Can I replace front blower motor without removing assembly?

[gbrandt]

My front heater blower motor stopped working. I can get the motor rewound or find the parts to replace the squirrel fan, but I do not want to remove the entire heater assembly. Is it possible to open the heater assembly without removing the heater hoses?

I have had the entire assembly out a few years ago and have the clips on, it is not glued. My thought is that once I remove all the bolts I can move the entire casing out and open it up, but I can't recall if thats possible.

Anybody know off hand?
_________________
'Lucky' our 1987 Red Westy, ALH 1.9 TDI
We've driven in 49 countries and 5 continents to date
Canada to Argentina and back, 2015 to 2017.
Canada to Europe and back (including Turkey, Morocco and Iceland), 2017 to 2019
Mexico 2022-2023
https://www.instagram.com/live.travel.play/
http://livetravelplay.ca

[Wildthings]

The heater is high in the car so you will lose very little coolant as you remove the hoses, driving the front wheels up onto a curb or something will help a bit more. Loosen the cap before you remove the first hose to equalize the pressure.

If you haven't smoked the motor totally you could try the Mullendore Port trick first.

[Type17]

That sounds like a lot of unnecessary complications to avoid disconnecting two hoses. Why don't you want to disconnect the heater core? It sounds like it would be possible but I've never tried, doing the job with the heater box on my workbench is easy enough I've never thought of trying anything different.
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I don't check these forums daily and often loose track of threads and comments. Please PM me a reminder if you're waiting on a reply. Thanks!

[Skidub]

I would be very surprised if you can get the blower motor out without removing the dash and the entire box. Having had this all apart last year I don't think it is possible based on its orientation in the box and the dash. Also, I would try a replacement blower motor switch first before removing anything, but you could jump the switch to be sure it's the motor that's dead.

Good luck.
_________________
86 Syncro GL Tin Top
Subaru 2.5L Swap
Rblt Transaxle w/ R Locker + Decoupler

[Terry Kay]

Help me help you.

I don't think , I know that you had the dashboard out to open up that heater box, 2 years, 4 years, 10 years ago.
The time doesn't make any difference--you have to remove the dash.

Hey, I got a great idea-- why not clamp off them heater hoses so you don't lose any ethylene glycol?

Might save you some time.
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T.K.

[gbrandt]

Thanks to all the replies.

- yes the blower motor is broken, not the switch.
- I know I have to remove the dash.
- I don't have a proper workbench or even an area where I can put the wheels up right now, I'd like to do this in-situ.
_________________
'Lucky' our 1987 Red Westy, ALH 1.9 TDI
We've driven in 49 countries and 5 continents to date
Canada to Argentina and back, 2015 to 2017.
Canada to Europe and back (including Turkey, Morocco and Iceland), 2017 to 2019
Mexico 2022-2023
https://www.instagram.com/live.travel.play/
http://livetravelplay.ca

[gbrandt]

[eeebee]

I'm sure that you can pull the cover off of the heater box without removing the last 4 bolts that anchor the whole box.
_________________
Eric

1987 Vanagon Wolfsburg Special Edition
GoWesty 2.3

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

[sciroccojim]

FWIW (and at the risk of incurring the wrath of Terry):

If the motor is stuck from sitting (i.e., the armature shaft has become bound to the Oilite bushing) and you don't feel like pulling the dash, you could try a solution that has worked twice for me (well, it worked perfectly the first time but there's some debris in the fan wheel of the 87 that needs to be removed):

Using a long drill bit or a wood bit on some extensions, drill a 1/2" hole in the heater box and fan motor housing, then use a long screwdriver to rotate the fan a bit until it frees. You'll be going through the ashtray opening and will have to drill through both layers of plastic to get to the fan. The wood-boring bits are cool because you can prevent most of the material from entering the housing.

