Re: 865kTQ: heater fan/tie rod end

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

> Has anyone replaced the fan unit for the AC/heat on a 5000?  Is it a
> horrendous job?  Over the past few weeks the blower has been intermittent and
> is not working at all now.  Could be the control system, I haven't really
> checked it out yet.  But based on the way it has gradually died I suspect the
> fan. 

I think the better question is ... Has anyone *NOT* replaced the blower unit!
I've done two of them now ... and they really aren't that bad to do.  First,
make sure that the blower is at fault ... it is the most likely culprit ...

The first thing that you can do for now to get you by until you get a new
blower is to try pushing on the back of the spring that pushes the motor
brush against the commutator.  If you lift the plastic shroud that covers
the A/C under the hood you will notice a black rubber right angle hose 
that goes from the squirrel cage housing to the blower motor housing ... 
if you pull this thing off and look into the hole you'll be able to see 
the back end of one of the brushes.  I was able to push slightly on the 
metal clip that holds the spring in place to add just a bit more force 
to the brush ... and IME the blower worked fine for another couple months.

Once it comes to doing the blower replacement, the procedure is well doc-
umented in the q-list archives.  The quick way involves hacking a plastic 
duct that goes from the A/C evaporator housing to the squirrel cage hous-
ing.  I used this technique when I did my '88 5k.  When I did the blower 
motor on my brother in law's '84 I found the extra screws under the dash 
that were preventing me from extricating the blower unit and actually did 
his the _right way_.  Of course the first experience made the second time 
easier, but suffice it to say that you will find screws on either side of 
the console that attach ducts to the blower housing.  Once these have 
been removed and you disconnect the rubber duct that goes to the rear con-
sole vents you should be able to lif the blower up enough to get easy 
clearance for removing and replacing the blower itself.  I found that 
spraying the new blower housing with silicone spray made it much easier 
to install and align the new motor in the housing ... and it didn't hurt 
to have a "Skew-driver" (i.e. a screwdriver with a right angle drive) ...

HTH!
Steve Buchholz
s_buchho@kla.com
San Jose, CA (USA)