[Vwpickups] replacing heater blower motor

[Mathew Banack]

I replaced the blower fan motor - with some difficulty and trickiness - without taking any interior apart, by:
 
remove leaf tray plastic thing, carefully its 25 years old and crazy brittle
 
take out the wiper mechanism, I forget if it comes right out, or if you just move it out of the way to the
drivers side of the cow.
 
remove resistor, and the bolt that holds the heater motor, heater motor will now move but you can't get it out.
 
remove 4 nuts that hold heater box assembly up in the cowl, heater unit assembly drops down about 3/4"
 
the heater motor now comes up and into the cowl, you have to wiggle it just right to get it up into the cowl
 
work the heater motor along to the very right side of the cowl, and turn it upside down, over
and the heater motor comes out of the cowl.  This is the tricky part of the process, you have to have the heater
motor in just the right position to get the heater motor out of the cowl.
 
now is a good time to reach down inside the heater with a shop-vac and suck out all leaves mice
dead cats, etc that may be cutting into your precious warm air flow
 
put the replacement heater motor in the same way the old one came out
 
get the heater motor in place and then use a couple balled up pairs of coveralls wedged under the
heater box assembly against the floor hump to hold that heater box up in place, and then start the 
4 nuts that hold the heater box to the cowl.  Tighten the nuts up.
 
bolt the blower motor in place, bolt in the resistor.
 
re-install the wiper assembly.  This is a good time to get after any rust that may be under the nuts
that hold the wiper pivot shafts in the cowl.
 
I do recall doing this to my truck in about 4 hours, then helping a neighbour do it to a rabbit car
in about 2 hours.  The dealer had quoted him 10 hours to gut the interior and put it all back together.
> Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2008 14:27:10 -0600> From: bondo at sbcglobal.net> To: thumper_21 at verizon.net; Vwpickups at neubayern.net> Subject: Re: [Vwpickups] replacing heater core> CC: > > Bill,> > Funny you should ask this question just now. I just finished, I mean > within the last fifteen minutes, changing the heater motor on my Rabbit car.> > I looked all over the Internet for directions and the ones I did find > were incorrect. Even my best VW tech bud was not exactly accurate.> > The way it is done is straightforward albeit time consuming. I have a > pretty good shop and a bunch of tools but this is a job that doesn't > really require much.> > From memory without detailed notes:> > Disconnect battery ground.> Drain coolant by disconnecting the lower hose where it attached to the > water pump. About 1 gallon.> Remove glove box and drivers side lower panels.> Remove drivers and passenger side air ducts that lead from the heater > box to the outer dash vents.> Push button on bottom of headlight switch and remove headlight switch knob.> Unscrew and remove 'cold start; knob.> Remove instrument panel bezel.> Remove the 7mm bolts that hold the heater controls in place, move the > heater control toward you, remove the small bolts that hold the > heater switch in place, remove the switch and push it back into the > dash. Now there is enough room to move the heater controls to > the left, swing the right end into the dash, then slide the entire > heater control into the dash and away from the dash proper.> Remove dash center vent.> Remove radio (if equipped).> Remove hazard switch, cigarette lighter and its lamp, and the wiring to > the cigar lighter.> From under the drivers side, remove the speedo cable from the cluster.> Remove the cluster by removing the four screws, then tilting the top > toward you and pinching the electrical connector and > removing the harness.> Remove the 4 Phillips screws that are at the ends of the dash with a > fillips tip and a 1/4" wrench, and the two 7mm bolts in the center > under the ash tray.> Carefully remove the dash towards the passenger door making sure you do > not place stress on the wiper lever and checking to see and move the > wiring harness off of the dash itself.> Remove the 'knee bar' by removing the (6) 7mm bolts.> Now your looking at the heater box itself. By now the coolant should > have drained and you can go back out under the hood and > disconnect the 5/8" heater hose where it connects at the shut-off valve > and the factory splice just below it.> If you have a/c, you must disconnect both supply and return lines to the > evap. Use two wrenches to avoid damage to the lines.> Disconnect and remove the dash flapper and it's vacuum motor by > releasing the rubber strap. You may want to label which vacuum > lines go where.> Disconnect the two electrical connectors to the heater box.> Remove the two 10mm screws that hold the heater box to the chassis. > Pull the heater box toward you to get the heater hoses through > the firewall and move it to the left to remove it from the vehicle.> > Once you have the heater box out of the vehicle, rest is > self-explanatory. Be sure to clean every bit of junk out of the heater > box while it is out and easy.> > The heater hoses are standard 5/8" hose you can buy anywhere. You will > need about 4' to finish the job.> > When you replace the coolant, first reconnect the hoses you > disconnected, then remove the upper radiator hose at the radiator and > fill the engine through the upper hose. When it is full, reconnect the > upper hose and refill the reserve tank.> > Installation is the reverse....> > Cheers.> > Tom Bond> Kansas City> Tomsebooks.com> > > > > > > Cathy, Bill and Menace wrote:> > >Well, here it is Dec. in the northeast and my heater is spewing antifreeze mist on my windshield...heavy sigh. Anyone have experience replacing this? How miserable a job is this and what kind of time frame are we talking about to disassemble, install and reassemble the dash and heater? I also have AC (it doesn't work but I have it). My temperature control cable is not functioning and is probably kinked and needing to be replaced so I am looking for one of these if anyone has saved one. I haven't checked yet but I'm guessing that VW doesn't stock them anymore. Thanks for looking. Bill> >_______________________________________________> >Vwpickups mailing list> >Vwpickups at neubayern.net> >http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/vwpickups> >> > > >> > _______________________________________________> Vwpickups mailing list> Vwpickups at neubayern.net> http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/vwpickups
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