Climate unit blower replacement

Post by **gregorj** » 18 Oct 2010, 14:14

I have since went to a local repair shop and replaced the blower motor resistor with and used one, and it still didn't work. I can hear a clicking noise coming from a small green relay next to where the resistor goes. The green relay is next to the one that clicks when you turn on speed 4, which works.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

1997 850 non turbo 145k

Post by **1997volvo850** » 18 Oct 2010, 20:55

I replaced my blower and resistor at the beginning of summer and now my slightly used
blower is starting to squeal.

When my air pump died I noticed that there were rebuilt ones available on-line where someone
had installed new bearings. There are detailed instructions for rebuilding the air pump. Are there
similar instructions for doing the blower? Or is this a different animal? Is WD-40 really enough to fix this motor?

Do you take apart the bearings to lubricate them? Or do you just squirt some WD-40 on them?
Would some grease last longer?

Has anyone installed new bearings?

I have the squealer I took out and the one in there now. Would be nice to repair them if possible instead
of ending up with two sitting in a box. Buying a new one likely makes sense but figuring out and fixing
things is fun.

Still haven't seen any photos of taking apart the blower and lubricating the bearings...I get motivated when
there are pictures and connect the dots instructions. Looking forward to the blower motor lubrication
tutorial...

Thanks.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 19 Oct 2010, 13:45

The blower bearings are just brass sleeves. I lubed mine with WD-40 since that was all I had around that was an aerosol lubricant.

The back bearing is a piece of cake but the front bearing is much tougher unless you remove the blower. I just stuck the spray nozzle in the best I could and gave it a big blast. From there I held the blower in my hand and hooked it up both backwards and forward several times. You can change the fan direction by reversing the polarity to the motor.

I'm sure there are better lubricants than WD-40 but mine has been working flawlessly for over a year.

...Lee

C@lvin · Post by **C@lvin** » 19 Oct 2010, 13:59

Wal-Mart has "White Grease" in a spray can with a tube for directing the spray (like comes with WD40, PB Blaster, etc.). It's on the same shelf with all the oil and gas treatments and it's the Wal-Mart brand and costs $2 and some change.

MatDesign84 · Post by **MatDesign84** » 19 Dec 2010, 21:36

I got a question.
I am wanting to repair what someone else tried to fix the wrong way before I got my car. What looks like has happened is the ACC fan speed switch stopped working, so they wired the blower motor from the battery to the heated seat switch inside of the car and grounded it out on the cigarette lighter so you could turn it on and off.(A small question here, why will my cigg lighter work, but not power anything auxillary that's plugged into it) It worked fine until it melted the inside of the switch after 3 days of owning the car (i got a really really good deal on it so I over looked the hack job) what I want to do I replace the unit, but until I do that I need to know what grade of wire to get, its simply put "gone" but two inches of it. I also need to know, if there is the alternative way. Buy a wiring set instead with the plugs to make the job easy. A side note, my climate control box partially works, I can adjust where the air comes through, and I can tell its making a change at speed I get air through the vents. The temp works as well, but I get the flashing lights. Can this be fixed? I read somewhere it was not possible or worth it.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 20 Dec 2010, 05:12

Peoples ability to hack up a cars electrical system never ceases to amaze me.

The short answer is yes, you can fix it properly but you need to be methodical and put stuff back one wire at a time. I prefer to use heat shrink as an insulator and solder to make splices. Butt splices are a common alternative and they generally work OK.

A junk yard might be a good source for the parts of the harness that you need to patch it back together - just cut them out long so that you can make the adjustment to fit your situation.

...Lee

MatDesign84 · Post by **MatDesign84** » 20 Dec 2010, 06:12

Will you address the fan speed switch/the climate control unit? Cigg lighter issue? BTW Ozark, other forums have told me to trust anything you say about these cars, your input helped me through my last problem. Thank you for what you do, its incalculable how valuable your information is.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 20 Dec 2010, 13:53

Since the blower fan speed switch is bypassed it is hard to diagnose but lets start with some basic information. Do you have the ECC (Electronic Climate Control) or the MCC (Manual Climate Control)? The look very similar but they operate quite differently.

The way to tell the difference between the ECC and the MCC is to look at the fan speed control switch and the temperature settings. On the ECC there is an AUT position on the fan speed control whereas it ranges from 0 to 4 on the manual system. The ECC also has temperature settings that are graduated in actual numerical degrees whereas the MCC has a scale of graduated with red bars for the temp settings.

Once I figure out what you have I can point you to some basic tests to trace the problem down.

As far as the lighter goes it is strange that the lighter works but other items don't work when plugged into the socket. It sounds like the positive center pin is messed up somehow nut that would normally mess up the lighter as well. Without seeing it I can't really say for sure.

...Lee

MatDesign84 · Post by **MatDesign84** » 20 Dec 2010, 23:07

Heres a picture. I think its the MCC cause theres no 1-4 on the fan speed switch.
www.volvo-forums.com/index.php?&autocom=registry&cmd=view_attach&type=registry_gallery&id=3150

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 21 Dec 2010, 13:42

You have the ECC. Chances are that the wire that leads to the switch in the console is, or is at least spliced into the blue wire on the blower. That might make things easier for you since the original blue wire would have never been long enough to get to the switch. They would have snipped the wire either at the blower end or the power stage end so it might be as easy as splicing the blue wires back together.

The power stage (blower resistor) is inset into the main air duct just beyond the blower. It is pictured on the first page of this thread toward the bottom of the page:

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... 22&start=0

The power stage is the device that has the large blue and black wires on its connector.

Once the power stage is hooked back up there are three possible outcomes, the first would be that everything works fine (not likely given your circumstances) , the blower will come on full blast even with the key off, or the blower won't come on at all. The failure mode on the power stage is more or less 50/50 on whether or not it shorts out or opens up.

Since we know the blower itself works if the blower comes on full time and won't turn off then the power stage is definitely bad and it will need to be replaced (You can turn the blower off by removing fuse number 5 so that you don't kill the battery).

If the blower doesn't come on at all then the problem is either in the ECC control head or the power stage. If the unit otherwise works and controls where the air goes and the temperature adjusts then there is about a 90% chance that the problem is in the power stage.

...Lee

Climate unit blower replacement

Re: Climate unit blower replacement