Heater/Blower - how to repair advice please

[Dinsdale01]

Hello,
Found the forum while trying to find out how to repair the heater/blower on my 2004 Altea TDi. Had the car for 6 years now, it's been really good, no real issues and I still like driving it.

A few years ago the heater stopped blowing on settings 1-3, I quickly sussed out it was the resistor pack and replaced it, problem solved.

Anyway a couple of weeks ago I got the same problem and replaced the resistor pack for the second time, this lasted about a week and then stopped working again.

I think the blower motor is stuggling a bit, it blows OK on setting 4 but I think it's probably not turning as freely as it should on lower setting and this has caused the new pack to burn out - £30 down the swanny.!

My question really is - How hard is it to get to the blower motor on my Altea? I really have no idea how to get to it. I'm thinking if I can get to it and can either replace/or service bearings I can then get it running well enough to replace the resistor pack without it burning out, failing that I'll replace the motor too.
Like many folk at the moment I can't really go to the expence of having a garage do it, funds wont allow. Any advice on how to get to the motor would be most gratefully received.

Many thanks.

Dave

 

[mac music]

the fan assembly is behind the glove box you need to drop the trim panel down , 3 screws on the front edge & 2 black plastic twist things further back
you will need a t 25 torx bit i think for the screws

here is said panel

once that is out you can get to the bottom of the fan assembly i thunk you can sort it from there but.....

if you want to see a bit more take out the glove box too bout 6 torx screws on the front edge and 2 in the back these a nightmare to get out and even worse to get back
if you do get the glove box out this is what you see less all the incar phono cables etc

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/48641567@N05/5909091010/]

hope that is of some help

MM

 

[Dinsdale01]

Cheers for the swift reply MM.
I've had that panel off when I did the resistor pack, didn't realise the fan was hiding under there too. I'll have to get the panel off again and see what I can see up there, it's a bit awkward to get yourself under the dash, need to be a contortionist..

May try and avoid taking the glove box out if it's that tricky, will see how it goes.

Thanks again.

 

[mac music]

yep second picture shows the fan with the flap open , this is a dual zone climate btw i guess others maybe different

see how you get on it could be just all the extra cable that make the glovebox going back a night mare , but the two back screws are in the glove box frame and the draw gets in the way , the brackets for the screws are the two silver things just above the open flap in the piccie

glad to have been of some help & let us know how you get on

MM

 

[Dinsdale01]

Will do, back to work tomorrow so the job will have to wait until next weekend and then it depends on the weather as although I have a garage there wont be room to get to it.

Anyone have any idea what/how many bolts hold the motor in if I go in from underneath?

 

[Wimbledonian]

This might be useful. And no, I don't have it any larger or clearer, I'm afraid.

(And I think this illustration is for LHD.)

Exploded diagram

 

[Dinsdale01]

Just had a look at this job and to be honest it was really easy to do.
Once the trim panel under the glove box is removed you can easily access the fan motor. Unplug the connector from the motor (I also moved the resistor pack and cable to give easier access). The motor is in a plastic case and if you grip the case with both hands and twist it slightly (I think it was anti-clockwise but it will be obvious) it will disconnect and drop down. It is not held in by any other means so there are no bolts to undo or anything.

Once the motor and housing are out you can then remove the motor from the housing, this achieved by pushing in the three small rubber triangle shaped thingies (don't know the technical term) on the outside of the casing, the motor will then wriggle free, the cable connector is still atttched but allows acccess to the motor inards. The motor was a bit tight so I've sprayed the bearings with a little bit of spray oil (WD40 type stuff) which has freed them up a bit. Replace motor in casing, push rubber thingies back out of casing, stick the motor back in the car and reconnect the wires.

This was a very simple job and is easily achievable by a half competant amature (like me).

Not sure now whether to replace Resistor pack and see what happens or bite the bullet and replace motor and resistor pack at same time. If I replace the res' pack and it blows again that's another £30 wasted BUT the motor may well be good enough now to not need replacing???? Think I'll toss a coin.

Thanks again for the input, much appreciated.

 

[mac music]

thanks for letting us know how you got on & glad to have been of help

mm

 

[Barnet]

Thanks all for the tips.

I had a seized motor a couple of years back £300 later it was working (all under warranty)

It went again this morning and thanks to the advice here I was able to remove the glove box and
free it. (for easy access, set the fan to recycle mode and the flap opens up)

A bit of a wiggle about, a hoover (I have a very small vacuum for electronics) and a bit of WD40 and we're all up and running.

Missed the first half of the rugby, so 45 mins work in total