Heater motor removal problems

[Donald360]

I have removed the dash to gain access to the heater body in order to replace a defunct heater motor. My problem is that I cannot get the four cross head bolts out of the captive nuts where the large plastic unit is mounted onto the bulkhead. All I have managed to do is damage both the head of the bolts and my knuckles - this was after a lengthy soak with WD40.

My question is this... Is it possible to remove the unit by breaking the plastic around these bolts and then fitting it back (after replacing the motor) by means of the two lower bolts (these came off easily) and the use of Tigerseal between the plastic and the metal bulkhead? Has anyone tried this successfully? Another thought is to drill the bolts out and then replace by bolting through to the bulkhead behind the front grille only.

Any opinions and encouragement gratefully received.
Donald.

[jpennington]

I had similar difficulty with mine. I took the grille off to get at the other end of these bolts - the rusty end. Applied Plusgas (WD40 is not a penetrating/releasing oil) and some heat. This and an impact driver allowed me to shift one of the bolts. The last one I had to drill, but managed to remove the remains of the bolt with an Easyout. Cleaned up the threads in the captive nut with a tap and fitted a new bolt.
I guess if you had to you could fit a new longer bolt and a free nut. You could either drill out the captive nut or just use a slightly thinner bolt. You will probably need an assistant to hold the nut when you retighten.

jp

[Donald360]

Managed, eventually, to get three of the six bolts out, two of the others sheared off and I ended up having to break two of the plastic taps that connect the main body of the heater unit. Cab of the van looks like open heart surgery! Relatively easy job to prise apart the two halves of the unit that were glued together. Fitted the new heater fan and gave it all a good clean out. It was alarming the amount of grot that had built up on the heater matrix, but thankfully no corrosion. I stuck the two pieces together with Tigerseal and mounted it back in place with some more sealant to 'glue' it in place where the tabs were broken. Seems solid enough now. Now I am putting everything back and praying that all the electrics work when I reconnect the batteries. Now that I have done it, I would say that it is the kind of job that most home-based tinkerers could tackle.

Cheers
Donald.