Dead heater fan?

[roadieric]

BRRR...Just my luck. Coldest day of the year and the blower motor on my 94 caprice decides to puke. I have already purchased a replacement fan, but I don't see where it goes. Under the hood or under the dash? HELP !

[burnM]

Under the passenger side dash panel beside your computer.

[trendar]

Originally Posted by burnM

Under the passenger side dash panel beside your computer.

To get to it, remove the rocker panel trim, then the plastic kick panel, remove the mounting screw holding the ECM, swing the ECM out of the way, unscrew the bracket holding the fan relay, unplug the connector for the blower motor, unscrew the three screws holding up the blower motor, and then remove the blower motor assemby.

[roadieric]

Thanks for the tips. Now maybe I'll only lose 2 fingers to frostbite instead of both hands trying to "finger" it out for myself. As it is now, the inside of my car looks like a Catholic church, with all the votive candles burning to keep my windows from icing over. Later...

[trendar]

Other than a Phillips screwdriver, a small socket wrench with an extension will be helpful to reach the mounting screws for the blower- I think it may be around 10mm, but I'm not sure. Relatively small, anyway; and you won't want to try doing with an open end or adjustable wrench, so get a 1/4 inch socket set first if you don't have one, to make it easy. The hardest part may actually be removing the plastic trim panels and stuff; since you have to be more careful not to crack them in the cold- Good luck!

[roadieric]

Originally Posted by trendar

Other than a Phillips screwdriver, a small socket wrench with an extension will be helpful to reach the mounting screws for the blower- I think it may be around 10mm, but I'm not sure. Relatively small, anyway; and you won't want to try doing with an open end or adjustable wrench, so get a 1/4 inch socket set first if you don't have one, to make it easy. The hardest part may actually be removing the plastic trim panels and stuff; since you have to be more careful not to crack them in the cold- Good luck!

Thanx again. I've got the tools, now all I need is a little luck. Taking it apart is always easier than putting it back together again. God, I HATE "spare parts"! Later...

[trendar]

By the way, are you sure it's the blower motor that's bad and not a bad switch or connection somewhere? You may just want to unplug the connector to the blower and make sure you're getting voltage to it before you go through the trouble of swapping it out-
I inherited a blower with an intermittent internal connection that would cut out (the previous owner stuck some plastic wedges to get it running), so I took it out and reinstalled it, thinking it was okay after bench testing it. Thought I fixed it just by removing and reinstalling, but when it stopped again a few days later, I decided to just swap it with a generic Autozone blower (which complicated things because it didn't have a connector on it). I didn't want to cut the harness on the car (I like to keep it as original as possible!), so I cut the connector off the old blower and used it as a connector. Put it in, and it's been fine since.
Hopefully your swap will be simpler, and work just as well-

[roadieric]

Originally Posted by trendar

By the way, are you sure it's the blower motor that's bad and not a bad switch or connection somewhere? You may just want to unplug the connector to the blower and make sure you're getting voltage to it before you go through the trouble of swapping it out-
I inherited a blower with an intermittent internal connection that would cut out (the previous owner stuck some plastic wedges to get it running), so I took it out and reinstalled it, thinking it was okay after bench testing it. Thought I fixed it just by removing and reinstalling, but when it stopped again a few days later, I decided to just swap it with a generic Autozone blower (which complicated things because it didn't have a connector on it). I didn't want to cut the harness on the car (I like to keep it as original as possible!), so I cut the connector off the old blower and used it as a connector. Put it in, and it's been fine since.
Hopefully your swap will be simpler, and work just as well-

Hey Buddy, once again, thanx for the tips. I may have lucked out finding a heated indoor space to perform the "surgery". Hopefully, I'll be back in business tomorrow. I'll let you know what happens...