5KCS: Tried R/R Blower motor brushes in situ?

[steveb@newkla.kla.com (Steven Buchholz)]

BOO! ... well did I scare you?

The '88 5kCSQW has been in need of a C/C blower motor replacement as long 
as I've had the car.  I have the replacement blower, but I've never sum-
moned the motivation to embark on the procedure.  I have been surviving 
thanks to a recommendation that I got from the list, which was to push in 
the back end of the brush that is accessible when the rubber cooling duct 
is removed.  Until this past weekend, this fix has brought months of ser-
vice each time it was employed ... my luck has apparently run out.  Still 
wanting to take the easy way out, I'm trying to convince myself that I 
might be able to replace the brush without taking the bloody thing apart.  
Here is my reasoning ...

1 - I have been able to make the thing work by messing with this single 
    brush.  The other brush is not accessible, but since it has always 
    been possible to get the thing working without messing with the other 
    brush, the other brush may be OK.

2 - I'm thinking that a contributor to the problem is the fact that cold 
    moist air (if not condensed water) gets blown directly on this brush 
    most of the time and could cause abnormal wear.

3 - It appears that I can access the mechanism that holds the brush in 
    through the hole.  I may be able to extricate the remnants of the old 
    brush and replace it.

So, is this simply another sign that I am Audi my mind (TM), or has some-
one else out there tried to take the easy way out?  If so, did it work, 
and do you have a part number for the brushes by any chance?  

Final question ... does anyone happen to have an old blower motor lying 
around that you have taken apart to see what the problem was?  Was one 
brush kaput while the other was serviceable?  ... oops! that was two 
questions ...

Thank you ever so much!
Steve Buchholz
s_buchho@kla.com
San Jose,CA (USA)