Heater blower motor replacement

[nettles503]

Hi guys - I hope you'll help me think through my heater problems to make sure I'm on the right track to a fix.

I had the car out today ('86 Carrera, manual heat) and noticed that neither of the footwell blowers, nor the center console heater blower were working. When I got home, I popped open the relay and fuse cover in the engine compartment and found two of the three fuses had blown (the bottom two, one a 25 amp, the other a 16). I replaced them both, started the car, and tested the three heater controls.

The footwell blowers were working, but both were very noisy. I checked them independently. The rear fan worked also, but after just a few seconds, I started getting the dreaded burning electrical smell and saw smoke coming from the engine compartment as well as up front in the trunk and in the cabin.

So I turned off all the heater controls and shut the engine off. I started it back up again in a few minutes with the heat off and the burning smell didn't materialize.

So, my guess is, based on the two blown fuses and reading a lot of related posts on the subject, that both footwell motors and the rear motor are shot. Does that sound right, or is there something else going on that I'm overlooking?

Thanks in advance for any insights you can lend.

[inthedoghouse]

I would start with rear blower motor first as it has to run to allow the footwell blowers to work. I've read 4 ways to fix it from cheapest to most expensive.

1 - new brushes and bearings in old motor
2 - new ebay motor modified to fit
3 - new grainger motor
4 - new or used OEM motor

Note that the motor resistance has to be about the same as OEM or the relay control may not power the footwell blowers.

I plan to try #1 myself. The footwell blowers may just need lube. In my case, I plan to not use them...I almost get enough heat with no blowers so I figure a rear one is good enough for my area.