heater blower moter dead?

[gragravar]

alright, I have done some digging and have read lots of issues with the heater blower - mostly letting fresh air in with seals not closing up all the way. While I am having that issue, I am also having another one:

When I turn on the fan for the climate control system, the rover lets out a horrible squeal like a belt is slipping, then the engine dies. any ideas about what this might be? is this one where I should plan a day to take the entire dash apart to get to the heater motor?

[jimfoo]

Sounds like a big short or else your belt is really loose.

[gragravar]

well, to get a good picture of what might be wrong, I stopped by JC's rover shop in Denver. just from the description of the squeal, he knew what the problem was then a 5 second look over at the truck confirmed it. problem wasnt the heater motor, but the A/C compressor which had siezed up. since it is belt driven, turning on the fan when the A/C or the defroster setting is used turned on the A/C which wouldnt turn and which caused the belt to squeal then to stall the motor on the car.

so a quick unplug of the compressor turned that functionality off. now my heater works, but I'll need to replace that compressor before I find the need for A/C in the spring.