Just a thought.
_________________
1987 Westy Camper

[ftp2leta]

[gbrandt]

[Paulbeard]

+2 on removing the motor without disconnecting the hoses or losing any coolant. There is no reason to disconnect the core, you just move it aside, once you have dash out and clear access to the box.
_________________
Currently -> Frida: 87 Tizian Red (mostly) Vanagon GL Westfalia w/ 2.0L ABA conversion
Formerly -> Steward of a 73 Super Beetle (Beater) and 67 Beetle 1300 (Little Max) both names by POs

[tates1882]

[Zeitgeist 13]

As mentioned earlier in this thread, I was able to use the Mullendore port to return an inop fan back into full service. I drilled the hole and then sprayed TriFlow at the bushing. Then I turned the fan switch on, and and with a flashlight and length of rod, was able to manually spin the fan blades to "kickstart" the motor back into service. I then sprayed more TriFlow at the bushing when the fan was running. Worked like a charm, and is still operating like normal today.
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH
'01 Weekender --> full camper
NEAT, no ICE.

[Type17]

[RicoS]

Just pinch off the heater hoses and pull the heater box - it's no big deal.

How many of these half-assed work-arounds can these forums endure? You might be able to free up a blower motor temporarily with some kinda laparoscopic nonsense, but by the time the blower motor has seized, its bearings are also wallowed to the point of uselessness.

When you split the heater housing, you can also clean out all that rat shit and piss-soaked stuffing that's in there, replace the damper seals and attend to the ballast resistor.

Over the decades, I've been amazed to see the asinine extent to which some guys will go to avoid doing the job the right way and being done with it. I remember once on the old Vanagon.com mailing list, Fast Frankie Condelli suggested misting motor oil into the heater box through the fresh air intake while the blower was set on high with the hope that the oil would somehow find its way to the bushing bearings in the blower motor.

Can you imagine that scene? "OK, honey, now turn on the blower full blast while I spray this used 20W50." When I read Condelli's stupid idea, I thought that he must have been working from a Larry David script.

Like I said, remove the dash and pull the heater box. There's plenty of room to do the work and the pieces come off in big chunks. In the end, it's the easiest, most predictable way to do it and you won't have to dread turning on the blower anymore.

Richie

[djkeev]

Heater blower stopped working?

Possible causes......

Blown fuse
Bad switch
Wire fell off of switch
Ground wire fell off of ground tree
Bad ground connection on ground tree
Resistor burned up
Wires from switch to fan ocpverheated and burned up
Blower motor is bad

If I recall, doesn't the blower power pass through a relay?

Anyway, check the easy problems before yanking the heater assembly.

Dave
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Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[Zeitgeist 13]

The OP indicated that they're on the road or otherwise removed from an ideal service base. Under those conditions, my "suboptimal" hole in the wall approach is perfectly rational, and more effective than carrying on with no fan at all. When I did my mod, the van was a daily driver and I could ill afford to take the van down for several days while I fiddled about with all the tasks associated with dash removal--I've done it before, and know what all is involved to do those tasks adequately.
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH
'01 Weekender --> full camper
NEAT, no ICE.

[dr. no]

Cool! I looked in today, to search for this topic 'cause I need to do this before winter gets here (snowed on the mountains already).

Yay! a fresh topic! No need to use the search!

Last time I pulled my dash I just moved everything (including the driver's seat) to the back as it was rainy season and I had no garage. You can clamp the hoses and not loose much coolant.
_________________
Scott
http://lungehphoto.com

'83.5 Westy s/p 1.6td JX and 4sp DK transplant
'09 Jetta SportWagen TDI
'06 MB Sprinter
'86 Iltis
'89 Isuzu Trooper


PAST VWs:
'82 NA diesel Vanagon
'86 7-passenger Vanagon
'77 Bay
'71 Bay
'74 Things (2)
'69 Karmann Ghia (the only one I miss--in nice weather, anyway...)
'91 Fox

[sciroccojim]

(@mods: thanks for cleaning up the mess)

I can tell you that the coolant/hoses is really a nonissue, since I removed the heater box on mine about an hour ago. If the van is cool, only the slightest trickle comes out. In order to avoid any dribbles after the fact, I tilted the hoses down towards the floor and this is what I got:

The only other concern is keeping the box tilted so that the heater core fittings are pointed more up than down. Otherwise, you'll definitely spill some on the floor.
_________________
1987 Westy Camper