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Changing a Heater Blower Fan Motor?

10K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  Paul Anderson 
#1 ·
Hi, looking for help with another problem on our 1995 Aero.

When we got the car a year ago, the blower fan for the heater was very noisy when running, particularly when running at maximum speed. Within the last few days, there were two occasions when the noise became extremely loud indeed - a rumbling screech - and on the second such occasion the fan would not turn off even with the whole ACC set to "Off". When the fan finally did stop working, after I killed the ignition, it then wouldn't come on again at all. Just what we don't need now we're coming into winter, with frosty windscreens and cold weather!

We're clear that the problem must be that the blower fan motor has worn out, and now needs to be replaced. We know where it is, having attempted (and failed) to salvage the whole unit from a now-departed donor 9000 a few months ago, and since then we've found a set of instructions on the web for changing the motor. However, we would really appreciate some advice from someone who has actually done the job!

When we tried to salvage the fan from the donor car we had. we just could not work out how to remove the big black plastic fan housing from the car itself - we'd taken off the heater hoses, removed the firewall, etc, to make space, had removed every screw, spring and clip we could see, and it still would not come free. In the end the housing broke, at which point we gave up trying. Is the fan housing held in place from the front, requiring the dashboard to be stripped out for the removal of screws or clips, or should it be possible to remove it working only from within the engine compartment? And if so, what's the trick?

Once we have got the fan housing removed, the downloaded instructions are not very clear about what we are going to find inside it. Do we just need a new fan motor, or are there separate bearings that also need to be replaced? I'm confident we can handle any reasonably straightforward mechanical disassembly/assembly work - we know what we're doing with that sort of thing, but as I've said when we tried before to remove one of these fan housing from a car, we just couldn't do it.

Help!
 
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#4 ·


I am about to tackle the fan replacement job. It seems wise to replace the controller (resistor) as well since my fan would only run on high continuously before it quit altogether. eEuro sells a non-OEM version. Does anyone know if it works?

Alldata says to loosen the motor mount and use an engine lift to move the motor slightly forward. None of the discussions here or on Saab 9000 mentions that. Is it not necessary?

I am a new user on the Forum...looks like a wealth of information from dedicated Saab folks.
 
#5 ·
Saabtitan,

I'v done 2, 1 with and 1 without Air Con and never needed to move the engine. It is a real fiddle but can be acheived with a lot of swearing and cuts to the back of the hands. Best advice I've had is to start by putting duct tape over the exposed edges to reduce the attrition on flesh.

PAuyl @ Kippen.
 
#7 ·
Well, we got the heater fan changed today despite subzero temperatures and ice everywhere, but after an hour of trying gave up the attempt to do this without removing the AC unit - there really wasn't enough space around this to wiggle the old fan out. So now it will have to be regassed, which is a nuisance, but at least the new fan is in now and working. It only works on high blast (setting 4 I guess), which we think suggests that the failure of the old fan burned out the fan resistor. Anyone got a view?

Thanks to everyone for all the good advice - we are very grateful.
 
#8 ·
hey one tip
sorry i did not see the post befor you did get it sorted
I would have changed the heater matrix at the same time one less job to do
since you removed the fan motor and case would have being real easy two pipes and slide out

they do have a habit of leaking
 
#9 ·
Thank you's to Paul and Ken, and to Knez's site and Saab9000.com, the job is done. The pix were a great help. It was one of those "trouble, trouble, curse and grumble" and then POP it's out and who knows just why removal jobs. Installation was the reverse (grumble, grumble, curse and trouble ((apologies to the Bard)) of removal. Still don't know how it snapped into those two bottom retainers. Again, thanks to all.
 
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