heater motor

[daveblueozzie]

been trying to take my heater motor out today. numb fingers bruised knuckles and still no joy.
i have taken the top air vent box off the top ,hoping it was just a quick unbolt then out. but does not look very obvious how to take the motor out, it looks like its in another plastic housing.
do i have to take all this out as well, seems to be a lot of stuff fitted to it.

[missfixit70]

I can't remember what bolts are where & how it all comes out, but yes, the whole plastic housing comes out, I don't think there were many bolts, but the LB will possibly be in the way, make sure you take piccies when you figure it

[Rhod]

I'm writing from memory, but the way that worked for me was roughly:

1) Remove 2 push-clips at front of "wide-mouthed" ducting & pull ducting off.

2) Disconnect fan electrical connector.

3) Unbolt fuse box & lay to one side

4) Undo 2 nuts (horizontal) behind fuse box which hold ducting on

5) undo 3 screws (vertical) holding the fan housing/ducting - 1 on right, 2 on left.

6) undo 2 nuts (horizontal) at the rear right holding the fan housing/ducting to the rear bulkhead.

7) Lift & manoeuver the plastic ducting/fan housing assembly out of the bonnet space

8. undo 3 screws on the underside of the fan housing to extract the fan.

Think that's it - I might have missed a screw or bolt out but it's all self explanatory. Don't think it makes any difference which order you unbolt it in really.

Rhod

[daveblueozzie]

thanks for that Rhod will copy and print then i can read and swear at the bongo at the same time

[daveblueozzie]

Just found the heater motor fan removal in the fact sheets, (under repairing fan motor) with piccys
like everyone says its gotta come out .

[bigdaddycain]

More numb fingers for us next sunday mate?

[daveblueozzie]

Ive had the heater motor out and checked it out ,no problems at all with the motor. put a little grease in the bottom where the spindle fits, was going to drill a hole as suggested, but thought i might try that at a later date if any problems start.
did find that i had to take or at least partly take the battery tray out, (willinton tray) it uses one of the bolts to secure the tray that is needed to take the motor out.(leisure battery off ,and all the bits attached to it )
so if your fitting a willinton battery tray, fit it under the heater motor cover on the bolt, then if you have a heater motor problem you dont have to mess about taking the tray and battery out again.

[mikeonb4c]

It'll be interesting to see if things improve Dave. Is it possible to bench test the motor just to see how well it is working. If you have some fuse wire you migh be able to come up with a crude way of seeing how much current it is drawing on start up etc. (i.e. it'll blow the wire if it is rated lower than current draw and maybe there is a sticker on the motor that says what wattage it is so you can calculate whether it is drawing more than it should, as it might do if something is wrong with in whether mechanical stiffness or problems with armature windings etc.). I'm not an expert on this though - what do others think?

[missfixit70]

or you could just measure the current with a meter

[rwill19050]

Quote "put a little grease in the bottom where the spindle fits," Unquote
Woops, use oil not grease Dave, as they are not roller bearings.

[Simon Jones]

I used a drop of 3-in-1 oil which is thin enough not to cause an excess resistance. It is a bronze bearing which is supposed to be self lubricating, but a drop of oil will prevent the steel shaft rusting if water does get in.

[mikeonb4c]

or you could just measure the current with a meter

Clever clogs! I did think of that but (on my meter at least) its a bit fiddly measuring current and you will wreck it if you don't reset the meter for volts/ohms measurement afterwards. i didn't want to be responsible for wrecking someone else's meter.

But there is something else too. The current may be a 'start up' peak value only , brief and hard to measure acurately in its effect. But fuse wire may work, as - in true empirical fashion - it will melt in a close simulation of what happens to the solder in the heater resistor unit. Thats the thoery anyway!

[missfixit70]

While fitting a willinton LB kit for Vicky007 yesterday, I noticed the fan was completely siezed took it out, it was full of water & the shaft was completely siezed on the bearing, eventually got it freed up, cleaned out & rebuilt, worked ok, checked the resistor pack (manual ac) middle one had popped, soldered it back, all worked ok, fan was blasting out. It'll be interesting to see how long it lasts though. I drilled a tiny hole in the bottom of the motor casing & enlarged the drain hole in the plastic casing below as it was too small & had blocked with little bits of crud.
Of course the middle drain hole under the windscreen was blocked
Good tip on the LB tray mounting bracket Dave - unfortunately I hadnt followed it & had already fitted it all in