Heater blower...

[sunnyr83]

Went to put my heater on this cold morning and nothing happened, only after a couple of minutes the blower kicked in on the 4th setting and only then would 1,2 and 3 work, whats happened here is it the start of a problem??

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.[/b]

[JoeDiese]

Might need to clarify here a little: Are you saying

-that the blower only works on speed 4?
This is indicative of a bad blower motor resistor pack.

or...

-that the blower motor didn't blow at all, then it blew on speed four after a while, then all the other speeds worked as well?
This is more characteristic of the blower motor itself ceizing up, with dried out bearings and spent brushes.

[sunnyr83]

The latter of your response joe. Blower wasnt working on no settings so tried again and nothing till the 4th setting only then the rest worked..

[JoeDiese]

Yeah, sounds to me like your blower motor is nearing the end of it's life. The motor starts to bind up certain spots, due to either worn bearings or dead spots in the motor itself. The extra current of setting #4 helps get it moving.

Depending on your level of tinkering you may want to look into replacing the brushes for the motor separately, or it might be easier for you to just replace the whole blower assembly...

[dazleeds]

i've got this same to do this weekend, sadly on a vectra tho, resistor hopefully gone as i have a replacement but no fan movement at all right now

[eltel]

me too.. are the brushes easy to replace?? mine needs to be on 4 to kick start it then as you lower the speed the bearing begin to squeal

[Brianmoooore]

This is a half seized motor. Not surprising after 20 years of no lubrication on plain bush bearings.
I doubt if there's anything wrong with the brushes, or the resistor pack (yet - this is what kills them), or that the motor needs replacing.
What is does need is to be taken out of the car, freed up with WD40, powered up in your hand, then lubricated with a light oil - repeated again and again, until it runs completely free.

[Ranchero]

As Brian said, seems the motor is starting to seize. Chances are you've caught it in time but don't delay in sorting it out.

[asmith88]

same happened on my car last christmas, took the blower unit out, freed it up and oiled it..

still working well today

[eltel]

will get the wd40 onto mine this weekend and will sort the wiper motor out while im at it

[e30-EVN]

Mine did this a few months back, brianmoore said the same to me and it worked a treat , tried mine again yesterday after the car had been sat in the garage for a few weeks waiting for her m50 and it did the same thing! Nothing on setting 1-2 and 3, turned to 4 and the motor burst into life and then worked on the other settings. I will be spraying it up again tomoro!!

[sunnyr83]

How do you take the motor out to oil/clean it up then??

[e30-EVN]

Access panel on the bulkhead mate, where the wires from fusebox are clipped to. Its help on by several 8 or 9mm nuts, the panel comes away to reveal the motor. Take out the plastic ducts (these will be obvious when you see them), there is a metal band with a clip holding the motor in, pop the clip and remove the motor.
What I did at this point was rotate the motor fans by hand while spraying with wd40, then give it power from the battery and when it spins oil it up
Hope this helps you- Ant.

[Brianmoooore]

Pull off the rubber strip across the rear of the engine bay that seals against the rear of the bonnet, and you will be able to see the top edge of the access panel. It's actually held in place by just four self tapping screws with 7mm heads, but, depending on model, there's various electrical related bits attached to the panel that have to be unscrewed/unclipped to allow it to be removed.
Don't forget to unplug the two wires from the motor before you remove it.

[sunnyr83]

Thanks guys will attempt it this weekend.

[bpowell555]

Apparently I need to do this as the motor started squeaking today

[sunnyr83]

Do it mate, advice was spot on, not had a problem since. Easy enough.

[bpowell555]

kk will give it a go

[jonnyboy]

is the motor it self easy to get out. once i get the panel off and etc so i can swap it.cheers

[sunnyr83]

Yes mate, its just a clip which you undo with a flathead, the plastic covers hiding the motor just need pulling off.

[jonnyboy]

thank you mate that was one job i kept puttin off. then this morin it stopped so had to fixs it to nite. nice and warm again.

[Hyperion]

hi all

thought i would hijack this tread instead of starting a new one.

i have the same issue with my blower.
nothing on 1, 2, or 3, but once on 4 it starts hard and fast. switch back to 3,2,or1 and nothing, back to 4 and its on again.

i have checked Fuse 17, not blown so i thought i would have a look at the motor.
i found the 4 screws holding the panel in place, unscrewed the panel. The issue is i have a hole load of electrics on the panel and i didnt want to take everything off, so moved it a little and gained some space, its tight but i can get to the motor. i removed the plastic cover and am now presented with this...



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

so what next is there anywhere particular i need to spray with WD40? the motor doesnt look as dirty as i would have expected.

[eltel]

2 options.. put the fan on so it spins and lubricate the bearings.. or remove the motor by unclipping it at the centre then lube it as you spin by hand

[Hyperion]

thanks for the advice.

so i had a look and noticed that he fins are attached at a point (see pic)



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i put the switch on 4 and the blower started spinning, i liberally sprayed the area on both sides.

but still no luck nothing happens on 1,2,or 3, just starts on 4...

do you think it can be anything else? rely? the switch itself?

[eltel]

it's possible, but usually it is the bearings..as it is all apart take the motor out of the car and work the fins by hand whilst spraying, you will get an appreciation of how stiff they are to begin with.
if after that they spin freely and still dont work on 1,2,3 you'll have to start looking into the switch/resistor etc

[eltel]

also you need to spray closer to the main body, either side of the internal windings where the main bearings are

[Hyperion]

thanks for the help . i will give it another go and report back

[Brianmoooore]

If the motor turns freely, the problem is likely to be the resistor pack,which on your pre facelift or aircon heater box, can just be seen immediately below the motor.
The facelift version of the resistor pack has a thermal cut out which can give problems if its contacts burn. I'm not 100% certain that your pack has a cut out, but if it has, and the resistor coils are visually intact, this is likely to be at fault.
If the motor bearings are stiff (this is usually what kills the resistor pack), spraying the bearings with WD40, with the motor in situ, is only likely to be a temporary and partial cure.

[Hyperion]

hmm, i got a funny feeling my resistor pack could be the issue.
My car is a Facelift, Aircon equipped model.
do i replace the resistor pack? can i get this part from the dealers?
any body got a part number...

thanks

[eltel]

before you go spending money..make sure you remove the motor and lube it by hand..

[Hyperion]

Update. Removed the motor, lubed the motor up.


Put it back in
FYI: when putting the motor back in, it only goes in one way, and the metal clip is a PITA to get on.


i removed the resistor pack, see pic below, i gave it a clean as well. It is found under the motor, it removed by sliding out, it can be removed without taking out the motor.


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unfortunately still not working on 1,2,3 just 4.
i also didn't plug in the resistor back in and got the same symptoms.

Is it safe to assume the problem is the resistor then ?

[eltel]

any windings broken on the resistor??, never had an e30 one out but other nakes usually have 3 or 4 windings of different thickness some of which break.

[Hyperion]

hi

nothing looks broken...



..not sure if this is related, or it can be totally unrelated, but my OBC back light went out at the same time my blower stopped working..

[eltel]

definately brianmoooore's line of expertise.... but at a complete guess they are in the right area to be related. but not sure they could be connected in the same circuit.

the windings look fine though, chck them for corrosion at the base and the connectors

[Hyperion]

i will, thanks i appreciate the help eltel.
i just put everything back together now, will have to troubleshoot this again another day.
need the car for work tomorrow.