Morris Minor Owners Club

Betsy has the earlier round type heater (1960). It only turns on if the switch is in one particular position, only works on full blast, and is is so noisy that I can't hear the engine running. I'm sure it's not supposed to work quite like that....

Is it worth taking the heater out and looking at the motor or should I just try and find a replacement? Any suggestions as to what the problem might be?

Not sure about the earlier ones Lynda but the later ones are hardly quiet and the output compared with the noise is often not impressive and I think they are all single speed.

Probably the same type as in my saloon Lynda ( early 1962). Is it a round, rotary control switch for the motor which protrudes through the heater cover? If so then fully anticlockwise is off, turn slightly clockwise for full speed and continue clockwise for slower speeds. It's a rheostat which infinitely varies the resistance to the current flow. I would suspect that if it is the same type then there is something wrong with the switch. Mine is fairly quiet in operation though, even at full speed. Much quieter than the later single speed unit in my Traveller. As Kevin says the air output is pretty dismal.

Take the heater out and I'll renew or clean up the pot' and surrounding electrics.

Any suggestions as to what the problem might be?

All sorted now then Lynda, handy Robs on loan to your branch term time

57traveller wrote:Probably the same type as in my saloon Lynda ( early 1962). Is it a round, rotary control switch for the motor which protrudes through the heater cover? If so then fully anticlockwise is off, turn slightly clockwise for full speed and continue clockwise for slower speeds. It's a rheostat which infinitely varies the resistance to the current flow. I would suspect that if it is the same type then there is something wrong with the switch. Mine is fairly quiet in operation though, even at full speed. Much quieter than the later single speed unit in my Traveller. As Kevin says the air output is pretty dismal.

Yes, that sounds the same. The only difference is that although the slightly clockwise turn puts it on full power, turning any further switches it off! Actually, I find it surprisingly powerful. Driving late yesterday evening I had to turn it off because I got too hot, and it seems to give out more heat than the one in my police car once it gets going.

Maybe that just means that my police car heater isn't right either... but I'm not going to start on that one! At least it doesn't sound like a tractor.

Thanks for the offer Rob. Are you coming to the Feb meeting, if so we can make arrangements then?

Incidentally, should a 1960 car have a parcel shelf? Betsy has one, but I expect we'll need to take it out to do heater type stuff and if it's not original I might not bother replacing it, given that it's slightly broken at the back anyway.

Lynda,

I had a similar problem with my round heater. A friend sprayed the rheostat inside the heater using aerosol switch cleaner with a plastic tube (like wd40 has) and rotated the rheostat knob while he did it. Because my rheostsat was ok, just dirty, it cured my intermittant switching without having to take anything apart.

I'll give Woo's suggestion a try before I start taking things apart. Now all I have to do is find some switch cleaner

Most electronics type shops do it. I use Servisol switch cleaning lubricant. It's pretty good stuff.

lynda wrote:I'll give Woo's suggestion a try before I start taking things apart. Now all I have to do is find some switch cleaner

Butdon't use penertating oil, like WD40 or such, as this will just form a film over the rheostat slide and coil. You can pick up electro-static contact cleaner from maplins or such. I use it on the control pots' of the guitars I service, and they need to be very clean to stop "scratching" in the signal, so that stuff works brilliantly.

MrA.Series wrote:Butdon't use penertating oil, like WD40 or such, as this will just form a film over the rheostat slide and coil. You can pick up electro-static contact cleaner from maplins or such. I use it on the control pots' of the guitars I service, and they need to be very clean to stop "scratching" in the signal, so that stuff works brilliantly.

So the fact that my Dad has just told me that he tried spraying the switch with WD40 could be a bad thing....

So the fact that my Dad has just told me that he tried spraying the switch with WD40 could be a bad thing....

Well it is when all said and done a general purpose lubricant that seems to have an almost endless use of aplications but I dont think its really for cleaning up anything with electrical contacts.

I dont think its really for cleaning up anything with electrical contacts.

I was gonna bite my lip regarding WD40, however it is useful for loosening oxides so if the switch was suffering from a build up of crud and oxide on the contacts it could help. (but a switch cleaner is likely to be the best thing for switches)

I do however suspect that the motor doesn't switch on at a low setting because the brushes/commutator are worn so don't make a very good connection - this tends to be a common fault with high mileage modern cars so could also be an issue on your heater motor.

LYNDA...it is ok to use WD40 on ANY electrical switch it has the
capacity to clean and improve electrical contact without causing
any short circuit problems. I used it to clean potentiometers
on picture receivers which were sensitive down to fractions of
an ohm and it was perfect. If you get no improvement then
I have a spare switch of your type which I removed from my
1958 car. WD40 is NOT penetrating oil.

Having sent my Dad off to Maplins, we had a go with the switch cleaner at the weekend. The only difference was the the heater started making loud screeching noises... this now seems to have stopped (thankfully) so it's just back to it's usual noise.

let me guess it just screatches for the first second or so when you switch it on?

Matt wrote:let me guess it just screatches for the first second or so when you switch it on?

I've only been out in Betsy once since Dad sprayed the heater, so I can't really say.... but probably yes.

Just an update... Rob very kindly dissected the heater yesterday. There was a break in the coil inside the switch, which he soldered back together, and now the heater is working fine

Rob very kindly dissected the heater yesterday.

At least I now know what Robs degree is in Micro Surgery