Changing magnets on blower motor

[jerzybondov]

My blower motor is spinning backwards, so I've removed it and taken it apart in order to change the magnets over. However I'm having some trouble getting the magnets out as the tabs are rock hard to bend back. Any tips?

Thanks!

[Rich H]

Which metal tabs? The ones on the lid?

If so, yes they are quite stiff, but they do bend up to allow access to the motor inside.

How old is the blower motor? If it's quite new looking you may find the magnets inside are glued, in which case you can't turn them over. There is a way to swap the supply wires over internally, but it's almost impossible to explain without photos (which I don't have )

[jerzybondov]

Hi Rich,

I've got into the motor itself, but it's the tabs (u-shaped bits of metal) that physically hold the magnets in place that I'm having issues with. The motor is rather rusty (especially inside) so I can only assume it's original!

Is it possible the magnets are glued as well has held in by the metal bits?

Cheers!

[Dan6457]

Maybe its easier to put a new blower motor on it? Are they expensive? Its a shame the club still doesn't have a few parts otherwise you could have had one in time for the weekend.

[jerzybondov]

Well that's the other possible solution - I'm taking the car to Wales for the weekend so I'd really like to have some ventilation for the journey! Al's got a new blower motor he's offering to flog me for £50-60 so might go down that route unless I randomly find a Volvo 240 one for much less...

[Rich H]

The spring clips hold the magnets in place

Stick a screwdriver behind them and fire them out

Be carefull not to shatter the magnets

Then slide up the magnets and turn them over - they'll be magnetised to the case though. If they take a serious amount of force to slide them out, they may be glued in, in which case you're buggered.

To refit the magnets and clips you need to use a large jubilee clip. Arrange the magnets in the jubillee clip in the same way they were in the motor housing.

Tighten up the jubilee clip until the arrangement is small enough to slide back into the housing.

Tap it into the housing and bit by bit eventually the whole lot all the way in.

The other alternative:

Since the motor is isolated from the rest of the car simply swap the connections to the terminals over. This will make the motor spin the correct way, though it will leave the metal case as positive, which isn't strictly 'right' but won't do any harm.

_________________
Richard H (first bloke to try turning the magnets over :wink: )
DOC Technical Advisor VIN 1274

[jerzybondov]

Seems like swapping the connections is rather a lot simpler than that magnet swap palarver!

IIRC, I have three connectors going into the motor. One which has two wires going into it, one which has one thick black wire and one which has one thin black wire. Do I swap the thick and the thin one? I think I might have already done that if they are the two that attach opposite to each other (as opposed to in between).

As an idiot check, if I connect up the motor without reinstalling it, am I right in thinking that the correct direction of spin when viewed from above is anti-clockwise?

Cheers again Rich!!

[Rich H]

You have to swap the whole lot from one terminal to the other. You will probably have to unbolt the spades and swap them over.

There are a couple of black wires on one terminal and a pink one on the other terminal.

BOTH black wires go where the pink wire used to be, and the pink wire goes where the black wires used to be.

If you connect pink and black together you'll blow the fuse since the black wires are ground and the pink wire is positive.

I can't remember what the correct direction of spin is, but if you look at the blades, you'll see they are scoop shaped. The motor has to spin such that the air is scooped out of the middle and forced outward.

Watch out. The thing doesn't half go! It'll whip itself out of your hands and take chunks out of your fingers if you don't hold on tight

[jerzybondov]

Thanks Rich! I'll check it out in the morning before work...

If I do a spin test I might leave the fan attachment off and just watch the spindle!

[jerzybondov]

I put the motor back together this morning and wired it up to the car after something Al said stuck with me, "are you sure it's spinning backwards?". Well the answer is no, it's not!! It spins anticlockwise which is correct for the shape of the fan blades.

So my problem would appear to be something else...

Symptoms are poxy air coming out from the vents, more comes out through the side vents than anything else. A little comes through the front vents when the mode switch is set to 'heater'. There is a big draught under the glovebox. The mode switch (if it does anything since I rebuilt it, it's hard to tell) operates silently (possibly not at all but I don't think so).

Any thoughts?

[Dan6457]

I think the flap that switches the air between outside and inside is stuck halfway open.

[jerzybondov]

Dan1986 Wrote:I think the flap that switches the air between outside and inside is stuck halfway open.

How do I get to it and stick it at least one way or other?!

[Rich H]

Quote:I think the flap that switches the air between outside and inside is stuck halfway open.

That'll make no difference at all.


How much air are you getting out of the ports that go to the doors?

If it's a decent gust, then it may be your face vents aren't working.

You say you don't get any hisses when you operate the mode switch? The flaps on the heater system will only work when the engine is running.

Set the mode switch to 'MAX' and watch the vent flap above the blower motor - does it open? When you operate the mode switch can you hear faint clunks and kerchunks? If not it sounds like you aren't getting any vacuum feed to the mode switch.

[Tourettes Tony]

Out of curio, the vaccuum that operates the mode switch, does it come from the top r/h rear of the inlet manifold (this was one thing that actually worked on my car) TT

[jerzybondov]

OK, noob alert! All this nonsense and I hadn't realised I needed to have the engine running to test it all... I've just been doing it with the ignition on.

So - here's the news. The mode switch hisses solidly when the engine is running. I can only assume I have rebuilt it wrong? I'm pretty sure I didn't but looking at the evidence something is up with it.

I've taken out the front vents - the big flap doesn't move at all when the mode switch is rotated.

Strangely though, the 'heater' setting on the mode switch does seem to send more air to the side vents.

Could all this be back down to the mode switch again?