RE: HVAC motor replacement...Al Powell

[Jason A Whyte <Jason.Whyte@dreco.com>]

Perhaps.  But in our case the brushes had become "stuck" while there was
still at least 60% of the brush length left.  The '88 is still going
strong with it's original HVAC motor, 30k miles after the "fix".
There's really nothing that can go wrong with these simple motors other
than worn brushes and bearings.

Jason

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Avi Meron [SMTP:avi@cosmoslink.net]
> Sent:	Friday, November 20, 1998 9:42 PM
> To:	Jason A Whyte
> Cc:	Quattro
> Subject:	RE: HVAC motor replacement...Al Powell
> 
> The type of fix that you are describing is usually a temporary
> one..........most of the time a new blower motor should be on it's
> way....
> Avi
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From:	owner-quattro@coimbra.ans.net
> [mailto:owner-quattro@coimbra.ans.net]
> On Behalf Of Jason A Whyte
> Sent:	Friday, November 20, 1998 3:05 PM
> To:	'Scruggs, Gross'; 'quattro-digest@coimbra.ans.net'
> Subject:	RE: HVAC motor replacement...Al Powell
> 
> My father (also an Audi driver) has owned both an '84 and an '88 5000
> which suffered from failing HVAC motors.  These motors get quite a
> workout during the Canadian winters.  In both instances, the local
> Audi
> dealer estimated something in the range of $700 to replace the failed
> motor with a new one.  Both times, however, we were able to remedy the
> problem for less than a dollar.
> 
> By gaining access to the motor and without removing it, we sprayed
> electrical contact cleaner into the squirrel cage motor, concentrating
> on the carbon brushes.  A few repeated sprays with the cleaner
> followed
> be running the motor for a minute, fixed the problem in no time.  The
> cause of the failure on both cars was that the brushes were not in
> contact with the rotor.  Although the brushes are spring mounted
> within
> a retaining sleeve, the motor does tend to get quite dirty over time.
> These brushes can get stuck in the sleeve which does not allow the
> spring to push them out to contact the rotor.  In both instances
> though,
> a little cleaner to free everything up did the trick.
> 
> $700 is a lot to pay for a couple of small worn-out brushes...
> 
> Jason
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	Scruggs, Gross [SMTP:GScruggs@monterey.nps.navy.mil]
> > Sent:	Friday, November 20, 1998 3:57 PM
> > To:	'quattro-digest@coimbra.ans.net'
> > Subject:	HVAC motor replacement...Al Powell
> >
> > I understand that Al Powell's account of replacing the HVAC motor in
> > the 5k
> > cars is very good.  Does anyone have a copy of same?  Alternately,
> > does
> > anyone have Al's new Colorado address?  I'm ready to tackle that and
> > the
> > heater core over T'giving weekend and would appreciate the benefit
> of
> > other's experience.
> >
> > Thanks, Gross Scruggs
> > scruggs@mbay.net