Heater cutting out, need some ideas

[996scott]

The factory heater in my 07 LSV has been acting up and I'm trying to figure it out. It will run fine for a few minutes but then just shuts off. If I hit the reset button below the switch it clicks and the heater comes back on most of the times but not always. Sometimes it won't reset at all and I wait a few minutes and try again and it resets. I never get more than a few min out of the heater each time. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to why it shuts off. I removed the switch panel to check all the wires and the back of the switch for anything loose or broken and didn't find anything. I turned on the heater on ( with the engine off at home) and ran it for probably 20 min while wiggling and moving all the wires on back of the switch and couldn't get it to cut out. It ran great. I don't think it is the switch or the wiring after what I did today, any suggestions? My next step would probably be to hook up the fake a lake and run the heater while running the boat and see if it will shut off. My other thought is maybe the reset button under the switch is possibly going bad? Thanks in advance.

[zabooda]

I would recommend checking the voltage on the wires when the fan cuts out as it appears your reset button could be the problem.

[mmandley]

Good chance the fan motor is going bad also. When it gets hot it pulls too much current.

[996scott]

Thanks for the ideas guys. It would be nice if it were just the reset button. I guess I can switch the button with one of the other ones and try and rule it out. If not, Mmandley might be right. If the motor does get too hot and pull too much current that could trip the breaker and if it is still too hot it won't let me reset the button until it cools down?

[zabooda]

I just haven't heard of anyone who had a fan go out as they aren't used that much. When I took mine apart to replace the heater core, I noticed the fan is basically the same type used in the engine compartment (single speed). I would confirm power to the fan before tearing into it.

[996scott]

just a follow up incase this happens to anyone else. I finally tracked the problem back to the wiring going into the motor itself. I took the motor off and while it was going I pulled and twisted the wires as they went into the motor casing and sure enough it was the ground wire. the motor would cut out every time I touched the ground wire. I bought a new motor from Heater Craft and just installed it.