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The time has come to replace the blower motor before it gets too much colder out there. I've looked at numerous posts on the how tos of this surgery and have blocked out next weekend for the task. Are there any other good preventitive things to do while I have all that stuff apart and spread out in the garage? I only want to do this once (on this car) so please inform...
Also, my car lived up to its name last week. It just rolled over 240,000 mi, and then when i stopped for gas yesterday the odo was at 240,240. My girfriend and I went on a big ol trip to the South at the end of the summer. 4,500 miles, A/C on all the time. No troubles, no worries, just a nice long road trip in the brick. Thanks to you all for helping make all this possible with your wisdom and help. Brick on my friends...
Steve in Minneapolis
1987 245DL 240k
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If you are handy with a wrench, you can do the blower on a non-airbag car in four hours. No beer breaks, no breaks to watch the big game. you'll have plenty of time left for that after you do the job.
First, PULL OUT THE DASHBOARD! I don't know why anyone would want to take out the seats and all that other garbage so one could lie on the floor while working at ungodly angles all day, regardless. I did that until I learned the dashboard method, taught by my boss (who does it in 2.25-2.5hr, in and out).
After I learned that way, let me tell you... never again will I spend time UNDER the dashboard screwing around trying to get things in, out, or just trying to get things to fit. Believe me...
When you yank the 'board, you can sit in the driver's seat and do the work. Or, failing that, you might have to sit in the passenger seat periodically.
In the process of doing so, do not mess up the wiper linkage or you will be very sorry later on. That is about the only thing that can't be easily fixed without again yanking the dashboard.
There are a couple of tricky spots doing this. You have to pull the cluster, so make sure you know where the wires go. You have to yank all the ducts, but that's not that big of a deal, as you can access the rubber hangers from the holes where you'll pull the cluster and glovebox from.
Without SRS, the dash is easier to pull because you don't have to contend with the under-dash-pad and structure quite as much. The upper dash can be out in 15 minutes, no kidding. That is, if you know where the screws for the cluster and dashboard are. Then it is a piece of cake. Radio is no big deal either, comes right out.
The vehicle shown was a 1990 model 240 wagon (245 for the purist).
Yank the upper dash
With the dash out, everything becomes more apparent.
Also pull the console sides and front, and that area becomes very self-explanatory also.
Close up of column area.
Dash just out. Watch for wiper linkage up along the windshield.
You can work sitting in the driver's seat.
Dash and parts on top of car.
You're looking at the fan motor inside the housing. E-Z access! You do not have to cut, you don't have to stretch, and you don't even have to hunt around for the silly clips that hold the fan housing together. Everything is readily apparent. Believe me on this.
All done. Four hours, no stiff neck, back, arms, or otherwise. And that was the first time I used that method (and have since only used that method). Subsequently got easier. I was at an advantage since I was actually doing this in a shop so I am a speedy wrench as it is, but even so, the first time doing anything is slow.
Trust me on this -- the bad press the blower motor job gets, is not deserved if you use this method.
Also, a word of advice no matter what it is you choose to do: Test EVERYTHING before you put it all back together. With all that work going on, you would hate it if you had to go back in and do it again.
--
a Brickboard.com Expat
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posted by
someone claiming to be zack
on
Wed Oct 1 10:04 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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I read your post with great hope as I just went through 2 weekends of work replacing the motor on my '80 245DL (and now only speeds 2-4 work...$^@#$#...and I should've replaced the heater control valve...%#$$%^%) and might be buying an '81 242GLT that needs a blower motor. But I'm confused - how did you get the right side shroud off the heater case without taking off the clips? How did you unscrew the motor without taking off the left side shroud? Looks like you removed the console and ductwork and everything else that gets removed by doing the regular method, just that removing the dash makes access easier, based on your pictures it would still take me a whole weekend but then again I'm not as speedy with a wrench.
Zack
1980 245DL 267k
?????? 1981 242GLTi ??????
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You have to take off the clips, but that's nothing. You can do it without any trouble because you're looking at the thing, rather than trying to access everything from weird angles.
Believe me, I have done this the hard way and the easy way, and there is no contest. You do end up with a lot more dashboard parts out of the car, but they go together pretty logically.
--
a Brickboard.com Expat
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To remember the 122 series... 7 screws, and you owned the blooming motor... BUT there was never any need unless a few leaves were sucked in... They just did not quit... The 7 screws were accessed from the engine compartment with not 1 single thing in the way...
