are sending me forms - as they are concerned re this safety issue.

the more of us who follow it up the better.

good luck.
 
#68 ·
In my 5 years with Ford, I didn't ever hear of a vehicle fire (or as they called it - a Thermal Event) being caused by a resistor failing. At the end of the day, its just similar in principle to the filament in a bulb erroding and failing - and no-one see's that as a fire risk - do they?

The closest we saw was a family (of Doctors, believe it or not), who claimed to have suffered injuries from inhaling the 'noxious vapours' emitted through the car's ventilation system as the resistor burned out.

Don't know how that one panned out - as it was referred to the Executive Office @ Brentwood.

HTH

Paul
 
#69 ·
I might be out of order here Paul, but surely the filament in a lightbulb is enclosed in a sealed glass vessel. The principals of combustion therefore do not exist, oxygen, heat and fuel. :confused:
 
#70 ·
I might be out of order here Paul
Not at all, I don't profess to be an expert in this field.

You bring up a fair point, but a resistor is designed to heat up by passing an electrical current across it. So I doubt if anything combustible from heat would be placed near it?

Maybe the bulb wasn't the best example, but I can think of a couple of better ones - the bars(elements) on an electric fire, or the rings on an electric cooker.

These fail occasionally in the presence of air, and a flame doesn't result.

I think I'm correct in saying the majority of vehicle fires are caused by a spark (or arcing via a short circuit)rather than a minimal increase in temperature for something which is intended to get 'hot' in any case?

Paul
 
#73 ·
It would be nice for our resident Renault UK member to assure us that this would not cause a fire....Also that anything that causes this block to melt must be a design fault and should be replaced by Renault Gratis.
 
#75 ·
I am new here and I have experienced the same problem with the resistor pack. About a week after buying the car fan position 2 stopped working then over the cause of the next two years I was left with only position 4. Of course this happened during all the snow!!! I removed the resistor pack (through the hole on dash- great tip aahbarnes), took the plug off the wiring loom. Yesterday I got round to connecting it all up again without using the connector block and hey presto I have the fan back 100% I really didn't expect that. I know thee is an issue with the connector plug, however it lasted five years. Perhaps the plastic is not sufficent quality and it degrades with time- just a guess. Anyways my plan is to try and source a replacement connector block and put it back together. I will first wrap insulation tape round the terminals if space allows. I will let you know how I get on and if I find a supplier I will post it here.
 
#77 ·
The blower failed completely on my 04 Scenic about 6 weeks ago. I booked it in to local Renault garage for diagnostics a couple of weeks ago and was quoted a wopping £445.05 (notice the 5p!) for it to be rectified. At this point my wife phoned Renault Customer Servies, spoke politely to them about the problem and after a bit of tooing and froing they agreed to pay for the whole job! They were extremley helpful and when a second problem was picked up by the garage (cam sensor) they agreed to pay half. By being polite but persistant we got £600 worth of work done for £60! I can't praise Renault Customer Sevices enough, efficient and helpful - what customer service is all about

Adam
 
#109 ·
The blower failed completely on my 04 Scenic about 6 weeks ago. I booked it in to local Renault garage for diagnostics a couple of weeks ago and was quoted a wopping £445.05 (notice the 5p!) for it to be rectified. At this point my wife phoned Renault Customer Servies, spoke politely to them about the problem and after a bit of tooing and froing they agreed to pay for the whole job! They were extremley helpful and when a second problem was picked up by the garage (cam sensor) they agreed to pay half. By being polite but persistant we got £600 worth of work done for £60! I can't praise Renault Customer Sevices enough, efficient and helpful - what customer service is all about

Adam
Hi

I am currently in dispute with renault for the exact same problem. To help my case would be good if you can give me any details on your case that i can refer them to

Thanks
 
#78 ·
hey guys followed the instructins on fitting the new resistor and loom ..still no heater the heater was working after i replaced the loom but i dropped a screw driver and it crossed the resistor black and red wire blowing the fuse 40 a fuse in fuse box .so i changed the fuse but still no fan so then i changed the resistor thinking it was maybe blown due to the dropped screw driver but no, i have fitted new loom fitted new resistor and fitted new fuse there is nothing coming for the heater when i try all speeds anyone any idea ?
 
#79 ·
Sorry to hear of your troubles rookrook. It is easy to drop a tool down there. You were very unfortunate to short out the wire.
Something I did was tie a length of string to what ever I put in there so if I did drop it I could easliy recover it.

I found a new design resistor pack from an 07 Scenic and connector block at a scrap yard. I spliced it into the loom and now it all works again. £10 + labour.
 
#80 ·
I'd firstly check you have voltage between the red wire going to the fan and chassis ground (the fan always has a 12v feed to it and the resistors are switched in the ground connection).

If you don't have 12v at the red wire, do a resistance check (remove the correct(!) fuse first) between the red wire and the (non 12v side) of the relevant fuse; maybe the wire's burnt out...?

If you have 12v at the fan, you could check resistance across fan(?) and/or ground the other side of the fan (I guess you know what you're doing) to see if it runs full-speed.. if not the fan's probably knackered..

If the fan works, then you need to start checking the 'ground side) connections between the resistor inputs and the dashboard fan speed switch... if they're okay then 'fan switch to ground'.

I'm assuming you know how to do all this as there are no guarantees with my advice :)
 
#85 ·
Has anyone used the part linked to by markieboy in an earlier post?
http://www.aepdirect.com/index.php?...duct_details&category_id=3960&product_id=5641
That post details cutting and splicing cables, but as the replacement part looks like it has wires that go straight to the fan I would have thought it be easier to connect straight up that way?

