HVAC Blower Question Options

[CrashTestDummy]

I took the blower out of our 92 to replace it, and it appears that the blower cage is pressed on. I can see little, rusty, splines on the shaft, and no nut, nor threads for a nut. The replacement motor has a nut on the end to hold the cage on. I've hit the stud with PB Blaster and after sitting a while, tapped on it with a small hammer. No budge.

Is it really pressed on, and, if so, what's the trick for getting it off? Thanks.

[91banditt2]

There should be flat spots on the motor shaft to keep the bird cage from spinning, The only blower motors I've seen have a flange nut or a nut and lock washer.

www.rockauto.com

Is the bird cage plastic or metal, if it's metal you could use heat to get it loosened up?

[CrashTestDummy]

It's plastic. Yeah, I would have tried heat if it was metal, but no. I guess I could try a heat gun, dunno.

I went ahead and ordered a new cage, so between all these parts I should have a solution.

[slowTA]

I'm pretty sure I went through this when I swapped in an AC delete heater box. But I can't remember how the fan comes off the motor. What I do remember is that there are different bird cages for AC vs. non-AC heater boxes. The AC bird cage I had was too long to fit after swapping the box, it rubbed on the firewall. Being the cheap college student I was at the time, I just trimmed down the bird cage. So the fins were only held together on the motor side instead of both ends. It seemed like a type of nylon if I remember right.

[CrashTestDummy]

I'm pretty sure I went through this when I swapped in an AC delete heater box. But I can't remember how the fan comes off the motor. What I do remember is that there are different bird cages for AC vs. non-AC heater boxes. The AC bird cage I had was too long to fit after swapping the box, it rubbed on the firewall. Being the cheap college student I was at the time, I just trimmed down the bird cage. So the fins were only held together on the motor side instead of both ends. It seemed like a type of nylon if I remember right.

Yes, and yes! The A/C blower wheel is 5-3/4" while the Non-A/C unit is 5-1/4" in diameter. I'm sure the length is commensurate with the difference in diameter. And, as normal with automotive blower wheels, there's only one attachment point for the wheel, and it's at the end of the motor stud. I have a new, metal wheel in hand, but we went to the range today, so the install will happen tomorrow.

On a side note, it looks like the hole in the evaporator box where the A/C Resister went was gone at with a hammer. The factory resistor unit didn't cover the hole, while the bolt holes lined up perfectly. I ended up cutting up some Cometic exhaust gasket material so I could cover as much of the hole as possible. Weird to see. I'm pretty sure the resister unit was OEM.

[GCrites80s]

Both times I bought blower motors they came with wheels. Did the assembly change late in the 3rd Gen run?

[CrashTestDummy]

Both times I bought blower motors they came with wheels. Did the assembly change late in the 3rd Gen run?

No, that motor fits pretty much anything GM from the beginning of time, it seems. You can get them with, or without the wheel. I assumed the wheel was a simple thing to transfer to the new motor. Silly me!

[CrashTestDummy]

Got out to the shop again yesterday to put things back together. Got everything back in and buttoned up. Replaced blower, wheel, blower relay and blower resister. Turned things on and..... nothing!

It seems I can jump from the red wire on the relay connector to the wire to the right of the black ground wire and get the blower to spin.... which provided proof that the wheel was hitting something. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/banghead.gif)

Pulled the blower out again and repositioned the wheel to match that of the old assembly. Bolted it back in and it's still hitting something. I pulled the blower out AGAIN, and it looks like it's hitting one of the bosses for the screw for the lower right side of the opening. Those bosses are about 1/2" deep, so I measured things, and it looks like I can pull the wheel out a bit over 1/2" to hopefully clear those bosses. When pulling the blower, getting the bottom screw out, The socket and universal pulled off the end of my extension and dropped down into the depths of the car somewhere. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/banghead.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/banghead.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/banghead.gif)

It appears that with all the tools I have, including several from my Dad, I have _only_ one 1/4" drive universal. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rant2.gif) I managed to get the blower out for the 3rd time, and while I had a tiny bit more space started looking around for that u-joint. Not finding it, I figured I could possibly use my endoscope to get down into the deepest crevices of the body/frame/fenderwell and look around. I ran and got my endoscope only to find the battery was dead. JFC on a Pogo Stick!! I plugged it into the charger and decided that it was a good time to stop for the day before I start heaving wrenches.

Now, I'm trying to determine what the issue is with power to the blower. I have power to the relay, but it doesn't seem to be wanting to work. There are no blown fuses on the fuse block that I can find. The FSM isn't helpful, as it doesn't seem to have a wiring diagram, just 'electrical troubleshooting', which I've followed, but haven't arrived at anything satisfactory yet.

