Heater blower motor

ernestedward · 10-25-2004, 07:59 AM

Where can I get one new (or rebuilt)? I checked pelican, paragon, napa...Any ideas? Is it even possible to get new ones anymore? This is an early, remember.

Also, now that I have my dash out, is there anything else I should do while I'm in there, other than fix what's broken and clean the grounds?

ae1969 · 10-25-2004, 08:20 AM

Look in the yellow pages..... any electrical shop that rebuilds small electrical motors can do it.

Just tell them it came out of a VW not a porsche.

I have had a couple done........... cost me ~30-50 bucks.

mattdavis11 · 10-25-2004, 10:17 AM

Check the fan switch. The heater blower motor is under the hood on the early cars, you have two blowers, the other is under the dash. Maybe you are looking for the A/C blower fan? Just thought I'd check.

ernestedward · 10-25-2004, 11:34 AM

Uh oh! You just talked yourself into a world of questions, matt.

Here's the problem: Neither my A/C nor heat works, but when I turn the A/C knob I get air out of the vents (at least). Also the second rad. fan kicks on. I'm assuming the A/C blower motor works. I don't hear anything running in the cockpit, so I thought the A/C motor was in the engin compartment, and the heater in the dash. Also, I took it to my mechanic (Porsche specialist) and asked them to see if they could get the heat working (need defrost, it's getting cold). They said they narrowed it down to a bad heater blower motor, and they'd have to remove the dash to get at it. I was pretty sure the heater fan was in the dash, it's been referenced on a number of posts when I did a search.

mattdavis11 · 10-25-2004, 12:21 PM

the a/c fan is under the dash, on the passengers side, the heater fan is under the hood in the center. You should hear the a/c fan from inside the cabin. Your a/c relay is funtioning properly, that's good news. I'd buy a new heater switch (small one on the console), tell them to put the dash all back together. Are they doing any other work under the dash like evap. coil etc...? Otherwise, they messed up. Your dash didn't need to come out for the heater blower problems. That is unless your car had a re-wire, ie. the two fan wirings were reversed. Ask them to test the one under the hood, remove the squirrel cage, unplug the fan, and do a direct test, brown is ground.

mattdavis11 · 12:31 PM

Oh, and probably a low charge on the a/c.

Edit: Was the 83 interior put in the 89 body? I figured that most of the exterior goodies from the 89 went to live on the 83. Curious.

ernestedward · 10-25-2004, 01:15 PM

Sorry should have added more details. When they told me this I said no on the repairs due to the cost of labor. This weekend I finally got around to taking it apart myself. I'll check things out as you said. Can I test the A/C blower directly?

While I have the dash out is it a good idea to replace the evap coil?

No, the car started out as an 83 and was updated.

EDIT: Also, what about thisthread? It states that the heater blower is under the dash.

mattdavis11 · 10-25-2004, 01:35 PM

the heater box and coil are inside the cabin, the fan is not. Run some die in the a/c lines and see if there are any leaks on the evap. and lines. My guess is there will be none on the a/c evap. You probably just need to charge the a/c to get it going. The water lines to the coil, and coil leaking water/ antifreeze will tell you if you need work there. How does the heater valve open on your car? It's a mystery maybe. Early cars had a cable, later ones vacuum. Maybe that issue in the transplant never got worked out? I dunno. Pics would help a whole lot.

ernestedward · 07:56 AM

You were right. Got my new heater blower and put it in the proper place in mesh cage in the engine bay...a snap. Now I want to know why I had to remove the dash...Oh well, at least I get to clean up behind there. I believe I have the cable operated heater valve. Should I replace this? How would I check it?

Side note: A week ago, when my car was still assembled, I turned on the valve that lets water into the heater core (I have the bypass installed). A few minutes later I started getting smoke (or steam) through the wents, and it was coming out through the mesh cage in the engine bay. My first thought was crap, my heater core is shot. But I believe it may just have been smoke from the totally shot blower motor. Anyway, how hard is it to replace a heater core (if that's the problem)?

Also, is there any problem with starting the car with the dash out?

