Climate unit blower replacement

[Sperry]

Thanks for the resistor photo, Lee. It makes more sense when the dash is opened up.

I got the blower out. Boy, what a mess the windings and blower cage have become.
Now I know why people like to use new components. Salvaged parts might have the same problem.

Still, I'm going to install a pulled part. If the blower resistor is faulty,
I'll fix it [one might be included with the blower].

This link to a schematic also shows the resister location.

[Sperry]

The upshot on my blown blower fuse is that I swapped out the 30A fuse with the power antenna fuse, and have been enjoying audio books on CD without the antenna raising and lowering. I'm thinking about a dash-mount toggle [factory, of course] for the antenna.

Cleaning the blade connectors and a lube brought my blower back for a few days, but it is back to intermittent. Fortunately, the salvaged is here [$37, and looks good].

I couldn't find the blower resister on myswedishparts.com

Can anyone shed light on this?

[Ozark Lee]

The part number I come up with is 9144354 for the power stage (ECC blower resistor) but they normally aren't intermittent. They either don't work at all or the blower runs constantly when the power stage fails.

...Lee

[charliefoxtrot]

Again, very nice write up!
I removed the blower motor to remove debris that got into the plenum. After cleaning out the stuff, I reinstalled the unit and reconnected the electrical. The fan immediately began running at high speed. The ignition was switched off and the fan control was off.
Do I need to reset a relay or did I screw something up?

[Ozark Lee]

The fan immediately began running at high speed. The ignition was switched off and the fan control was off.

When they run constantly it normally means that the power stage (blower resistor) has shorted out. For some reason the power to the blower is not switched with the key.

...Lee

[Sperry]

My experience was odd.

Blower fuse failed, replaced fuse.
Fine for days, then intermittent function.
Replaced blower w/ salvage unit.
Fine for days, then intermittent function. Code 411, 418 [I think it was].
Replace power stage with new unit.
Fine for days, then intermittent function. One last failure.
Pulled ECC, unplugged and plugged in wires.
Everything fine since. Knock wood, but it's been weeks.

I can ship you my old power stage for a nominal fee; however, although it never fully failed as described by Lee, the resisters show evidence of "leaking and oozing", and intermittent function is strongly suspected.

Even though my car has 160K miles on it, if I was doing it again, I'd buy a new blower and new power stage from Darrell Waltrip. Just like I should have bought a new radiator fan last year, but put in a salvaged part, ad did the same last week [after enduring driving with the windows down and the heater on, and scrambling for a replacement fan].

If JRL's upcoming '97 850 T5 had appeared three weeks ago, I might have jumped.
However, at this point, I'm committed for another year or three.

[tailor]

It is easy to remove the fan from the motor assembly. Mark the top of the fan and motor shaft with paint (it is a balanced assembly). Place the bottom of the fan on a couple blocks of wood on each side. With a drift, lightly tap the shaft through the fan assy.

If this is true and I believe it to be so, how then can an existing cage be attached to a new motor and the balance maintained or be determined?

[MadeInJapan]

As long as the blades aren't messed up or bent, the way the motor fits in the cage will automatically assure balancing. I've not changed the cage myself but have friends who have and it works fine- I just thought the trade off of savings just wasn't worth the hassle.

[tailor]

Thanks for the input MIJ

I was giving the balancing issue a little more thought, and came to the conclusion that it must be a similar type of thing to wheel balancing. Most wheel balancing is done with the wheel off the car.I guess a similar approach is for the cage. So the orientation of cage to shaft is of no consequence.

[Sperry]

The cage uses a clip to add weight at a particular side.

[arsenal6]

Sorry can you show a picture of the rear and front bearings and what should I lubericate with? Just WD-40?

[Ozark Lee]

I may have some pictures but it will be tomorrow before I can retrieve them and post them up. I am in the middle of the second recovery attempt on my network drives and it is in the middle of a write cycle at the moment to the backup drive where the pictures now live. Once the cover comes off the rear bearing is very obvious, the front one is tough to see unless you remove the blower cage blower. I just soaked it with WD-40 but I'm sure there is a better lubricant. WD-40 was just the aerosol oil that I had on the shelf at the time.

...Lee

[stylebox]

Lee,
I followed the instruction at the beginning of the forum and this topic. Did it in one hour, used an aftermarket part from CleanAirParts for $85.00. Everything is cool. Literally. Thank you for your great posting!

[Ozark Lee]

Welcome to MVS,

I'm glad it was helpful. Did you get the entire assembly for that price?

I tried to Google them but there is so much noise on the clean air act that I couldn't find a link.

...Lee