Just going to tackle this at the weekend as mine has just started to play up, glad i looked on here for pointers, Landrover wanted £121.52, got the self same genuine part at Island 4x4 £95.99 inc vat and delivery, hope i don't swear to much while doing it
Edited, completed within 30 minutes.

Last edited by J2B on 20th Mar 2021 6:43pm. Edited 1 time in total

Quick question to those with more experience of FFRR's than me ( 3 years, years with my first one ) at 94000 miles on the car, I have had very little in the way of electrical gremlins. Am I lucky?

Would those with more experience recommend changing this BEFORE it fails, ( Due to mileage and age - 15 years old ) reading about how many fail, I am tempted to buy one and keep it as a spare in the garage just in case.
Not very expensive, and not a major job to change.

Having written the above, I know what will bloody fail tomorrow. Thank you gents.

A couple of things that not one of the many videos or how-tos bothered to tell us -

The FSR cooling pins face transverse, across the car, from right to left (when facing forward), so
the FSR comes out by pulling towards the right hand side.

So the panel on the right side of the centre console has to come out
1 x torqs 20 at front, 2 x transverse press clips at rear

The 'finisher' panel beneath the dash does have to be removed in order to get your hand in.
4 x torqs 20. If right hand drive may also have a large 3 blade twist plug; use a 6mm flat screw driver to undo



The mounting aperture is in the large, near vertical heating duct that is almost touching the engine compartment wall, so
the FSR's power plug is ~40mm from the wall and ~50mm above the angled heating duct

Click image to enlarge

While I'm here I thought I'd explain what this 'Resister' thing actually is.

In the early days of auto electrics, stepped fan control was via a series-string of big power resistors built into an almost complete circle. +V power came in at one end and a rotating contact selected the voltage available at any of the junctions between the resistors. If the contact went to before the first resistor the the full voltage went to the fan, if contacted after the first resistor some voltage is turned into waste heat by the resistor and a lower voltage goes to the fan. Turning the contactor further along the series created more waste heat and lower voltages = lower speeds. Turned past the end of the resistors no voltage is connected = Off. Because they got very, very hot, often the resistors were placed in the engine compartment and operated by an extension shaft from the dashboard.

In the 1980s the big resistors were replaced by much smaller ones to produce low power voltage steps (0, 2-->8V) that were then applied to an electronic throttling device to feed higher power to the fan. Electronic throttling devices are called Transistors. Bi Polar Transistors can switch quite high voltages, but their control input must be between 0 and 0.7V so a small integrated circuit translator is needed between the control resistors and the power transistor. These Power Transistors also get hot as they reduce the voltage, but not as hot as the older power resistors, AND all the heat is produced in a single, small, fixed location. To transfer the waste heat away from the Transistor into the air a large metal plate with lots of pins (to provide a large surface area) is clamped onto the transistor body. This is what the BMW 1990s to 2010s FSR is. The control knob works the first stage resistor, the translating IC is intermediate and the Power Transistor is the actual, Final Stage Resistor.

Much more efficient Field Effect Transistors that can handle large amounts of power became available in the late 1990s. And along with their introduction a new method for speed control became popular - deliver small (micro second), full power pulses to the fan motor and allow it to coast between pulses. Shorter pauses = faster speeds. The mass of the motor and fan blades will smooth out the speed and the transistor always switches from full Off to full On, therefore greatly reducing waste heat. This is what BMW uses now.

The original 'hedgehog' FSR has a voltage converter IC (Elmos 10901D) with simple over heat monitoring, an over current detector that shunts the voltage control signal to ground (thus turning off the fan and signaling the controller) and power transistors mounted underneath the circuit board (3 pins in red circles) under the black resin. Over time the heat cycling breaks the solder joints with the sensors and transistor control pins, etc leading to full-on continuous running or total failure. Its heatsink has just a few, long, large heat exchanging pins.

Just replaced my FSR due to total lack of climate fan and therefore a/c or heating. Many thanks to all contributors on here, other forums and various YouTubers, I bought a Chinese copy off Amazon UK for £21.99 and fitted it relatively painlessly using all the advice I'd read.

