[s-cars] Blower Motor R&R

[Theodore Chen]

It's all done.  I finally finished putting everything back this 
weekend and drove the car around a little.  Somewhat to my surprise, the
 HVAC controls work fine and there weren't any coolant leaks.  I also 
replaced the power seat switch and the seat works perfectly now.

I had bought a new heater core at the Audi dealer after 
reading all the horror stories about aftermarket heater cores failing in
 a short period of time.  I was surprised to find that it had plastic end tanks.  Nobody mentioned that.  The old heater core was original, with 1992 dates on it - and it had plastic tanks, too.  Nobody mentioned that, either.  I can't complain about the original, since it lasted over 20 years, and hopefully the new one will last just as long.

Getting the heater box apart so I could remove the heater core was a bit of a puzzle.  It took a while to find all the screws - 
there were a few that I missed, deep inside some recesses.  The final 
kicker was a c-clip that had to be removed from one of the shafts, and 
then everything fell apart.  None of the writeups I saw said anything about the c-clip.


I did not remove the center console to disconnect the red and blue plugs to the heater core.  Instead, I took out the radio and used a long screwdriver to pry the connectors loose.  While reinstalling the radio, as I plugged the bottom connector in,
 I heard static from the right front speaker.  I must have bumped the 
volume control/power knob at some point, because I had turned the radio 
off before I removed it.  I quickly turned the radio off, but after 
everything was connected, it still makes that static from the RF 
speaker.  :(  I don't know if I damaged it or if it was there before.  
I'll have to fix that but for now, but I'm happy to have the car 
driveable again.  It's been nearly three months.  It was not a 3 hour job at all.  More like 10 hours and it took me a long time to find enough round-tuits to do it.

The mechanic quoted $750 to do the job and I think that would have been worth the money.  It was not a difficult job but there were a lot of parts.

 
From:Theodore Chen [mailto:tedebearp at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 1:08 PM
To: Bill Mahoney; s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Blower Motor R&R
 
I'm in the middle of that job right now, after finally accumulating enough round-tuits over the past couple of months.  I was spurred into action when I realized the heater core was continuing to leak coolant into the car, even though the car has been parked in the garage the whole time.  Luckily the ECU is dry.
 
I didn't have too much trouble prying the heater box away from the firewall after disconnecting everything but the coolant hoses.Over the years I occasionally had damp carpet after heavy rains, and I was never able to find anything wrong with the sunroof drains or windshield seal.  Now I realize it's because the SOB who replaced the blower motor (before I bought the car 13 years ago and joined this list) used thick black foam weatherstripping and didn't bother to align it properly or even trim it to the right length. That's right, it's too long and there were about 3 inches of excess sticking out above the heater box.
 
Is the factory heater box gasket made of rubber or foam?
 
I managed to disconnect the red and blue plugs after removing the radio.  I could just barely get my hand in there to reach them, but couldn't disconnect them.  I ended up using a long screwdriver to pop them loose.  Not easy but I didn't have to remove the center console.
 
Next step is to clamp the heater hoses so I can pull the whole assembly out.
 

________________________________

From:Bill Mahoney <bmahoney at disk.com>
To: "s-car-list at audifans.com" <s-car-list at audifans.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 10:08 AM
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Blower Motor R&R

Richard,
As stated, disconnect vents left and right under the dash.
If you are just raising the heater box & blower assembly a "little" to remove the blower, the red and blue electrical connectors can probably stay connected.
The rubber duct connector can probably stay in place but check it when you are done.
The only tool you may need is a heavy piece of carpet to place on top of the engine so that you can carefully climb aboard and yank that sucker up.
It will come, but clearance is minimal.
You may ask yourself, "Why not just do the heater core whilst I'm going thru all this trouble?"
Good luck!
Bill~blowin hot heat~m

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