TheSamba.com :: View topic - Front Heater/defrost blower and rear under seat blower same?

Wed Feb 13, 2013 9:07 am

Trying to figure out if the two blower motors are the same or different. My front blower is inop. switch in dash is good but blower not working. Rear blower only works on high speed. Are they the same part number or different?

Wed Feb 13, 2013 9:11 am

They are seperate units. They can operate independantly. The switches themselves go bad. Its common for the first two speed settings to fail but the high setting continue working.

Wed Feb 13, 2013 9:15 am

There are two in every rear AC unit on late Vanagons.
Grab one at a local pick and pull for short money.

Wed Feb 13, 2013 9:20 am

What i ment are they the same units as far as parts. Are the front defrost blower and rear under seat blower the same motor? are they interchangeable.

Wed Feb 13, 2013 2:25 pm

Biglazy01 wrote: What i ment are they the same units as far as parts. Are the front defrost blower and rear under seat blower the same motor? are they interchangeable.

No.

Wed Feb 13, 2013 2:54 pm

Thank you!

Wed Feb 13, 2013 4:31 pm

No, they aren't. I have a couple old units here in my shop and the front and rear are different. The MOTOR may be the same, but the motor/fan assembly isn't.

These are both from a tin top though, I suppose the rear heater in a westy may use the same blower as the front but I don't think so.

Wed Feb 13, 2013 7:23 pm

Vango Conversions wrote: No, they aren't. I have a couple old units here in my shop and the front and rear are different. The MOTOR may be the same, but the motor/fan assembly isn't.

These are both from a tin top though, I suppose the rear heater in a westy may use the same blower as the front but I don't think so.

The Westy rear heater also uses different fan housings than the front heater. Just to mix things up a bit more, the VW Golf fan motor for the 1990's looks almost identical to the Vanagon front heater fan, but it isn't the same and won't fit in the Vanagon heater box. That NIB Golf $40 fan is now taking up space in my garage. Doh!

Thu Feb 14, 2013 6:27 am

Well I guess I will find out this weekend. I will let every one know.

Thu Feb 14, 2013 8:17 am

Both the rear fan and the rear heater core are different than the front ones.
As dylan was saying though, there are two AC fans in vans with AC that are compatible with the front blower, so you can snag those usually pretty cheaply and use them.
Also other 80s/90s volkswagens have similar/compatible fans for the front blower, but none will work for the rear (as far as I know).

Thu Feb 14, 2013 8:35 am

Phishman068 wrote: Both the rear fan and the rear heater core are different than the front ones.
As dylan was saying though, there are two AC fans in vans with AC that are compatible with the front blower, so you can snag those usually pretty cheaply and use them.
Also other 80s/90s volkswagens have similar/compatible fans for the front blower, but none will work for the rear (as far as I know).

I'm glad someone was paying attention :wink:

Thanks Craig

Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:33 pm

Is the rear blower fan available anywhere?

Waiting for Terry K to chime in and lambaste anyone who would replace a front blower with used one. :D

Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:43 pm

Gauche1968 wrote: Is the rear blower fan available anywhere?

Waiting for Terry K to chime in and lambaste anyone who would replace a front blower with used one. :D

If that rear unit went NLA, that answers why a vendor recently bought my unit in the classifieds and had me drop ship it.
I wouldn't be surprised.
If so, my left over units just went up in price :lol:

Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:54 pm

insyncro wrote:

If so, my left over units just went up in price :lol:

How much? :?:

Thu Feb 14, 2013 2:43 pm

Gauche1968 wrote: insyncro wrote:

If so, my left over units just went up in price :lol:

How much? :?:

I will inventory what I have available, test them all and place a classifieds ad, as doing business in the forums is frowned upon :twisted:

Thu Feb 14, 2013 4:36 pm

insyncro wrote: Gauche1968 wrote: insyncro wrote:

If so, my left over units just went up in price :lol:

How much? :?:

I will inventory what I have available, test them all and place a classifieds ad, as doing business in the forums is frowned upon :twisted:

Right, I'll watch for it..... :D

Thu Feb 14, 2013 4:41 pm

In a pinch, I'm sure most electric motor shops could rebuild it. Probably just needs to be cleaned up and have new brushes installed.

Thu Feb 14, 2013 10:04 pm

<<Waiting for Terry K to chime in and lambaste anyone who would replace a front blower with used one>>

No, personally I think it's a great idea.

A little SOS--but that the hell--I'll bet you love yanking Vanagon dash boards.
It's only a 15 minute job to be testing used half fried front heater motor's of uknown origin.

I think it's a great opportunity to save some bucks.

I only baste Turkeys--
No Lambs.

No Greeky here.

Fri Feb 15, 2013 8:07 am

I was only wondering if they were interchangeable so I could have defrost in the mornings. Going to wait to order replacements till the 10th of march. Thats my big pay day. Either way im going to pull it Sunday and see whats going on. I do have a good friend here in town that repairs alternators and electric motors. May have him take a look at them and give a quote on repair and rebuild. See what the cost difference is.

Thu Apr 24, 2014 2:06 pm

Hopefully this is not off topic for this thread. Wouldn't be worth me starting a new thread for this question but would be good info. Sure the answers in other threads somewhere, but I can't find it. My question is........is the entire black plastic front blower/heater core housing the same on all years of Vanagons? I have a spare unit from a 90 syncro that I wanted to replace all the inners so its ready to slip into my 82 diesel. I think there maybe some different piping as the 82 has cold air vents from the outside but I just wanted to make sure the unit would fit into place, size wise before I spend time and money????? ANY thoughts?