I was a Volvo tech when the 140 and then the 240's came out. The first 240's had plastic motor brush holders that would melt down LOL, and then Volvo itself said to drill 4" holes in the covers and use duct tape to reinstall the covers.. I never did that and did exactly what you show and very well btw here.. Hope yer into history, or I am dead in the water.... Mac ;)
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"...and then Volvo itself said to drill 4" holes in the covers..."
I just bought an 89 244GL complete with 278K from the original owner with all records. Yesterday I was gutting the interior for the routine clean and wash carpeting and upholstery. As I removed the right side console cover, I was surprised to see the carton from a volvo radio was used to patch the hole and duct tape fixing the ripped ductwork after reading the independent shop's invoice for $195 parts and $720 labor.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore
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Well as a tech for Volvo back then I was pretty much flabergasted to read the tech sheet!!!! I ain't kiddin about the 4" hole saw bit either!!!
I never ever considered that so-called fix!!!!!!
One I like better was for the bassakwards V-6 from Renault..
This was for the camshafts.. Yup 2 cams both softer than a new born babies a$$!!! The fix????? Cut 2 holes in the fire wall to pull the slimy cams into the passenger compartment, after riping out the entire dash!!!
I never did that one and hauled off the heads and gave away free to the customer the gaskets, and made Volvo buy the gaskets back.... and the time...
Butchery is not part of what a tech should be.... Mac
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I have to agree with Nate. I routinely take longer than the quoted hours for most jobs, but I followed Art's website instructions for this one, and I believe I was done in 6-8 hours, without a helper.
As for keeping track of parts, I used the other side of my double garage and laid out all the parts in roughly the orientation they came off the car. This made re-assembly very straight-forward.
A few comments:
- I didn't disconnect the vacuum hoses from the heater control pushbutton unit; I think I would have had trouble re-connecting them
- I didn't take apart the dash; I don't think it's necessary. It does make getting the blower housing sides off and on a bit tricky, as they hit up against the dash lower frame piece.
- Pay close attention to how you remove the left side vent distribution; I had a bit of trouble getting it back into position when re-assembling.
- I did take out the driver's seat as recommended. That was one problem I had. One seat track slipped a notch compared to the other one, and it took me a while to figure out why the seat seemed out of kilter when I was re-installing it.
Much thanks is due to Art. I probably wouldn't have even tackled it without the confidence his procedure with great pictures gave me!
David
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Not to disagree too forcefully with HearToTemptYou, but I did the blower in my car over this past christmas in one long day, with some help from my 15-year-old brother. It does take a long time, and my new blower didn't fit quite right for some reason, so I had to install spacer washers....that was exciting. anyways, I didn't actually label anything either, but I got it all back in where it needed to go, taping the fasteners to whatever they came off of. I think it took 10-14 hours of work that day, but I did do it in one, having never done that before(though I did take out the entire dash of a neon once to get to the condenser core). If your heat selector is always HOT or COLD with nothing in the middle, you can change the valve for that while you're in there pretty easily. Mine has been just fine since I did it almost a year ago now. best of luck. It is definitely the suckiest job I've done on my car, and that list includes trailing arm bushings and many other terrible evils.
Nate Gundy
--
'86 240DL, M46, K cam, 25/21mm sways
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Well, the difference between our experiences is that I had no one else helping me, and I couldn't work after the sun went down (I don't have a garage, so I was doing this with the car parked on the street.)
Plus, the hardest, messiest, and longest part of this whole thing was grinding down the housing for the new motor, which you didn't have to do since yours is an '86.
Also, I had to figure out a way to put the resistor in as well. The previous set up did not use a resistor, so I had to figure out a way to mount it in there.
I had to take the entire dash out because it would have been impossible for me to grind the housing down with out the amount of space I had. (I was still just barely able to fit my tools in there).
Also, drilling new hole in the bottom of the housing was a challenge that took a long time.
Maybe that's why my experience took longer. Who knows...
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sounds fair enough...I forgot all the effort that has to go into the older cars...I guess with the newer ones we get terrible headlights, but easier blower motor changes. did I just use "easy" and "blower motor" in the same sentence? hmm, i'll have to reconsider the easiness.....anyways, that does make sense as to why it took much longer.