I'm going to have to tackle this job as all 4 speeds have now died on my 04 1.9 scenic 2 but would prefer not to work on wiring beyond unplugging/plugging in cables. Are people cutting the resistor pack off in order to avoid removing the heater controls panel on the dashboard?
 
#86 ·
Just to add, I'm presuming its easier to reach the terminals on the switch and fan motor by removing the heater panel on the dash. I'd rather avoid any DIY on the actual loom itself as I don't rate my soldering etc skills enough.

So my plan is order the £60 part from aepdirect, access the resistor pack by following aahbarnes' excellent photo guide, open the heater panel using Haynes as a guide, unplug the faulty wiring at the switch/fan end and completely replace wiring/resistor with the aepdirect part.

Good plan? £60 and a couple of hours on a Saturday doesn't seem too bad a price to pay.
 
#87 ·
Hi,
have followed this thread with interest and like grimep don't fancy any splicing. I've got the Renault resistor part which includes a plug, I presume this plugs into the blower somewhere? I've just bought a Haynes so will be looking in a bit more detail if this is so and how to get to it - without dis-assembling the car... any suggestions gratefully received.

Cheers,
AD

PS excellent forum !
 
#88 ·
Hi I have a scenic with climate control and the fan has started to work intermittantly. I have followed these excellent posts and removed the surround panels but my wiring appears different- there is a unit at the top with two green plugs which i suspect feed the control module but i am unsure- if this is the heater contol unit then is it easily replaced or fixed?
 
#90 ·
Re: Renault Scenic II - Access the resistor pack in 5 mins.- FIXED MINE

:dI removed the Climate Contol unit - The green connecters were very fiddly to remove - It is difficult to see what you are doing as your hand blocks your view
.
I was going to send it off for repair but I thougt i would have a quick look first- I prised off the black casing (using 3 flat screwdrivers) and immediately saw the problem - one of power pins had separated from the solder - I soldered it back and put it back together and it works!

I did also find that this unit is made by Valeo the part number is F657165W/M (no renault looking part number on it) and it is fitted to many cars with Climate control - its Citroen part Number is 6441L2 and it can be bought for around £50
 
#91 ·
Hello, Last week had the air con pressure switch changed as air con stopped working. Am now on holiday in France and weather warming up nicely. Stopped for fuel, re-started car and no blower fan. Can sense that air con working but no fan to blow it into car. (Manual Air Con) Have checked fan fuse in glove box and seems OK (Changed it anyway)
Have never had resistor seen too. I have suddenly lost all fan speeds instantly without warning. Was only on speed 2 before we stopped and no smells.
Any ideas?
 
#95 ·
Got my 2005 renault scenic grande back from service/MOT last month. They said they fixed the aircon. After a few days the aircon was back to hot air. Also noticed that the heat fan only worked on 4. Cant tell if it came back from the garage in this condition. Today it stopped altogether. Checked the fuse (fuse box in glove compartment and not to lower right of steering wheel as described in the manual) - OK. Started looking through web and before buying a Haynes manual or taking the top of the dashboard off (lots of advice for other models), I pulled off the 2 digital dash covers as described in post 17 (thanks aahbarnes). I couldnt get the connector out, but wiggled things about a bit. Now I have 3 and 4 on the controller giving me lots of air. Is this likely to fail again? Car on extended warrantee - sounds like this will not be covered and it will be expensive to go back to the dealer just for them to confirm the problem. Any advice? Getting the resistor pack out and in sounds a bit difficult. I am not a mechanic.
 
#92 ·
Hello. To add to my last post the blower fan had not worked for several days and I had kept trying it just in case! Today I was taking it to a French Renault dealer to arrange to have it fixed. 1 mile from the dealer I tried it again and it worked!!! A Scenic with an intermittent fault!!! Did not take into garage. Anyone have any ideas why it might be working again? I replaced the cabin/pollen filter just before we came away and the blower seemed much stronger. Could debris have got trapped in the fan for a few days? Again all speeds work, no smell of burnt plastic. Any suggestions please as if it stops again I would like to know what to do.
Many Thanks
:crazy:
 
#93 ·
ScenicII 1.9DCi

My fan 1 & 3 failed, accessed the resistors as per thread - the easiest so far on the Scenic!

My plug was burnt on the negaitve lead - overheating due to poor connection, I can only assuem it's moisture on -ve lead causing Black Wire corrosion. I had to strip back a good 30cm before I could get to a decent bit of copper. I cut out the plug totally and soldered all joints. Gave the Black & Red feed to the fan a good tug and released excess cable to enable soldering out of the dash hole.

Now working all speeds took about 30 minutes in all.

Thanks for the quick access tip otherwise I would have had the whole dash off! - Excellent forum.
 
#94 ·
hi guys , just had a call from cust serv about this fan over load issue , they don't see it as a manufacturing fault but just as wear and tear and have not had a lot of complaints about this issue, well guys i guess its time for everyone to email them to put this issue forward and maybe we will get something done about it? Or we all have to fork out £500 to keep our cars and families form burning to death.. :mad: i have had renaults for years and always been happy with after care but this time they have got it wrong..:loser:
 
#98 ·
Hi Stewart
I got the same treatment from CS. They fobbed me off with exactly the same comments. The fact that they use a modified resistor for repairs instead of the original goes to show that the original isn't up to the task. A fact completely lost on CS. I'm so fed with Renault I'm seriously thinking of going for the new S-Max, Grand C4 or even the 5008 next. :mad:
 
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