Blower Motor/Heater Core Job

[Brice Warnick]

I had a failing blower motor and put off the job for 2 months having all
the parts ready to do it.
The blower motor finally bit the dust and I had to. So I changed the
heater core as well 
There is no good or accurate description of this job anywhere. I should
have took pics of each step to help someone else.
I took out the 2 footwell trim pieces and removed the ducts on each on
side. 
I took off the the passenger side windshield wiper. I removed the
rainguard cover. I then took off the other wiper and removed the whole
windshield wiper assy. This gave me a lot more room to work.
I then undid the gold band around the heater core/flap box and set the
band aside.
I then removed the 2 coolant hoses.  had 3.8 plug and caps I bought at
Auto Zone to keep the coolant from leaking. It worked great. You need 4
caps and plugs or connectors to put in each hose. You put the extra 2
caps on the heater core.
I then undid the vacuum lines and secured them out of the way.  I
unplugged the blower motor and the heater flap motor.
I then turned the black duct from the air conditioner unit and pushed it
into the white duct on the heater box.
Now I was ready to pull the sucker out.
It is best to have a mechanics cover and  lay it directly center in the
engine. I laid on it and just pulled and pulled. Be careful where you,
pull as not to break anything. I took a couple of breaks and came back
and pulled some more. 
Finally it started giving and pulled out. It is the adhesive seal that
is around the front of the box that makes it so hard.
Upon getting it out, I then removed all of the vacuum lines and set them
out of the way. I took a black permanent marker and and wrote the color
of where each line went before taking it off. I found it curious that
there was an extra hole for a vacuum line on the far left drivers side
of the plenum. It is not used. I dont know why that is there. There are
4 lines to the plenum but only 3 are used. They are green yellow and
blue soft vacuum lines. Then there are 3 hard vacuum lines that are
black white and red that are connected around and away from the box.
Now it was time to take the heater box apart.
I took out the 3 Phillips screws from the white duct and removed it.
I then pulled the snap ring clip holding the blower motor 
and pulled it out. Make sure you get the black plastic cone or cover
out. You will have a new one on the new blower motor.
I then popped the 5 metal clips that are around the center of the box
with a flat small screwdriver.
Then I removed 3 long Phillips screws that are located in recessed areas
of the box. 2 are are one side and 1 on the other. You will need a long
Phillips screwdriver.
I then thought that I was ready to pull the box apart but it wouldnt
pull apart. 
Then I finally realized that I had to take the white plastic cover off
that holds the flap motor. I took it off and pulled the flap motor and
the white plastic gears out. Make sure you look at how these gears go
before taking them out. You pull out the main gear that connect to the
box by just pulling it straight out. 
I now could pull the box apart.      
When you pull it part do it slowly and leave the flaps in place.
You will have 1 big creme colored flap attached on the left side of the
box and 3 on the right. 1 small black flap on the right will hang loose
and  the others will stay.
I then took a mental picture of how all this looked.
I then took a small flat screwdriver and removed all of the silicone
sealant holding the heater box hose connections. It is dark wine colored
and takes some time to get off.
I then pulled the old heater box and tossed it.
I put the new heater box in place and then slowly slid the 2 box halves
together. You dont need a special 2076 flap tool. This was easy. 
Just look on each side of the box and guide the flaps to the appropriate
holes on each side. The small black flap that hung loose is the hardest
to get in place.  
You never touch the flap levers on the right side of the box. You have
kept the flaps in place by slowly pulling the box apart and slowly
pushing it back together. I was worried about this part but it turned
out to be the easiest part of the job.
One I got the round end in the appropriate holes on each side I put the
5 metal clips back on the box- I then screwed the 3 long Phillips screws
back in.
Then I put the blower motor in. I then put the white duct cover back on
over the blower motor with the 3 small Phillips screws. And then pushed
the black duct back into the white duct.
I attached the snap ring to them left side of the blower motor.
I then went to reassemble the flap white motor  box. Be very careful
doing this. I broke the plastic gear that goes between the flap gear and
the motor. The plastic is old and brittle. I ordered a new part from the
dealer for $3.00 and had it in 2 days. In fact it might be easier to do
this later as I had to do. You will need to make the motor gear go all
the way toward the car interior side. I got a print out of the ETKA from
the dealer to show me exactly how it needed to go together. You attach
everything together fist and then slide to the assy on the white gear.
It took me a couple of tries to get right. You can do this job as I had
to do after everything is back together.
I sealed the heater core in the box. The core will slide back and forth
if you dont. I got some high temp black silicone and pulled the nipples
out and tilted the box so the nipples stayed out.
Then I filled that end with silicone. I let it dry for an hour and took
a break.
I then cleaned the box area out of leaves and debris.
Before putting the box back in you will want to pull the 2 coolants
hoses out of the way into the engine compartment. Remember that you have
plugs in the hose ends so leakage is not a problem.
Spray the hoses with Windex and pull them out.
They will be bent up in area behind the hydraulic fluid container. Also
remove the rubber gasket that the hoses go through. If you dont it is
real pain to get them back in as you have no room. I took this rubber
gasket and cut out the whole center and then put it back in. Now you can
get the hoses through but it is still hard to do. The metal is sharp
that the hoses pass through and I thought that having rubber there would
be smart versus leaving only an open hole. The new ETKA no longer calls
out a part no. for this gasket. You can only find the part no. by going
to the 5000 ETKA. It is the same.
I then reattached all of the vacuum hoses.
I then went to put the box back in.
This was the hardest part.
There is a tough black rubber hose or boot that connects between the box
and the center duct in the car. When you pull the box it can either stay
on the box or stay on the duct.
I tried 4 times putting the box in and each time I could not get the
damn boot to get on the duct or vice versa. Even having a helper would
not help to guide  with.
I finally got ahold of George Sidman who has done this job 3 times and
he said to leave the boot secured on the duct and not the box and keep
trying. Finally after a couple of more tries the boot was under the box
opening. Then you have to lay on your back in each footwell and push up
on the boot to secure it to the box. I used a small pry bar with tape on
the end so as not damage the boot. There is no damn room to this.
Finally mission accomplished and it was on! 
I also had trouble putting the drivers side footwell duct back on. It
came off easy but would not go back on.  No room and the lips were bent
a little. So I had to remove the kick panel to get it back on.
I pulled the coolant hoses back through the firewall and connected them.
The hose from the heater valve goes on top and the hose from the block
goes on the bottom.
Everything else is just the reverse of removal.    I had no problems
with my heater core but noticed that the plastic nipples were getting
brittle. I am so glad I changed the core as I would not want to do this
job again. If I would have had a bad core I would have changed the
blower motor if it was the original.
I can see now why I put this job off for 2 months.
Everything works great now.
I only lost a couple drops of coolant.