Hi All,
 
Does anyone know the correct way to get the heater going on a early Mk2 escort?  There are two wires with bullet connectors from the heater, and from the loom is a black wire, running into the three way switch (with orange and red) that plugs into the fan controller switch.  The other end of the red and orange are female spade terminals that go?  
 
Linking the spades to the heater wires doesn't work... there seems to be no power coming from anywhere.
 
Thanks for any help!
 
 

Not 100% on this, but from memory the black wire should be 12v+.
The orange and red (which were not that colour in mine) are grounds. 
One should be a straight ground with very little resistance and another will have a large amount of resistance, this is how the fan runs at different speeds.
Measure both of them and see if what I say checks out but I know on that switch with my 76 mk2 there was 12v grnd and grnd 

i'll check that out, thanks for the info.
 

Checked all that, no power from black line. Any other ideas?
 

I took this pic when I took my heater out. I think the photo is taken from underneath the dash looking up to the heater. I hope it helps. Not sure where that coloured wire goes I havent got a photo of that.
 
My car is a 79 so hopefully its not too different.
 
Ryan
 

thanks mate, looks to be a later model heater unit than i have.  The same as a mate of mine.  On my heater, there are only two wires coming out, but the red/grey and the orange/black are the same as the loom I have... so thats one thing!
Cheers for your time on this.
 
Alex
 
 

On mine I would assume the colourful wire has the +12v to the fan, then the brown goes from the fan to the switch where red and orange are grounds of different resistance as mattsmithadelaide said.
 
So I reckon with yours, the other end of the black wire should connect to the fan and there should also be +12v to the fan. Have you tried to find continuity between the black and either of the spade connectors? I wouldve thought one of the spade connections would have +12v and the other would be connected to the black somewhere in the loom. But then I could be completely wrong...
 
Ryan

Have had similar probs, with my hacked wiring, some spades, as in your pic looked oxidised, 
i put a little White Zinc Cream on the spades. (from local chemist) removed connector from spade,
with a small artists brush, put some cream into the connector, when replacing connector, wriggled 
the connector sideways (just a little) while pushing slowly onto spade. Prob gone, also fixes bad earth
connections, a dull bulb restored to bright by a scrape to see bare metal on body, a little cream 
applied, connect earth wire and tighten connection, where this has not worked, the hacked wiring 
has been found to be the problem.  Cheers Geoff,     (won't work through paint,  Bare metal Only)