One point of note is that on my RHD car, the foot-well heating duct is held in place by 2 torx screws which
I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else. getting these out was by far the most frustrating part of the job, having to maneuver the torx driver into the spaces above the pedals and behind the fascia panel below the steering wheel. Once those screws were removed, the duct simply drops out of the way without any complex manipulation as mentioned elsewhere.

Immediately I plugged the new FSR in I tested and my climate control was fully restored.

Clearly now need to hope that a faulty fan is not the cause of the FSR failure as described elsewhere, as I don't look forward to cutting holes behind the dash facia to replace the fan.

Sorry to bring back this thread guys ive just replaced mine as fans were dead all worked fine for about 5 mins i turn the car off and the fans were still running. flicked the car back on and stayed running and stopped responding to the controls (fans speed stayed at 100% no matter what i did. could i of a got a faulty one?

maybe

@bwelton had this earlier on in this thread, 15th Feb 2021, he replaced it with another new FSR and all back to normal, also check the actual connector, maybe it needs a clean with electrical contact cleaner, it could need replacing as well !

Also be aware that there are two types of FSR for the L322 ( years 2002 to 2012 )

The photo below shows the smaller triangular version that I have in my 2004 Vogue
and the larger more rectangular shaped on that I have in my 2011 Vogue

Click image to enlarge

Although new to Fullfatrr I acquired my 2011 L322 TDV8 4.4 two years ago and after a general overhaul to bring it up together, what a machine!!! Best decision ever.

Though it has handed me a few head-scratchers lately...a couple of days ago the blower decided, all on its own and without any help from a grownup, to go to maximum power. When I turned off the ignition at the end of my (windswept) journey, the blower stayed on!! I had to disconnect the battery to turn it off.

Fearing the expensive worst I removed the climate control unit in the centre console completely, disconnecting the various plugs and wires. Made no difference! I re-connected the battery with the console disconnected, and there we were, back on full blower....

Could this be a Final Stage Resistor fault? Any clues or pointers greatly appreciated!!!

steve.north0069@icloud.com wrote:

Although new to Fullfatrr I acquired my 2011 L322 TDV8 4.4 two years ago and after a general overhaul to bring it up together, what a machine!!! Best decision ever.

Though it has handed me a few head-scratchers lately...a couple of days ago the blower decided, all on its own and without any help from a grownup, to go to maximum power. When I turned off the ignition at the end of my (windswept) journey, the blower stayed on!! I had to disconnect the battery to turn it off.

Fearing the expensive worst I removed the climate control unit in the centre console completely, disconnecting the various plugs and wires. Made no difference! I re-connected the battery with the console disconnected, and there we were, back on full blower....

Could this be a Final Stage Resistor fault? Any clues or pointers greatly appreciated!!!

Hi thank you that's great. I bought one from Amazon its got mainly 5 star reviews but suspiciously cheap at £26...will update when fitted and also provide a link if the part actually works!

rik__ wrote:

steve.north0069@icloud.com wrote:

Although new to Fullfatrr I acquired my 2011 L322 TDV8 4.4 two years ago and after a general overhaul to bring it up together, what a machine!!! Best decision ever.

Though it has handed me a few head-scratchers lately...a couple of days ago the blower decided, all on its own and without any help from a grownup, to go to maximum power. When I turned off the ignition at the end of my (windswept) journey, the blower stayed on!! I had to disconnect the battery to turn it off.

Fearing the expensive worst I removed the climate control unit in the centre console completely, disconnecting the various plugs and wires. Made no difference! I re-connected the battery with the console disconnected, and there we were, back on full blower....

Could this be a Final Stage Resistor fault? Any clues or pointers greatly appreciated!!!

That's exactly what happend to mine after a fitted a cheap one, fans on 100% no matter what replaced with a good one and happy days

Good to know if mine ever decides to have a mind of its own!!  2012 4.4 TDV8 AB Sumatara Black with Ivory / Jet interior

pcourtney wrote:

Also be aware that there are two types of FSR for the L322 ( years 2002 to 2012 )

The photo below shows the smaller triangular version that I have in my 2004 Vogue
and the larger more rectangular shaped on that I have in my 2011 Vogue

Click image to enlarge

You will probably have to have a look see, just in case your 2011 was before or after the changeover. It will be good practice for fitting the new one. .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

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