Granite 944 · 10-30-2004, 11:31 AM

I would strongly consider replacing the heater core inside the heater box since you already have the dash out (approx. $65.00). But you will have to completely pull the heater box out also....no big thing at this point. Also change both hoses going to it with new. You probably don't want to have to remove the dash again anytime soon, so I'd consider this very carefully if you're not sure of the condition/age of this core/hoses. Change out that stinking heater valve back of the engine also. I don't know why you pulled the dash either, if all you needed was a heater blower motor. I've run car without a dashboard in only in the driveway for short period. No fuses were in the boards except the fuel pump fuse. This was a partially stripped parts car.
Good luck

ernestedward · 10-30-2004, 03:40 PM

I took the dash out cause my mechanic said I'd have to to replace the blower...I guess he was thinking of the a/c blower (which works)? Kind of irrelevant cause I do my own work now, just use him for advice and parts.

I've heard the heater core is a cast iron b*tch to get out, due to two bolts at the bottom rear of the engine that go through the firewall...? Obviously if you've done it you'd know better.

I ran the car today for a while to see if I was getting heat, no problems, I just checked for bare wires and such before reconnecting the battery. Got heat!

What does the bottom lever on the heater controls do? It seems to be frozen. The other two work fine, but I haven't quite figured out what the left one does.

Thanks for your help.

Granite 944 · 10-30-2004, 05:09 PM

First, I've got to ask.....what does "'83 interior, '89 S2 motor and exterior" mean? You have an '83 with a '89 S2 motor and some exterior add on parts? Why not just say, '83 with S2 motor, or something like that? You do have the early chassis.....right? I'm easily confused.

On the early, the lower lever controls the temp in the car by opening/closing the heater valve at the back of engine block. On the early, if you have the dashboard out, most of the hard work to get to the heater core is already done. You do have to remove the heater box, with the water hoses still attached to it, then you can get the core out/replace hoses. No need to remove any of the AC thats adjacent to the heaterbox. Its completely seperate from it other than one tie up duct that you'll see as you go. When I did my '83, I found one of the directional valves in the box to be out of whack, repaired, put all new open cell foam seals on duct connections and such, new core/hoses, and new heater control valve. I don't even know what this "two bolts thru the firewall" thing you've heard is. Not anything on an early. "frozen".......check cable to valve, and the valve for proper connections/routing.

ernestedward · 10-30-2004, 06:13 PM

Awesome, I think I will go ahead and do that then, since the heater core is definitely original and therefore over 20 years old. Where'd you get the foam? Did you just buy it and cut it yourself?

PO bought the car new in 1983, in 1990 or so got a brand new S2 motor out of a wreck and transplanted, but also updated the exterior so it looks like an S2 (front bumper and rear valence). Nothing changed on the interior though. You're right about my sig, that is a better way to put it.

Granite 944 · 12:19 AM

The foam I used I got from local hardware stores like lowes, home depot, ect. There are a few different sizes. I'll take a look in the morning, and see if I can get the different sizes of foam I ended up using for the project. Most all of it was just the simple "open cell" foam you can get from any of these stores.
Like you said previously, take the opportunity to carefully look at all your wiring, clean the ground points under the left hand side behind the fuse blocks, clean every electrical plug connection you see, replace burnt out cluster bulbs, and take care of any "iffys" along the way. It will head off a lot of problems/concerns in the future. Time consuming, but well worth the effort IMO. I'm sure many others have been thru this as well. Back at ya later.

This foam is just standard weatherstripping type foam, with an adhesive backing to it.

Granite 944 · 10-31-2004, 09:37 AM

This is what I ended up finding and using on my car. The difference between open and closed cell is the density of foam or squishability. Open cell will squish easier, but use what ya can get. Closed cell probably won’t deteriorate as quickly, but is a little harder to use. You won’t use much of any size, so buy the shortest roll of each you can. Below is about $20.00 worth of foam (IIRC). Some of below was a Poly foam, some vinyl foam. Use Poly as your first choice, as our heaters put out a lot of heat, and not sure how well the vinyl will like that, especially closer to the core. IIRC, I ended up going to a few different stores to find these sizes. Don’t neglect changing all the rubber hoses on the core, and at heater valve. Don’t forget to cover up the holes at the top of bellhousing before starting disassembly. See what ya got yourself into?……it ain’t that bad really. When you dismantle the heater box, you will see just how much the original foam has deteriorated over this much time.

3/8” T X ½” W open cell

¼” T X 3/8” W closed cell

3/16” T X ¾” W closed cell

1/8” T X ¼” W closed cell ---- used on the heater core itself to seal perimeter, and prevent rattling in the box, do use it.

½” T X ¾” W open cell

3/16” T X 1- ¼” W closed cell

ernestedward · 11-01-2004, 02:55 PM

Thanks so much. Postpone this thread until the weekend - gotta work hard all week at my *other* job...