Nate Gundy
--
'86 240DL, M46, K cam, 25/21mm sways
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(Assuming you are talking about the '87 you mention in your signature.)
If you've never done this before, you are probably going to need more then one weekend to do this.
Most 240 owners find that the Thanksgiving weekend is a good time to do this, because you'll have 4 days instead of 2.
It's a two day project IF and ONLY IF everything goes perfect, and you work none stop, from the moment you get out of bed till the moment you go back to sleep. From experience, this usually is not the case. If you started at 6:00am on Saturday morning, you MIGHT finish by 10:00pm Sunday night.
Get the kit from IPD. Replace the Resistor anyway, even if it's still good. (It probably won't last much longer, and you'll have you would have to go back in to replace it when it does.) The kit from IPD includes a new motor, resistor, and switch. The kit also includes excellent instructions.
In my '80, I had to grind down the sides of the motor housing, because the new motor was bigger around then the old one. You probably won't have to do this on your '87, since the motor you'll be getting is pretty much a direct replacement of what's in there now. (They used a different kind of motor on my '80.)
It's a very doable job, but don't rush it. Don't take a lot of short cuts. Take your time, and LABEL EVERYTHING CORRECTLY! When you take the round fan "fins" out, MAKE SURE YOU LABEL WHICH ONE IS LEFT AND RIGHT! They are different, and easily confused (and if put on backwards, will completely screw up the air flow.)
Oh yeah, my last piece of advice (for the time being.) After you get everything back together, make sure you COVER YOUR EYES/MOUTH/NOSE/etc... before you turn that fan on! Years worth of dirt, dust, and everything else will come flying out of the system, creating a really nice little cloud inside the car. It's like getting sand in your eyes if you don't have them covered.
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I assume you've examined both the conventional method (Art Benstein) and the much quicker Don Foster method, (the link is on Art's page).
For the conventional method, some recommend pulling the entire dash for easiest access and least bodily convolutions.
What to check whilst everything is apart--pretty much everything you can now access that you couldn't before. Make sure the doohicky (rheostat?) inside the blower box that controls the fan speeds is good or you will have to disassemble everything again to replace it. Just test it before reassembly. The box itself can warp and leak condensate through the seams (a classic source of wet carpets), so this is an opportunity to smear silicon sealant along the seams from the inside.
If you take the dash out, you can clean or replace any dim bulbs or even brighten things up more with white gauge faces from Dave Barton. But you don't have to remove the whole dash just to do that--just the cluster. A highly-recommended and inexpensive upgrade, (hey, I can read my gauges at night without having to stare at them for over 3 seconds!).
You sound like you will have no trouble with this task and it does give a nice sense of DIY pride once done. I think Volvo should give out badges for blower replacement like they do for high mileage.
--
'84 '285' rice-eater with lotsa hp & performance goodies & an 8-legged tenant
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Hey steve, I live in mpls too, I have yet to do this task on my 240, but if it's cool with you I would like to watch and learn and if you want a hand....well give me an email if your interested.
Oh yea, I can detail!
Chuck
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Yeah, I'd love to hook up with a fellow brickster here in the Metro. I have a three day weekend next week so I'm gonna work on the car. I live near 46th st. and Hiawatha in S. Mpls. email me and we'll chat.
stephanpcole@yahoo.com
-steve
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Well, my 88 240 needed a heater core, so in I went, and ultimately pulled the dash-which may have been the esaiest part of the operation, as daunting a task as it might seem. Fear not! Just some screws across the front, a couple on each end and a bolt on each end...it sits in rubber plugs along the windshield side. I put a new motor and resistor in as long as I was visiting. If you develop an attitude of adventure and exploration, it kinda like exploring a cave for the first time (I imagine), and the putting it all back is like finding you way out. Working solo, having never done this before, it took a full day to tear it down, another to put it back up, and now I'm wondering where some little parts go I'm left with, but everything works great...except I apparently diconnected my automaic door locks somehow. I agree with not disconnecting the vacumn lines. I did not disconnect any except to the defroster and dash sides, which I marked with masking tape. I also did not disconnect any center control wiring, I just undid the console and moved it over a bit. I would cut the end out from the sides with a Dremel if I ever had to just change the motor. As nice as the rest of the car is built, the whole heater/evaporator assembly is a joke. You should be able to easily extract the core and motor from the engine compartment like American cars used to do. There is room in there to do it that way.
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