No blower motor

[meggles]

Now, as some of you know, my van was stood for 10 years before being the Meggles kiss of life (Alcohol breath). So, I'm about to embark on a repair of the little bits that are not included in the MOT. So..... There is no blower for the heater. I'm not sure if it's a duff motor, switch or dodgy wiring. I removed a tin or two of spaghetti from under the dash. What's the favourite culprit? Is there an easy way to test the blower motor before stripping the dash out? There's no rush, I'm going to have quite a lot of time on my hands soon.

[clone123]

Hi meggles just pull the plug off the back of the switch turn on the ignition them check to see if you have a live there I think it's the red/black wire then just loop it from the live in to one of the other wires one at a time and see if the blower blows each colour is a different speed if it works it the switch if not it could be a resistor that's on the side of the heater box are the motor itself not sure of the colours of the wires.
Regards Anthony

[CovKid]

Can also be the earth for the blower which runs directly up to earth crowns.

If you apply a 12v+ source to yellow wire to blower, it should go flat out and will prove it works. The other two colours go via the resistors so would obviously run at reduced speed if power applied to either of those.

To test, pull off heater controls, remove bezel and unclip blower control and then all the relevant cables (except earth) will be in front of you. Check first to see you do actually have power there. Next apply 12v to the yellow wire to see if blower is dead or not.

[meggles]

Thanks for above. I have a couple of days free so I'll give it a go. Also going to freeze the bollards off and remove petrol tank. ON THE DRIVE!!!

[bigbadbob76]

I'm going to have to do the same (already done my tank in the drive, I lost some skin Meggles).
If you pull the fuse and plug your multimeter leads in each of the fuse's slots, with Ignition on and heater switch set to high and meter set to volts you should see 12-14v.
If you get volts but motor doesn't doesn't work when the fuse is in then it's seized or shorted out.
if you don't get volts then you have either a wiring problem or the motor has burned out.
Seizing seems to be more common.

You can also do this with the meter set to amps but you risk causing shorts if you get it wrong. checking for volts is safer.
Anyone know what current these motors draw when they're working?

Alternatively... pull the fuse, turn the ignition and heater on and plug the fuse back in, if it's drawing current you'll see sparks.
mine sparks when I plug the fuse in so it's drawing a lot of current but isn't spinning, new one on order.

I'm tempted to try an electronic speed controller.

[meggles]

Thanks for that. Didn't get time today, got tank out instead, and the coolant pipes removed. I lost no skin, but cut my finger on the sharp end of the pipe as I cut it to get it out! . It was actually fairly easy to do, even though it pee'd down throughout and I did the job on the drive. Bubble wrap is great to lay on whilst you're doing this job!

[bigbadbob76]

Aye, it peed it down when I was doing it too.
I have a creeper but it was a bit thick so ended up lying on the cardboard the new tank came in.

[clone123]

Mine was the motor so dash out easy job.But watch you don't knock any plugs off the steering column that stops your lights working like I did

[meggles]

I didn't take note of which pipe came from where. However, I'm sure that I can lay them down and work out which was which by the fact that one leaked through the corrosion and the other didn't, and as I had to 'twist' the pipes to get the final separation I'll be able to work it out. The biggest difficulty I think I'll have is with the location of the new fuel pipes and breathers! Probs do the blower motor tomorrow as it's forecast more rain!!!

[bigbadbob76]

Yeah, skinned my hand trying to get the breathers back in. the crossover one's the worst.
Oops, gone a bit off topic, good luck with the motor.

[bigbadbob76]

Meggles-If you havn't done your blower motor yet...... I'd be tempted to give it a miss and use an external 12v fan heater.
I eventually got my fasia off with much cursing and "extracted it through the drivers door" as haynes say..... read this as throw it through the drivers door.
The security screws for the steering column came out easily with a pair of pipe pliers,so much for security, the five screws under the windscreen put up a fight.(rust)
When I pulled the blower switch connector off, half the switch came with it.
next I chiseled off what tabs I could from the blower air box, removed the two front screws and tried to remove the other four holding it to the bulkhead, two sheared off and one spun the nut that's welded to the back of the bulhead as I have a rusty patch there, and the fourth screw got a mangled head from my butchery with a srewdriver and wouldn't budge.
At this point I lost the plot and wrenched at the cover to try and break the last two glued tabs that I couldn't reach off the back of the box.
I then spotted the little screw in front of the motor cowl and removed it, more wrenching and swearing and off came the cover with a sound of breaking plastic and the motor flew out over my shoulder narrowly missing the dog who was watching with interest from the back of the bus. Greyhounds have this way of looking at you when things are going wrong, a bit like the look on the wifes face....
Anyway- yay! it's out, it's rusty and siezed solid.
Then I noticed the second motor screw that I couldn't see before, with it's snapped plastic.
Note, you need to get those four bulkhead screws out so you can get at the motor srews, don't do what I did and try and wrench it out, no matter how mad you are at this point. Shame they didn't use hex heads.
So now i'm left with one bulhead screw still in, not wanting to drill it as then I couldn't srew the bas***d box back on, I swiveled it round and jiggled the new motor in and the cover back on, one of the flaps had come loose in the wrenching process so I had to re-hang it blind. got it in the end though. and turned the blower on to check aok. Yipee, we have wind!!
By now it's almost 10 pm so I'm having a beer and writing up my antics for the amusement of fellow 80-90'ers.
Will put it all back together tomorrow but if I had to do it again I think I'd use an external fan heater or mount the new motor under the dash so it blows air up the footwell duct, over the heater matrix and out the top to the windscreen. I hope I've fixed my water ingress issue so the new motor doesn't get all rusty and siezed too.
Clone123- the sun must have been shining on you when you did yours you lucky dog.

[meggles]

Thanks (I think) for that write up bob. I think I'll do it later....... much later!!!

[RogerT]

Aye, I wish I'd used plus gas on my screws. One was seized solid, and I ended up bashing it with a hammer and tearing the metal it was stuck in. Stupid. Eventually got the box out, and cut the tabs to find a seized motor. All works now, but it's such a pig of a job, I'd only recommend it if you've got plenty of time, and enjoy that kind of grief. I took the opportunity to change my washer hoses as well, and renew the foam on the flaps. But then I want everything to work well...

[clone123]

Hi bigbadbob76 looks like you had a nightmare I must be the luckiest dog on here I never said it went without a problem but the only one I had was one screw holding the box to the bulkhead snapped tuck 5 minutes to fix all good now all three speeds to don't worry though you're not the only one having problems this van keeps biting back my advice for anybody doing any work on these vans is To oil everything first for at least a few weeks because things will break for sure.

[bigbadbob76]

Aye, reckon I'll need to dunk my whole van in a vat of oil.
30 years in a salt air climate hasn't done it any good.
Re- sheared screws. I might be able to drill and tap them and push them out the back of the bulkhead.