Heater Blower replacement

[bitler1@gmail.com]

Why on earth do they need to connect it to the van so well? Strikes me as overkill!

It also seems to be completely glued together all around... i'm off to buy an impact driver bit tomorrow. (Have now taken Friday off work to continue the battle!)

A little concerned that when I do get the damn thing out I'm not going to be able to get it apart as it seems to be very well glued together....

Phil

[CovKid]

Don't let it beat you Phil, Dremel your way in if need be. Once box is out, see if motor is locked solid. A dose of WD40 and a spin by hand may bring it back into the land of the living and you don't need to open it to do that as theres room at the back to get to motor.

[noggintom]

Hi Phil,

Hope the project is going okay still.... I remember well cutting through the glue on my heater box with a craft knife while a friend stuffed a screwdriver into the gap to make it easier.....until we got to the bit someone had been to before and re-sealed with a heat gun....hacksaw needed for that one

I had a look at the cap on top of brake fluid reservoir today, there is a plastic cover with castle ramparts bits sticking out the top if you follow. I think when you remove the battery connection with the instrument cover off the blue periscope comes up as the circuit is broken and pushes the cap off. Have a shifty around for it, it should be somewhere. I took a few photo's when I was removing my dash and I see that I taped it down while I was doing the job as I was worried about breaking it.

Good luck and keep going! When finished have a peek at the Haynes manual and see how many spanners of difficulty this job has - you will be a pro before long!!

Tom.

[CovKid]

Always think 80/90 should have official awards for repair work, based on sweat and damage to life and limb. Aidan had a gearbox fall on him - that must rank fairly high in the pecking order. I assume it was while he was underneath and not off a high shelf as he was walking by with a floral tray loaded with fresh tea and doughnuts. Picture that....

[bitler1@gmail.com]

Thanks guys -

I got 2 of the b******d screws out last night before the heavens opened and I had to take cover! Just the 2 on the steering wheel side and 2 nuts to go today then...

Halfords are doing well out of me at the moment!

Phil

[CovKid]

Sort you washer pipes out while you're in there Phil. I swapped my pipes for silicon stuff from an aquatic shop - cheap and superior to be honest. You might also want to upgrade the washer jets as they're easy to get at now. I fitted light-up twin jet washers while my dash was out. The LED actually serves to warm the jet slightly - great in freezing conditions. All these jobs a pig to do with dash in. I also mounted speakers under there (mentioned in another thread) as theres masses of room.

[bitler1@gmail.com]

Happy days! Got into the box this morning - have now changed the blower motor and it works! Now testing everything else and putting it back together.
Like a tw*t I didn't make a note of which coolant pipe goes onto which connection - think I've got it right...

Tom - found the crennelated brake reservoir cap thanks - it was well ensconced in the dash wiring! together with Deutsche Marks, pfennigs, dimes and dollars! (the van's worth a bit more now!)

Cheers,

Phil

[bitler1@gmail.com]

Thanks mate - is it really worth doing? My washer jets work fine at the mo - are they likely to fail?

[CovKid]

The pipes tend to get lined with limescale and get brittle. If you're not bothered and all seems ok then go for a refit. Worth cleaning up the earth crowns on the left though.

[bitler1@gmail.com]

All back in and working sweetly - just need to get the new stereo wired in correctly now but that can wait a few days I think! (There are wires everywhere and it's going to take some Columbo style detective work to sort out what's what!)

Thanks for all the help and advice guys - couldn't have done it without it!!

Just one more question... Having broken into the coolant system, do I need to do a full bleed? Or can I get away with topping up the expansion tank and let the system sort itself out? There was very little coolant lost when I took the pipes off...

Phil

[CovKid]

You'll only need to lose a little air from the system. I just opened the rad one and another bleed screw I had in the engine bay. You may not even need that.