[CrashTestDummy]

Got more quality time with our B4C today. With a charged battery, the endoscope worked fine, letting me locate the u-joint and socket. It took longer to straighten out the scope head than to find the parts. With them back in my possession, I taped them together and then taped that assembly to an extension. I figured it wouldn't have as much chance of disappearing with the extra length, and if it did come loose, I could hopefully easily locate it with a magnet.

There is NO way the replacement metal cage will work in the car without modifying the evaporator housing. The boss for the lower right (as sitting in the car) blower screw continued to be a source of noise any time I ran the motor. A few licks of that boss with the die grinder got things quiet again. I'll note that in my review of the part. The OEM wheel is plastic, and, as designed, is missing the ridge used to put the two metal pieces together that make up the metal wheel. I'm guessing a non-A/C wheel might work better, but I had the one for an A/C car, and made it work. The mod didn't take much time, but I sure wasted a lot of time and energy trying to make the replacement wheel work.

I could not get the OEM wheel to come off the old motor. Even after spraying the stud with PB Blaster, AND heating the wheel with a heat gun, I proceeded to mushroom the end of the stud with a hammer, with no notable movement of the wheel from the stud. It's now in the trash.

After putting things back together, I ran the requisite tests, and everything seemed to work except getting voltage from the orange wire to the blower relay at a switch setting other than high. Since things _seemed_ okay under the hood, unless I have a broken wire, I went into the cabin. I pulled the console cover, radio and A/C 'head unit' and unplugged the blower control rotary switch. The connectors looked badly burned. When I ordered the replacement motor, I also picked up a blower control switch, so I plugged it in, and SUCCESSFULLY got the blower to work!! I was pretty done from all the futzing with the blower motor itself, so shut down for the day. I'll replace the rotary switch tomorrow and button everything up. Probably clean some things and put a coat of semi-gloss black paint on the dash screws. They had a light haze of rust on them.

[GCrites80s]

I remember when I pulled mine out from storage after 8 years I had the most problems with the HVAC system. Needed a new blend door, blend door lever (which sucks to find intact and to remove), had to make one control assembly out of two, two blower motors (one initially then one years later as more stuff got sucked in) of course tons of vacuuming and had to patch a break in the heater box.

[CrashTestDummy]

While putting things back together, is appears parts of the air ducting have been repaired. That, or they used what looks like black RTV to put the under dash ducts together.

I finally got things put together and running. Yaay OEM 'replacement' parts, again!! The blower switch, although it looked the same, definitely was NOT. I think I got something that would work, though. I tried running a strip of sheet aluminum from the existing hole to the other side, but it wouldn't fit with the screws I was using. I decided to drill a hole in the strip to put over the knob stud, then use the lower OEM mounting spot to secure the bottom of the switch.

(IMG:https://media.fotki.com/2v2eT7PZyxJDYiP.jpg)

Note that the old switch has been kind of warm.

(IMG:https://media.fotki.com/2v2eT7PvyxJDYiP.jpg)

While putting things back together, I did discover that the radio in our car, a regular AM/FM radio, was apparently 'bueno':

(IMG:https://media.fotki.com/2v2eT7R5MxJDYiP.jpg)

The HVAC/radio cover plate was missing a screw, so I reinstalled the screw that goes behind the under-dash cover. I need another. Any idea where I can get more of these Torx-head screws, other than a junk yard?

(IMG:https://media.fotki.com/2v2eT7sdqxJDYiP.jpg)

Glad THAT'S over!! Now, I can get back to installing the emblems and side molding on our SVO!!

[CrashTestDummy]

<SNIP>

The HVAC/radio cover plate was missing a screw, so I reinstalled the screw that goes behind the under-dash cover. I need another. Any idea where I can get more of these Torx-head screws, other than a junk yard?

(IMG:https://media.fotki.com/2v2eT7sdqxJDYiP.jpg)

<SNIP>

Well, this has become more than just a rhetorical question, One of our fav. gun shops is across the street from the Pick-N-Pull we use(d) for parts. When getting out of the truck, I noted to my co-driver that we may need to stop off at the PnP soon as I'm missing some parts, looking in the direction of the place. I then saw the empty parking lot and the 'For Sale' sign in it. My bride commented that they probably went under since we hadn't been there in a while. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

ETA: Hawks has them, so order has been placed.

This post has been edited by CrashTestDummy: Oct 28 2023, 08:26 PM

[GCrites80s]

We are losing a lot of our junkyards here to redevelopment.

[CrashTestDummy]

We are losing a lot of our junkyards here to redevelopment.

In the part of town this old JY was in, I don't see a lot of redevelopment, but could be wrong. It took up a LOT of space, or course, but not many businesses want to open up shop around there. Perhaps an apartment complex, but not much else. Which is the odd thing, as the three PnPs we used to frequent, which are now closed down, were in really ratty parts of town/the county. I can see one becoming a shipping warehouse complex, as it's not far from the Houston Ship Channel and shipping there, but not the others.

This post has been edited by CrashTestDummy: Oct 29 2023, 05:00 PM