front blower motor equivalent part ?

smitch · Post by **smitch** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:06 am

Hi, had my Freda a couple of months now (love it) but the front blower motor is about shot. The bottom bearing has siezed and worn a hole right through the motor casing (still going though). I've packed it with grease and it spins more freely now but I don't think it'll last long.

Has anyone found an equivalent sized motor from another vehicle model ? I could do with not shedding out £100 for a genuine Mazda one.

Thanks

BongoMTBer · Post by **BongoMTBer** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:34 am

You should not need anew motor if this one sill works.

Get the motor out, take it apart and remove the bottom bush/bearing.
You can do this by heatng it with a small blow torch and getting some pump pliers on it.

Clean everything up, and use a plastic scourer on the armature shaft where it had seized. Apply some silicon grease to the bearing and the felt washer and put it back together.

I also drilled a drain hole in the bottom of the bearing casing too.

For a bit of time and effort, you can sve a fortune.

Post by **Simon Jones** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:49 am

I bought a fan, supposedly from a Bongo which turned out to have slightly different mounting holes & fan blades. However, the armature (the bit that goes round) & the bottom bearing were the same. The parts were simple to swap over & fitted perfectly. I can't recall the manufacturer, but even the "real" ones are not made by Mazda. I would recommend taking your old fan to a scrapyard & looking at any Japanese vehicle of a similar vintage & I reckon you'll find one that will be a suitable donor.

smitch · Post by **smitch** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:57 pm

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll pull out the motor next time I get a chance but as I recall the bearing was siezed (I could see this through the hole it had worn in the side of the caseing) onto the shaft and seemsed to have no location to the housing anymore (I could waggle it side to side) I'm amazed it still works at all only located by the top bearing. i'll try the scrap yard rummage as soon as possible too. Thanks

BongoMTBer · Post by **BongoMTBer** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 2:06 pm

If the bearing has seized onto the shaft, you will be able to free it by heating it. You could then re-shim the bearing into it's housing using a cut down Coke can. I have used coke cans for shims before; they're great!

Good luck.

waycar8 · Post by **waycar8** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:31 pm

Simon Jones wrote:I bought a fan, supposedly from a Bongo which turned out to have slightly different mounting holes & fan blades. However, the armature (the bit that goes round) & the bottom bearing were the same. The parts were simple to swap over & fitted perfectly. I can't recall the manufacturer, but even the "real" ones are not made by Mazda. I would recommend taking your old fan to a scrapyard & looking at any Japanese vehicle of a similar vintage & I reckon you'll find one that will be a suitable donor.

you probably did get a bongo one, but it sounds like they sent you the one out of the rear heater, they are very similar but the locating holes are situated slightly different and the fan blade bit is slightley bigger also.

i know this as i took mine out and checked it against the front one when i stripped my ols bongo, i sold the front on to DBO and put the rear one on ebay but told in the title that it was the rear fan motor, it didnt sell but the amount of emails i got asking if it was the exact same was unbelievable

Post by **Simon Jones** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:42 pm

Yes - that would make perfect sence. That being the case, there's probably more chance of finding a good rear fan in a van being scrapped than one from the front, which will either have been snapped up, or be knackered anyway. It's only a 5 minute job to swap the bits required to make one good unit.

waycar8 · Post by **waycar8** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:44 pm

well i still have the rear fan if you need one to cannabalise