Heater Fan Resistor Details (Post #529) 3/10/2015

I’ve gotten several requests for the details of the fan resistor for the Range Rover Classic. The latest one came in from Patrick in France. Yes, that France, the one in Europe. He is the happy owner of a 1991 Classic Vogue SE with 4 doors and the 3.9 not catalysted engine in magnificent Beluga Black. Sorry no pictures.

His problem is the same as several of you had last winter that of trying to find a heater resistor to purchase. They are often difficult to find. He sent me a picture I posted the last time I replaced mine. Unfortunately for him the picture was not high enough resolution to make out the part numbers. You see, he is keen to make his own.

So I went out and removed mine and took down the details and took some photos.

Getting to it is relatively simple.
You remove the louver from the passenger side intake. It just takes a flat-head screw and a gentle touch. Remember your plastic bits are 20+ years old and are prone to breaking.

Once it’s out of the way remove the filter material. I have replaced mine with some air filter material I picked up from one of the big box stores. It’s cheap and sturdy.

filter

I had to drill out the rivet.  You can see it on the far side in the picture below. That was easy enough. Yours may also be riveted. Whatever, you need to be able to rivet it back or use a screw.

vent

And you have the resistor…simple.

resistor

The official part number for a resistor pack is PRC 8010.
The part numbers on the resistors are…
RIEDON452 UAL-50 .5Ω 5%
RIEDON452 UAL-50 1.5Ω 5%
RIEDON452 UAL-50 2.0Ω 5%

This one is an Atlantic British version. According to their website as of today March 10, 2015 they are in stock.
http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/PRC8010

This is cost prohibitive for Patrick due to the crappy exchange rate of dollars to euros, shipping, import tax, duty tax, it road in the back of a truck tax, more than one person handled the package fee, and five more taxes we’ve never even heard of I’m sure. SO, I also found them at Island 4×4 in the United Kingdom, currently in stock. Hopefully this won’t be so bad.
http://www.island-4×4.co.uk/heater-resistor-britpart-da4178resistor-p-7373.html

So if you are keen like Patrick you can source the resistors from the interwebs for just a few dollars and if you are handy with a soldering iron you can put your own together.

http://riedon.com/resistors/view/aluminum-housed-wirewound-resistors-ual

I wish you the best of luck getting a ready-made one or making one yourself.

Merci beaucoup Patrick for emailing.

UPDATE:

Patrick Ferrage emailed us a very nice drawing and schematic of the resistors and the wiring harness. This is top work and makes building one by hand a very simple matter. Once again thank you Patrick.

Drawing by Patrick Ferrage
Drawing by Patrick Ferrage

To the rest of you, thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

So This Happened This Morning (Post #526) 2/20/2015

image

So this has happened on the way to work. I noticed the hood bouncing and thought, “that’s not normal”. Thankfully, it looks like it just vibrated out of its nut.

I pulled over and sorted it out in the dark as I had donated my flashlight to my son and have until now, failed to replace it. The quick fix required me to ratchet strap the bonnet down. I also retrieved the parts before they were lost on the road.

I’ll have to clear some space in the garage to get out of the weather. It’s supposed to turn ugly Sunday. Ah…the joys of 20 year old cars.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

SCARR – Day Four (Post #481) 4/9/2014

Sunday the sun came up as expected in the east and we realized it was time to go home. We started packing up the kit. The tent fit in the amazingly small bag with a little coaxing. The boxes were all loaded and I lashed everything down on the roof rack.

Jayden and John in their Discovery 1.
Jayden and John in their Discovery 1.

John and Jayden were keen to caravan with us home. It couldn’t hurt to have a support vehicle after what we had just put our Rovers through. We agreed to meet at the main pavilion.

The night before after I found my on-board air compressor, I had aired up my tires . When we got to the top it turns out they have an airing station right there on the site. What a great amenity to have for the off-roaders. Continue reading “SCARR – Day Four (Post #481) 4/9/2014”

Working On It Yourself (Post #472) 3/20/2014

I was reading the Roadtrippers blog and saw a post on “The Greasy Hands Preachers”. The Greasy Hands Preachers is a feature film documentary shot in 16mm in June August and October 2013. To be completed early 2014. The film explores the values and the benefits of manual work amongst motorcycle enthusiasts. They have a nice teaser video.

http://vimeo.com/88659057

I totally get what he’s saying at 2:05 in the video.

“There is a great satisfaction when you know how to work on your motorcycle even a little bit….I find some paper clip and some gum and I’ll get home.”

Continue reading “Working On It Yourself (Post #472) 3/20/2014”

The Millennium Falcon made by Land Rover (Post #458) 3/5/2014

Millennium FalconI was grounded this weekend with what is probably bronchial pneumonia. Lots of coughing, a very high heart rate from the medications, and an overall very tired feeling. Being relegated to the couch and bed all weekend, I watched a lot of television. I watched an entire afternoon of Star Wars movies. Episode 4 and Episode 5 mostly. I’m not a fan of The Muppet Show Episode 6 due to the ridiculous effort to cutesy-fy the franchise and merchandise the crap out of it. Okay back to the main point I came here to write.

The Millennium Falcon is obviously a Land Rover.

By now you must be saying “What.the.hell?” So hear me out…. Continue reading “The Millennium Falcon made by Land Rover (Post #458) 3/5/2014”

Finger Lakes Rover Club Tech Tips (Post #452) 2/18/2014

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From the Finger Lakes Rover Club Site

I found a link to the Finger Lakes Rover Club today in a forum. I was researching the common problem of failed door locks on Range Rover Classics. In the Rangerovers.net/forum page “grnole” posted a link to an article on the Finger Lake’s page.

I immediately sorted through the URL to get to the Home page. They have a tech tips page that has several very helpful links to articles. I highly recommend you check it out.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Rovering.