A/C Blower motor diagnosis/replacement
Tools needed:
8mm 1/4" drive socket
12" long 1/4" extension
1/4" drive nutdriver
1/4" drive ratchet
Deep 1/4" drive 3/8" socket (Need this for the hanger bracket)
Pliers, hacksaw, pry bar, torch, Beads and rattles (For removing the recalcitrant push nuts)
I found that by stacking the extension with the nutdriver, I could
pretty much reach all the screws, and work unencumbered.
Diagnosis:
If the blower runs on high, the problem is most likely the blowermotor controller. This is located at the bottom left of the recirculating cowling and held in place by two screws with 8mm heads. To get to it, remove the kick panel above the passenger's feet, cursing the lineage of the engineer that invented push nuts. It may be helpful to remove the glove box, held in place by 3 torx screws going through the hinge. Empty out the glovebox, and marvel at all the things in there that you forgot you owned.
If the blower does not run at all, unplug it from the wiring harness located to the left of the recirc cowling. You'll have to remove the glove box to get to it. There will be a two-wire plug with orange and
black wires. Check the voltage. If there's 12V to it, the motor is bad. If you don't have 12V to it, check the fuse. Mine is a 30Amp fuse located in the bottom of the fuse panel. When my blower went, it
knocked out the fuse. Replacing it, I got 12V at the plug.
Replacement:
At this point, you should have removed the kick panel and the glove box. Once you've diagnosed the problem as the blower, you have to remove the recirc cowling.
Disconnect the vacuum line to the recirc door actuator at the top right of the cowling.
The cowling is held in place by 6 screws, 8mm heads, located around it's perimeter. Some of them are hidden very well.
There's also a hanger bracket. Go ahead and remove the hanger bracket. Getting it out of the way just makes things easier. It has a plug in the wiring harness attached to it. Just tuck the whole thing away.
Next, work your way around the recirc cowling. On the left side, there's a bracket holding part of the wiring harness. One of the cowling screws is ingeniously located behind this bracket. Remove the
bracket, again cursing the lineage of Ford engineers, and then remove the screw.
Go ahead and remove the blower motor controller located at the bottom left of the cowling. I needed to do this to obtain enough clearance to drop the cowling out.
Next drop the cowling out from it's position. Lo and behold, there lurks the blower wheel.
Remove the push nut from the blower shaft that holds the wheel. Again, curse the engineer that devised such fiendish fasteners. After cajoling the push nut off, get something long and thin like a 1/4"
drive extension, place it on the shaft and give it a smart rap to loosen the wheel on the shaft. Pull the wheel from the shaft.
If you haven't unplugged the blower motor from the wiring harness during your diagnosis, do so now, and pass the plug and motor wires in to the compartment where the motor resides. Remove the four screws
with 8mm heads holding the motor in place.
Remove the motor.
My replacement motor ($30 from O'Reilly's, $168 from the stealership), did not come with a plug. So I cut the plug off the old motor, and spliced it onto the wires on the new motor's. I suspect the
stealership part may have had the proper plug attached, but for $138, I don't mind splicing two wires. I also had to reuse the push nut. Some well-directed blows with a 10 oz. ball peen set matters right (flat) again. It went on easily enough by driving it on with a 7/16" socket.
All the gaskets will most likely be shot. I used some of 3/4" foam weatherstripping that has an adhesive back when putting stuff back together.
Pretty much just reverse the process for installation. I left the kick panel off, so when I replace my blower motor controller, it'll be a 5 minute job.
